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Aleshea HarrissOn Sugarlandtakes place in a small cul-de-sac at the end of Tiparoo Lane.
They happen throughoutOn Sugarland, more frequently as the play goes on.
It turns out that Harriss lyric excess her characters speak in dazzling torrents needs such old, strong bones.
The playflexesin both senses of the word.
At various points duringOn Sugarland,Sadie relays her psychic conversations, all with her matrilineal ancestors.
Sadie just wants information about Iola, but her foremothers are too preoccupied with their own stories to help.
Of course the familys gift for violence hints at what might have happened.
Eventually Sadie will figure it out.
she says, looking in the mirror) and brisk, insulting humor clearly conceal something important.
Eventually, though, she bows to it.
You could watch all ofOn Sugarlandand enjoy it andgetit and never worry about Harriss connections to Sophocles.
Still, theyre there, subterranean allusions running far beneath the cul-de-sac.
(Men dont care what happens to him, but the gods certainly do.)
In fact,anywhereyour eye looks inOn Sugarland, it catches on something ancient.
Harris is clearly interested in plowing deep, and what she delves for, she finds.
Since its the big picture where Harris falters, our attention turns to her parts rather than her whole.
Several of the speeches are the finest this season.
The one she delivers to Sadie had the audience shouting with praise.
What do some people have against leisure, I wonder?
You know how to make, pardon my language, a motherfucker mad?
Love it in your fingernails and to the edges of your hair follicles.
Director Whitney White hasnt got quite the steadiness of touch to do that.
She directedWhat to Send Upas well, and that show needed only a chalk circle on the floor.
The partnership between her mind and Harriss seems to flourish in that more ascetic environment.
Ringing this platform are a circular set of train tracks, which people sometimes clamber over.
He does a gorgeous job with the Sugarland memorial itself, but everywhere else is crowded, even impassable.
As were distracted by the sets clutter, its hard to perceive that hollowing out.
And where should the Rowdy dance?
We should have made adayof it.
All the troubles ofOn Sugarlandcome from trying to push everything together.
Each story just needed a little more space, room to breathe a grave of its own.
On Sugarlandis at New York Theater Workshop through March 20.
