NEW HAVEN, Conn. -- Hartford Stage has received a $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for its production of Horton Foote's adaptation of his nine-play "The Orphans' Home Cycle."
The grant is the largest for a single production in the theater's history. Hartford a.d. Michael Wilson, who is helming the cycle, said the production could not happen without the Mellon support.
Before he died on March 4, Foote had completed the adaptation of nine plays, written in the '70s and '80s, into three, three-hour presentations which the theater will run in repertory Sept. 3-Oct. 24. The 22-actor cycle will then be presented at Off Broadway's Signature Theatre Company, which is co-producing the cycle with Hartford. The Gotham run is Nov. 5-April 11, 2010.
Hartford Stage also received an anonymous grant consisting of a $50,00 gift and $50,000 challenge grant which could yield a total of $150,000.
The Hartford production will cost $1.4 million for its eight-week run.
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