The Trip to Bountiful
by City Theatre Company
Feb. 20 - Mar. 08
Thursdays-Sundays
"I guess when you’ve lived longer than your house and family, then you’ve lived long enough." – Mrs. Carrie Watts, The Trip to Bountiful
The Trip to Bountiful is the acclaimed play by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Horton Foote, and the American masterpiece about the universal pull that we all feel for home. Carrie Watts is an elderly widow, held close by her overprotective son and domineering daughter-in-law, who longs the return to her hometown of Bountiful one last time before she dies. With pension check in hand, and a heart yearning to find who she once was, she breaks free for the road home. Her journey is the rarest of theater experiences, filled with humor and tenderness that’s both touching and life-affirming.
"I believe very deeply in the human spirit, and I have a sense of awe about it. – Horton Foote
Kicking off the 2026 theatre season, City Theatre is thrilled to present for its first time, a production by the distinguished Texas-born playwright Horton Foote. His acclaimed play, The Trip to Bountiful will run February 20 – March 8 at Genesis Creative Collective.
The production is directed by guest director Tracy Arnold, and features the cast of Judith Laird as Mrs. Carrie Watts, Beau Paul, Dawn Erin, Olivia Jamison, Ken Farrell, and Austin Lytle.
The work and literary success of American – and Texas born - playwright and screenwriter, Horton Foote, spans the course of 80 years. Growing up in Wharton, Texas, Foote had big dreams of being an actor. He lived in Dallas with his grandmother while working as an usher at the Majestic Theater and moved to California, enrolling in acting school at Pasadena Playhouse. Only the Heart was Foote’s first play on Broadway at the Bijou Theatre in 1944. Evoking American life in beautifully observed minimal stories of family loss and love, his theatre works has been produced worldwide.
New York Times chief theater critic Frank Rich described Foote as “a major American dramatist whose epic body of work recalls Chekhov in its quotidian comedy and heartbreak and Faulkner in its ability to make his own corner of America stand for the whole.”
Foote’s theatrical honors include a Pulitzer Prize for The Young Man from Atlanta; Lucille Lortel Awards for The Orphans Home Cycle and The Trip to Bountiful; and an OBIE award for Dividing the Estate. His screenwriting honors include Oscars for To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies; an Emmy for Old Man; and the Writers Guild of America awards for To Kill a Mockingbird and Tender Mercies. Foote was also a member of the Theatre Hall of Fame, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts.
Horton Foote passed away in his sleep in 2009 at the age of ninety-two.
Celebrating its 20th Anniversary Season, City Theatre is an Austin-based, not-for-profit arts organization and is sponsored in part by the Austin Creative Alliance and the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin. Founded in 2006, the company has been recognized by the Austin Critics Table Awards, the B. Iden Payne Awards, the Central Texas Excellence in Theatre Awards, BroadwayWorld Austin, Central Texas Live Theatre, and has twice been voted “Best Theatre Company” by Austin American-Statesman’s Austin 360. CTC is dedicated to providing a quality, reputable, and diverse public theatre and stage entertainment experience that is accessible to all artists and the entire Austin community. CTC continues to offer its student and group discount ticket program for any show.
Put a little theatre in your life!
The Trip to Bountiful
by Horton Foote
City Theatre Company
February 20 - March 08, 2026
February 20 – March 8, 2026
Thursday – Saturday 8 pm. Sunday 3 pm.
Genesis Creative Collective. 1507 Wilshire Blvd. Austin, TX 78722
General Seating $20-25. Center Reserved $30-35. Group, senior, and student discounts.
TIX: citytheatreaustin.org Info: 512-470-1100 or info@citytheatreaustin.org.
