The 92-year-old Foote had been in Hartford, CT, where he was putting the finishing touches on Orphans' Home Cycle. Representatives for Hartford Stage and the Signature Theatre Company confirmed that the three-part Texas-set play cycle will continue as planned.

Part I of the cycle consists of the plays Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts and Lily Dale; Part II includes The Widow Claire, Courtship and Valentine’s Day; and Part III concludes with 1918, Cousins and The Death of Papa.

The Orphans' Home Cycle, under the direction of Michael Wilson (Dividing the Estate, The Carpetbagger's Children), will play Hartford Stage Aug. 27-Oct. 17 and will then arrive Off-Broadway at the Signature, playing Oct. 29, 2009-April 11, 2010.

While Foote's work on Orphans' was essentially finished, Hartford Stage artistic director and frequent Foote collaborator Michael Wilson will continue to polish the work in preparation for the August debut at Hartford. Three of the plays in the cycle, Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts and Cousins, will receive their world premiere in Hartford.

According to press notes, The Orphans' Home Cycle "begins with a father's death in a small-Texas town at the turn of the century, a loss that sends his son, Horace Robedaux, on an odyssey through the darkest corners of the heart as he learns to become a husband, father, and patriarch. Set in Foote's fictitious town of Harrison, Texas and based partly on the childhood of Foote's father and the courtship and marriage of his parents, the cycle is a wide-ranging, intricate work." For further information visit HartfordStage, or visit SignatureTheatre.