The third production in the University of Evansville Theatre's 2015-2016 season, 'Lily Dale,' opens at 7:30 p.m. Friday with weekend performances through Feb. 28.

The play, written by Horton Foote, is about a young man, Horace, who travels to Houston, Texas, to reunite with his mother and sister who both left him as a child after moving with the children's stepfather. The show is one of nine plays written in Foote's series 'The Orphan's Home Cycle,' which features many of the same characters at different points in their lives.

Below is a Q&A with Director John David Lutz and Nate deCook, a junior who plays Horace, about the relationships in the show, character development and how the play is educating the student actors involved.

Courier & Press: At it's core, what is 'Lily Dale' about and how did you as the director try to approach the play with regard to its major themes?

John David Lutz: It's very much about relationships. This play is very naturalistic and about how people relate to one another given their relations, experiences and feelings. In this show, we have Horace, who was separated from his sister, Lily Dale, and mother at a young age because the mother remarried. So it's about the relationships between this boy and his estranged family and how his connections with them are strained by his poor relationship with his stepfather.

It's all about the human situation, which is fitting because the playwright, Horton Foote, connected most of his works to his real life. Much of it is fictionalized, but most of the events and situations happened in Foote's life or to himself directly. I wanted to make sure that the relationships in the story, whether fictional or not, rang true from my cast. So we focused hard on the relationships in rehearsal, especially how the characters regarded each other, themselves, and how their movements and unspoken interactions worked toward other characters too.

C&P: The cast is made up of only seven people. What was it like working in a smaller setting and what does it help build in the actors?

JDL: A smaller cast allows for the actors to explore and investigate how they relate to the work and who their character is. With less people, you have more opportunities to connect with your cast and in a play like this one, that is so involved with relationships, it's important to make character development the focal point.

C&P: Nate, you just came off 'Big Fish,' which was a much larger musical production. How was working with a smaller cast in this show different for you and what did it allow you to accomplish?

Nate deCook: I had a lot more time to explore the ins and outs of Horace and it was definitely a very different process than the one I went through with 'Big Fish.' But the play called for that slower process. It was definitely a much slower rehearsal experience. I learned something and built upon something new each rehearsal, whether it was for my own character or from someone else in the cast. I think that will make it very compelling for the audience. They will also see that same progression within the show.

C&P: 'Lily Dale' is one in nine other plays. Did the other works help you with developing Horace and in what ways?

NDC: It was really helpful getting to go and read the other plays that came before 'Lily Dale' and figuring out his life story from there. It showed how he ended up the way he is when our story starts in the play. It was really useful to have the history as a guide and it let me explore my character during rehearsal in different ways than I initially thought. I saw how Horace and his stepfather's relationship really is at the core of Horace's struggles. He views his own father, who died, as this magnificent man and his stepfather as the reason for all his troubles.

I also pulled a lot from personal experience. My having a little sister helped a lot because I thought about what it would have been like to be split from her and then try and develop something completely new years later.

C&P: Although the cast is smaller, the set design and costuming is far from minimalist. How does the set design and costuming add to the production?

JDL: The set is pretty complex. It has a skeletal nature to the structure of a house and things that you would find in such a place. The play is set in 1909 so there are several strong details that signal the time period as well as the conditions the people live in. There are architectural details of the time period as well and the costuming reflects that even more so. The women are in long dresses with corsets and hats when they leave the house. The characteristics of 1909 are very evident there.

If You Go

What: University of Evansville Theatre presents 'Lily Dale'

When: 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays through Feb. 27, 2 p.m. Sundays through Feb. 28

Where: Shanklin Theatre, 1800 Lincoln Ave.

Tickets: $15 for adults and $13 for senior adults, students, and UE faculty and staff. UE students can get one free student rush ticket beginning at noon on the day of the performance. Tickets can be purchased by calling 812-488–2031 between noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday.

Read or Share this story: