Of Land, Family and Eternity

In Horton Foote’s “The Carpetbagger’s Children,” the decline of a rich East Texas family is told by three sisters in monologues that are both collective and individual. Time shifts, emotions are hidden then revealed, and the family moves inexorably toward its ultimate fate. No wonder Aglet Theatre Company has chosen this surprisingly rich play for its current, staged (no scripts) production. “Children” was Horton’s penultimate drama, and while all his quiet storytelling skills are on display, there is more impressionism than realism here.The sisters tell their stories without concern for chronology; they meander back and forth through time; and facts meld into emotions. Set in Foote’s fictitious Harrison, Texas (surrogate for Wharton, where he grew up), the sisters’ Yankee soldier father came back during Reconstruction and — underhandedly perhaps — amassed 20,000 acres of prime cotton farms. The pull of this land is the central force around which the story’s tales of marriages, births, deaths, disagreements and disappointments spin. Information is given, then often repeated in alternating snippets and full speeches; unseen characters — dead sister Beth and Father, rakish failure brother — are introduced. Each sister knows everything about the others, yet they are emotionally unconnected. Each occupies her own space on stage. Cornelia (Eileen Epperson) is the strong sister, anointed by her father to succeed him, not her weak brother. Grace Ann (Stacie Weiner) is the sister who married the wrong man and was cast out of the family. Yet, in Foote’s gentle hands, she achieves a kind of redemption. Sissie (Joanna Seaton) is the baby of the family, the sweet-voiced daughter who Mama said “never had a thought in her head.” This is a play of stories that may or may not be true, stories that have built one family’s mythology. It is a play that requires careful listening for subtle shifts in time and emphasis, for steely ruthlessness and often-too-sweet sentimentality, for an unheard cry and scream at encroaching pain and mortality. Foote’s use of monologues seems to emphasize an aloneness, a solitude within families that characters in his other plays may have always shared. Surely these women wear their ancestry and mythology like badges; yet each lives, and will die, alone; and family is no protection against life and the ravages of time itself. For the play to work, three strong actresses need to inhabit the roles. At the 2001 premiere in Houston, Roberta Maxwell, the incomparable Jean Stapleton and Foote’s daughter, Hallie, played the sisters. Aglet’s cast works hard and often achieves surprisingly good results. Epperson’s Cornelia is matter-of-fact, no nonsense, practical. It is she who must deal with changing times and modernize the family farms at the expense of long-time tenants. Sometimes she seems more schoolmarm than head of the family business, more dowdy than rich. Weiner has the most difficult role in Grace Anne, whose independence belies an emotional neediness; she is best at conveying a wistful longing to see her family again. Seaton’s Sissie bubbles and sings her way through life, though even she must tire of “O, the Clanging Bells of Time,” a cloying hymn that she must sing again and again. But, of course, the play is about time; and it is no coincidence that the last words of the hymn and the play are “eternity, eternity”. Macey Levin has directed and Jaime Davidson lighted “Children” straight on, without gimmicks. One might quibble with the accents, more Mississippi than Texas, and the costumes; children of rich Texas farmers dressed better, believe me. But this is an unusual work by an American master. Foote, who died in 2009 at 92, won two Academy Awards for screenplays and a Pulitzer Prize for drama; and Aglet’s production lets us concentrate on Foote’s words and dramatic mastery. “The Carpetbagger’s Children” will be performed at TriArts’ Bok Gallery Friday, May 6, and Saturday, May 7. Doors open at 7 p.m. for complimentary wine and cheese, with performances at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. For reservations and information, call 860-435-6928 or go to aglettheatre@comcast.net. www.aglettheatre@comcast.net.