Overview
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.