About the Show

Danger waits just underneath the surface in Horton Foote’s Pulitzer Prize-winning drama of an aging couple still reeling from the death of their only child.

From the show:

Set against the backdrop of a rapidly modernizing 1950s Houston, the Kidders' lives are turned upside down once again when a figure from their son’s past shows up in town. They deny, deflect and deceive in an effort to avoid the danger but can’t dodge the inevitable reckoning. How far will these grieving parents go to avoid the truths this young man from Atlanta might reveal? Director Michael Wilson (The Orphans’ Home Cycle, The Old Friends), the premier interpreter of Foote’s work, returns to Signature to to bring to life this beautiful, heartbreaking play that explores and dissects the American dream while revealing the depths we go to in order to keep ourselves safe.

Critic Reviews (14)

CRITIC’S PICK "A Heartbreaker Returns in ‘The Young Man From Atlanta’: The Signature Theater’s compassionate revival of Horton Foote’s 1995 Pulitzer Prize-winning play takes a slow route to devastation."
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3/5 Stars: "Even the most fervent Horton Foote fan might be hard-pressed to explain the appeal, much less the Pulitzer Prize, of 'The Young Man From Atlanta.' The playwright was renowned for his delicate, layered storytelling, but this 1995 drama lays it on thick."
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"‘An Unwanted Guest to be Thankful For: Signature Theatre’s new revival of Horton Foote’s work makes clear the play’s surpassing excellence."
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"'The Young Man From Atlanta' and the Old Man From Houston: Signature Theatre revives a Horton Foote play that it premiered 24 years ago."
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"There is no greater Horton Foote authority than Michael Wilson, the director of the current edition, but this time his handling is a little wobbly…The pluses outweigh the minuses, however."
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"The play may not pack the wallop it did twenty-five years ago, but 'The Young Man from Atlanta' offers a potent view of the United States on the cusp of social and political change."
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3/5 Stars "Horton Foote won the Pulitzer Prize for this play, which doesn't stand up especially well in 2019."
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"WANTING AND WONDERING: The folksiness in Horton Foote’s family drama grows tiresome."
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Cast and creative team

Signature Theatre Company