Horton Foote has been described as “America’s Chekhov,” and this is no more evident than in his masterful three-part drama The Orphans’ Home Cycle. In these nine plays we follow Horace Robedaux, a modest man, on an odyssey of the heart as he journeys through the formative years of his childhood to courtship, marriage, and eventually forms a family of his own.
Beginning at the turn of the twentieth century, Part One, or “The Story of a Childhood” (Roots in a Parched Ground, Convict, and Lily Dale) follows Robedaux in his formative years. In Part Two, “The Story of Marriage” (The Widow Claire, Courtship, and Valentine’s Day), we experience the married life of Robedaux and his new wife. Finally, in Part Three, “The Story of a Family” (1918, Cousin, and The Death of Papa), we follow the family from the turmoil of World War I toward hope in the future of their family and country. The Orphans’ Home Cycle is a journey of everyday events that affect our lives—the living, dying, working, and loving—and a panoramic and penetrating portrait of American society.