The Trip to Bountiful

play by Foote

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July 15, 2026

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The Trip to Bountiful is a play by Horton Foote, first presented as a television play in 1953 and later staged on Broadway that same year. Foote, known for his minimalist stories evoking American life, also wrote the screenplay for the 1985 film adaptation. The play centers on Carrie Watts, an elderly woman who escapes her son and daughter-in-law to return to her childhood home, Bountiful, before she dies. The term "lady bountiful" refers to a woman known for her conspicuous benevolences.12

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Horton Foote
Foote’s best-known original work, The Trip to Bountiful, was written as a television play and broadcast in 1953; later that year it was staged on Broadway, and in 1985 it was produced as a film, for which Foote also wrote the Academy Award-nominated screenplay. His 1954 play The Travelling…
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Foote’s best-known original work, The Trip to Bountiful, was written as a television play and broadcast in 1953; later that year it was staged on Broadway, and in 1985 it was produced as a film, for which Foote also wrote the Academy Award-nominated screenplay. His 1954 play The Travelling…
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Cicely Tyson
…a revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful; her performance earned her a Tony Award. She also starred in the 2014 television adaptation of the play. In 2015–16 she appeared in the Broadway production of The Gin Game.
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…a revival of Horton Foote’s The Trip to Bountiful; her performance earned her a Tony Award. She also starred in the 2014 television adaptation of the play. In 2015–16 she appeared in the Broadway production of The Gin Game.
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