Ruth Gottlieb Moore plays lead in The Trip to Bountiful
By Caroline Judson

Cynthia Gilliam Photos by Guy White

Age is just a number. This is the philosophy of actress Ruth Gottlieb Moore who turned 88 this summer. Ruth is widely known throughout the South as an actress loaded with talent. She will be playing the lead in The Trip to Bountiful opening Friday, Nov. 10 at Workshop Theatre.

Cynthia Gilliam, who is directing the play, is delighted to be teamed up with Ruth Gottlieb Moore once again. The two have been friends since 1959 when Cynthia rocked the theatre world with her performance as Joan of Arc at Town Theatre. They both still remember Ruth coming backstage to congratulate Cynthia on her performance. In Ruth's words, "I saw her talent and, even more, how important she could be to theatre in the future in South Carolina."

Ruth Gottlieb Moore and Cynthia Gilliam have their own mutual admiration society as an outcome of doing many shows together. They appeared together in The Little Foxes . Cynthia directed Ruth in Lost in Yonkers in 1995 where Larry Webster played her son, and he is again in The Trip To Bountiful.

Ruth Gottlieb Moore

Some of Ruth's other performances include On Golden Pond , Grace and Glory, and Driving Miss Daisy.

Cynthia was in Workshop Theatre's first production and was one of its original founders.

Ruth Gottlieb Moore is proud of her age and describes it as the number of keys on a piano. She was glad to share her secrets of learning lines at the tender age of 88. She feels the ability to learn is something you are born with. When doing a show she reads over her lines at least once a day. She records all her cues on tape, then plays the tape, and answers with her lines. Her husband, retired USC professor, Raymond Moore, always helps her memorize by reading other roles in the play. Ruth does not watch television, go to movies, or read books while acting in a production. She can't be involved in any plots of this nature, but she does work crossword puzzles.

The Trip to Bountiful brings together some of Columbia's theatre talent who has not been seen in a long time. Cast members in The Trip to Bountiful include Druscilla Brookshire, Larry Webster, Lisa Akly, Bob Hungerford, Bill Canaday, Dervin Bradford, Presley Sanders, Tony Price, and Lisa Young.

A spectacular set has been designed and executed by Walter O'Rourke, and Chris Thee has lent his artistic touch as well.

The Trip to Bountiful is about an elderly woman, Carrie Watts in Houston, who has a longing to revisit her hometown of Bountiful. The play runs from Nov. 10 through Monday Nov. 20 with matinees on Sunday, Nov. 12 and Nov 19 at 3 pm. For reservation call 799-6551.