Theater Review: 'Harrison, TX' -- 3 stars

Harrison, TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote
3 stars

Three years ago, Off-Broadway's Signature Theatre Company staged Horton Foote's epic and masterful "The Orphans' Home Cycle," which combined nine one-act plays over three separate evenings that explored the life of Foote's father, just months following Foote's death at age 92.

Now Primary Stages is doing a similar tribute to Foote with "Harrison, TX," which is comprised of three less monumental but still engaging one-acts exploring various characters of the fictional Texas community where so many of Foote's plays take place.

"Blind Date," the comedic curtain raiser, depicts an awkward blind date between a shy young girl (Andrea Lynn Green) and bible-loving neighbor (Evan Jonigkeit), which was arranged by a busybody aunt (Hallie Foote). The interactions of the mismatched pair are undeniably cute.

In the dramatically high-pitched "The One-Armed Man," a former cotton gin worker (Alexander Cendese) demands the return of his arm - which was cut off and lost in an on-the-job accident - from his ex-boss (Jeremy Bobb), and eventually threatens him at gunpoint.

The longest and largest of the three pieces, "The Midnight Caller," observes a boardinghouse whose residents are gossiping about a beautiful but distressed new tenant (Jenny Dare Paulin) whose ex-husband (Cendese) cries out to her every night from the street in a drunken stupor.

Even if these plays are hardly representative of Foote's best work, Pam MacKinnon ("Clybourne Park") directs with finesse and "Harrison, TX" still showcases the playwright's gift for detail and characterization. The talented cast is led by Hallie Foote, who is Foote's daughter and considered the finest interpreter of his work. 

If you go: "Harrison, TX" plays at 59E59 through Sept. 15. 59 E. 59th St., 212-279-4200, primarystages.org