Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts and Lily Dale comprise the first installment of Foote's sprawling, three-part family drama, directed by the playwright's frequent collaborator Michael Wilson. Wilson staged the world premiere of Orphans earlier this fall at Hartford Stage, where he serves as artistic director. This is a co-production between Signature and Hartford. The extended New York engagement will run through March 28, 2010.

The second part of Orphans, titled The Story of a Marriage, features the plays The Widow Claire, Courtship and Valentine's Day, which will begin performances Dec. 3 and officially open Dec. 13; and Part III, The Story of a Family, comprised of 1918, Cousins and The Death of Papa, begins Jan. 7, 2010 in anticipation of a Jan. 24, 2010 opening.

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Based partly on the life of Foote's father and the courtship of his parents, all of the plays in The Orphans' Home Cycle were originally penned as full-length works. Hartford Stage commissioned Foote to adapt the plays into their current three-part form in 2007. While several of the plays in the cycle were seen prior to the world premiere of this packaging, the plays Roots in a Parched Ground, Convicts, Cousins and Valentine's Day, make their debut here.

Foote's daughter, Tony nominated actress Hallie Foote (Dividing the Estate) portrays Mary Vaughn in a cast that also features Bill Heck ("The Closer," "Medium") in the central role of Horace Robedaux, with Dividing the Estate actress Maggie Lacey as his wife, Elizabeth Vaughn Robedaux, and James DeMarse (Dividing the Estate, The Trip to Bountiful) as Henry Vaughn.

Completing the cast are Devon Abner, Mike Boland, Pat Bowie, Leon Addison Brown, Justin Fuller, Jasmine Harrison, Henry Hodges, Georgi James, Annalee Jefferies, Virginia Kull, Gilbert Owour, Jenny Dare Paulin, Pamela Payton-Wright, Bryce Pinkham, Stephen Plunkett, Lucas Caleb Rooney, Dylan Riley Snyder and Charles Turner.

The Orphans' Home Cycle has set design by Jeff Cowie and David Barber, costume design by David Woolard, lighting design by Rui Rita, original music and sound design by John Gromada and choreography by Peter Pucci. Dialect coach is Ralph Zito. Fight director is Mark Olson.

A Pulitzer Prize winner for The Young Man from Atlanta, Foote's plays also include Dividing the Estate (2009 Tony nomination for Best Play), The Carpetbagger's Children, The Trip to Bountiful, The Traveling Lady, The Chase, The Last of the Thorntons and Talking Pictures, among others. He is an Academy Award winner for the screenplays "Tender Mercies" and "To Kill a Mockingbird." The 92-year-old Foote had been in Hartford, CT, where he was putting the finishing touches on Orphans' Home Cycle, when he died last March.

Marathons are scheduled for Feb. 6 and 20, 2010 and March 6, 2010. For tickets and more information visit SignatureTheatre.