Front Street

by Anne Pie, Anne Pie

Drama / 7m, 3f / Interior Although World War II brought women to work in the factories, it was mostly immigrant women, like Tonia Deluna, who labored in the blistering tobacco sheds of the Connecticut River Valley. The play concerns Tonia, work-weary and trapped in an arranged marriage to Dominic, who is years her senior. Yet Tonia remains tenacious in her struggle to preserve the family. Her eldest son, Sonny, who is crippled by polio and embroiled in gambling, is threatened by shadowy underworld figures. He flails against his lot in life, and his bond to his family is put to the supreme test. Enter colorful Maria LaBrutta, the six-fingered neighborhood puttana who provides deliverance to the family, albeit unorthodox. Driven by old world tradition, adamant Dominic is determined that daughter Angela will be married according to an old-country match. To Angela's horror, Dominic arranges a liaison which unleashes Tonia's fury. She must also fight for a better life for her youngest son, Nicky. Through the unwavering devotion of a family friend, Rocco, Tonia experiences emotions long-since denied and is terrified by the realization of her passions. The disappearance of grandmother Nonie, along with Nicky's entrapment in Hartford's tragic circus fire of July 6, 1944, bring a shocking conclusion to events, unexpectedly uniting the DeLuna family.

104 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

Reviews

[Priscilla Herrington · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a play, set in Hartford, Connecticut in July, 1944. Front Street was the neighborhood by the Connecticut River where the newest arrivals to the city lived. In 1944, the new arrivals were Italians. The action takes places mostly within two days, with a final scene four days later. During this time, the family has dealt with major adjustments to life in America, and crises involving the senile mother-in-law, the eldest son and his troubles with gambling and criminal associates, and the youngest son who went to the circus with his best friend the day of the circus fire.

For anyone familiar with Hartford, the play's references to places and institutions of that city will evoke a bit of nostalgia. People of Italian heritage or those familiar with this culture will enjoy the language and other references. But most of all, this is a drama of a family and its secrets. Over the course of the three acts we see how decisions made in the past affect the present, and how a family's love for each other can get them through difficulties they couldn't have imagined.