By Patricia Morris Buckley | SDUN Theater Critic 
Revive one of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Horton Foote’s last plays, one that was nominated for the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play, a great idea in theory. After all, Foote is best known for such plays as “A Trip to Bountiful” and winning Oscars for adapting “To Kill a Mockingbird” and “Tender Mercies” for the movies. Add in the actress who won a Tony for it as well as Foote’s two adult children.
While there are moments that reverberate in our consciousness, there are just as many where the plot is far too predictable.
“Dividing the Estate” follows the Gordon family’s matriarch, Stella. Stella is adamant that the family’s large estate will not be broken up, even though her three children have differing opinions on the matter. Son Lewis is a drunk who keeps taking “loans” from the estate. Daughter Mary Jo has taken even more loans and we gradually learn that she and her family are close to bankruptcy.
Meanwhile, older daughter Lucille lives with and takes care of her now elderly mother, while her son (named “Son”) manages the estate. Son’s first wife ran off and then died, so now he’s courting a highly optimistic school teacher who gets a first hand view of this extremely greedy and dysfunctional family.
Most of the play is the family arguing about the estate. There’s very little humor or subplots. And the ending is rather sad, as the family’s financial expectations take a huge hit, so that everything they’ve lived for is gone.
One of the production’s redeeming features is the great Elizabeth Ashley as Stella, in the role she played on Broadway. Ashley has a long list of theater, film and TV credits, including playing Aunt Mimi on HBO’s “Treme” and a regular on “Evening Shade,” for which she received an Emmy nomination.
Hallie Foote, who has a well-established career as an actress, received a Tony Award nomination for the role of Mary Jo. She provides the few moments of comic relief in the play and for that the audience can be highly grateful.
Another character is Doug, the long-time servant of the family. While Roger Robinson (who won a Tony Award for “Gone”) makes him endearing and real, the part has tinges of stereotype.
The production design is the real star of the show. Jeff Cowie’s living room set is a feast of architectural and period detail, although his furniture groupings are unrealistic. Rui Rita’s lighting design nicely places the sense of time passing. David C. Woolard’s costumes tell us much about where the characters fit in the 1987 story.
Director Michael Wilson’s pacing allows for the humor to breathe and the family dynamics to build nicely. An interesting choice is not giving the actors mics, a rarity today.
Family arguments are rarely entertaining in real life with your own kin. Watching someone else’s battles over money they feel entitled to, in a time when people are out of work, seems petty. The idea of this production had a lot of promise, but that promise never really comes together.
“Dividing the Estate”
When: Through Feb. 26
Where: Old Globe Theatre, Balboa Park
Tickets: Start at $29
Info: (619) 23-GLOBE
Web: www.TheOldGlobe.org
