Cicely Tyson reflects on ‘Trip to Bountiful’ and journey back to stage

The role of Carrie Watts in Horton Foote’s “The Trip to Bountiful” represents an artistic summit for an actress of a certain age — as well as a potential awards magnet.

First played on TV and the stage by Lillian Gish, the character was memorably incarnated on the big screen by Geraldine Page, who won her only Academy Award for the 1985 movie adaptation.

Last year on Broadway, Cicely Tyson won a Tony Award and a slew of other honors in a new stage production that featured a principally black cast. The octogenarian actress is reprising her role at the Ahmanson Theatre, where the play will begin performances later this month.

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Tyson said in a recent interview that returning to the stage after a three-decade absence was exhausting at first. (Her character is onstage for almost all of the play.) “I had been accustomed to doing film for so long, and here I was … it was very difficult for me. I really worked hard to be able to project to the last row,” she said.

The actress credited director Michael Wilson for guiding her performance and providing the space she needed to become reacquainted with stage technique. “I have to say Michael Wilson was very nurturing. The moments I was about to fall apart, he would find a way to move something else into that spot until I was able to get myself back together,” said Tyson.

The cast includes Blair Underwood as her son and Vanessa Williams as her temperamental daughter-in-law. Both actors appeared with Tyson in the TV movie version of the play that aired this year on Lifetime.

“Bountiful” follows Carrie Watts as she attempts a last visit to her childhood home in a rural Texas town.

Before the play’s Broadway run, Tyson paid a visit to Foote’s hometown of Wharton, Texas, which is believed to have been an inspiration for the fictional town of Bountiful.

“I wanted to smell and taste and feel and see that moon that kept [Carrie] from sleeping at night,” said Tyson. “I become the character — that’s who I become. I try to live as they live in order to project what it is they do, say and feel.”