Part One of Foote’s “The Orphans’ Home Cycle” epic journey at HSC

HARTFORD — Like a long cool glass of iced tea on a humid summer day, “Part One — The Story of Childhood” of “The Orphans’ Home Cycle” by Horton Foote, is made to be savored slowly, rather than gulped down fast at the Hartford Stage Company.
It’s a daring idea in an age of instant gratification, but for those with patience and perseverance, it is well worth it. With 22 actors eventually playing 70 parts in the whole of the three-part trilogy, it takes a while to figure out who everyone is.
Set in Texas in the early 1900s, Part One is a three-act story of the young Horace Robedaux from the time he is 12, played by Dylan Riley Snyder, to 14, played by Henry Hodges, and then at 20, played by Bill Heck.
Based on Foote’s father’s life, Robedaux has some pretty bad luck, with his dad dying and his mom abandoning him with relatives to go live with a man without vices, who for some unexplained reason hates the young lad.
Robedaux next goes to work on a horrid plantation where convicts are forced to work to death, and then visits his mother, where he falls ill as a young adult and has to stay too long where he isn’t welcome.
All three Horaces are excellent. The youngest, Snyder, beautifully portrays the polite honesty and heartbreaking sadness of innocence squashed, while Hodges transitions seamlessly as the misfortunate 14-year-old. Today we would call family services for all the abuse and neglect the child experiences.
There are some wild and funny characters mixed into the saga, including the paranoid alcoholic, Soll Gautier, played by James DeMarse, and the alcoholic wealthy Asa Vaughn, played by Hallie Foote, Horton Foote’s daughter.
Leon Addison Brown feels natural and unaffected as Jackson Hall, the convict turned protector of Soll. All of the actors feel real and believable as people rather than stereotypes.
The set design, by Jeff Cowie and David Barber, is simple and inspired. Especially fine is the quilted looking frame around the stage that has multiple layers, and changes with lighting by Rui Rita to alternatively look like roof-tops, swamp land, and a sunset.
The play began interestingly enough with the child standing in a field that looked like an Andrew Wyeth painting, and then transitioned to the 14-year-old and then the 20-year-old Robedaux.
I would have preferred that director Michael Wilson did not feel the need to broadcast on the backdrop the name the trilogy and each of the acts. They are already clearly marked in the program.
The first part of the trilogy feels somewhat reminiscent of Tom Stoppard’s “The Coast of Utopia” trilogy performed at Lincoln Center in 2006 in its pacing and tempo.
Horton Foote, who wrote the screenplay for “The Trip to Bountiful” (1985), “Of Mice and Men,” (1992), and won Academy Awards for his screenplay adaptation of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” (1961), is in full command of his talent in this world premiere.
Part One of the trilogy is a massive and impressive undertaking that could have easily have become tiresome, but instead feels important and magnificent.
Horton Foote died in March at 92 before he could get a chance to see this massive undertaking come to fruition, which is too bad. He would have enjoyed how well the actors and Wilson nurtured this epic to life.
Each of the three-part cycle will be performed individually, with marathon performances of “The Orphans’ Home Cycle” performed on Saturday, Oct. 17 and Saturday, Oct. 24.

THE ORPHAN'S HOME CYCLE, PART ONE

3 stars
Location: Hartford Stage Company, 50 Church Street, Hartford.
Production: Written by Horton Foote. Directed by Michael Wilson. Set designed by Jeff Cowie and David Barber. Costume design by David Woolard. Lighting design by Rui Rita. Original music and sound design by John Gromada. Choreography by Peter Pucci.
Running time: 3 hours with two intermissions.
Show Times: Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays at 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with matinee performances Sundays and selected Wednesdays and Saturdays at 2 p.m. through October 24.
Tickets: $33 and up. Call 860-527-5151 or visit their website at hartfordstage.org.
ACTOR…CHARACTER
Bill Heck … Horace Robedaux, Paul Horace Robedaux
Dylan Riley Snyder … Horace Robedaux, age 12
Henry Hodges … Horace Robedaux, age 14
Devon Abner … John Howard, Pete Davenport
Hallie Foote … Mrs. Robedaux, Asa Vaughn
James DeMarse … Soll Gautier
Leon Addison Brown … Jackson Hall
Annalee Jefferies … Corella Davenport
Jenny Dare Paulin … Lily Dale Robedaux, Minnie Curtis, age 17