Dividing the Estate & The Trip to Bountiful & The Young Man from Atlanta

In these works, Foote deftly combines the claustrophobia of the Southern families from Tennessee Williams, the physical and psychological dysfunctions of Eugene O'Neill's families, and the humor and pathos of small town Southern life portrayed by Flannery O'Connor

In the dark comedy Dividing the Estate matriarch Stella Gordon is dead set against the parceling out of her clan's land despite the financial woes brought on by the oil bust of the 1980s

In the course of the play, the power of petty self-interest and long-held resentments makes even painful compromise an elusive goal

In The Trip to Bountiful Carrie Watts is determined to escape a cramped, unpleasant life in a small Houston apartment with her son and avaricious daughter-in-law

Her burning desire is to return to the now desolate town of her childhood, against the inexorability of change and the refuge of memory

Foote earned an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay in 1985 for his work on "Bountiful"

The Pulitzer Prize-winning The Young Man from Atlanta tells the story of a couple living in Houston in 1950, suffering the aftershocks of the mysterious death of their son

Will and Lily Dale Kidder try to hold onto their beliefs about their son's life and death and the possibilities for their own lives, but both are dealt a shattering blow by the young man of the title, a friend of their son's who never appears in the play

Foote's pitch-perfect characters and sensitive eye for interpersonal relationships continue to place him at the top of playwrights working today

This new collection brings his best to new audiences.

"Foote, whose upbringing in a small Texas town during the Depression shaped his enduring world view, is certainly not oblivious to the cruel things people can do to one another. He is keenly aware of the failures and frustrations that are the norms in life, and of the sheer pettiness that can be the only revenge of unhappy people. But in a world that more often than not can be cold, cruel and unforgiving, Foote also shows us how human beings can prevail in little acts of kindness, huge efforts of determination and will, and the magical healing powers (and coincident pain) of memory" ~ Hedy Weiss, Chicago Sun-Times