|
COLD SASSY TREE: Synopsis
The action takes place in the town of Cold Sassy Tree, Georgia, in 1900.
ACT I, Spring
As the curtain opens, a group of ladies are presenting a petition to the mayor to change the name of the town from Cold Sassy Tree to the more dignified and progressive Commerce. However, the name can never be changed without the approval of e leading citizen and proprietor of the General Store, Rucker Lattimore, and he is against it. His grandson, the narrator Will Tweedy, explains the original name came from a grove of sassafras trees.
Rucker’s wife has died just three weeks previously, but he shocks and outrages his daughters, Mary Willis and Loma, by announcing that he is going to marry Love Simpson, a milliner half his age, and a Yankee to boot. It is an “in name only” marriage; he needs someone to keep house for him and a wife is cheaper than hired help. Rather than considering their father’s well-being, all the daughters can think of is how shamed they will be, unable to hold up their heads in the town.
Rucker’s grandson, Will Tweedy, searching for his lost dog, has a run-in with some tough boys from Milltown, on the wrong side of the tracks. A classmate, Lightfoot McClendon, and sister of one of the boys, breaks them up. Will Tweedy protests that he could have taken care of himself, and he and Lightfoot become friends (So there you were, my guardian angel).
As they prepare supper, Mary Willis and Loma wonder where their father has gone; he hasn’t been in the store all day. They are interrupted by the arrival of Rucker and Love Simpson with the stunning announcement that they have just been married.
A flashback shows his proposal in the store (Miss Love, I got somethin’I want-a say). She will do the cooking and cleaning and, in return, he will leave the house to her when he dies. When she demurs, he agrees to include the furniture in the deal. At first she refuses; they should wait at least a year after the death of his first wife or the town will be shocked. Finally, however, she agrees.
As they are about to sit down to supper, Love explains that she was orphaned as a child and brought up by an aunt. They spent their whole life moving from one shabby rented room to another. She always dreamed of a home of her own, or at least a room to which she would have the key (Rented rooms, rented rooms).
 Outside the General Store, several townspeople have stopped to discuss Rucker’s marriage. The scene then changes to the church where the congregation is singing Blest be the tie that binds. Midway through, Love and Will Tweedy enter and join the singing but, in return, first the women, and then the men, stop singing. The preacher tries to stop the hymn after the third verse, but Love and Will Tweedy defiantly sing the fourth verse alone. At the end, they march down the aisle and out of the church.
 When they tell Rucker what happened, he decides to have church right there in his parlor. Opening the windot to make sure that anyone passing by will know what is happening, Rucker launches into a sermon about religious zeal versus faith and trust (Now first I want to talk about religious zeal).
Sure enough, Miss Effie Belle, Thelma, Lula and Myrtis, on their way home from church, look in through the window. They comment in outrage on the sinful goings-on as Love, Will Tweedy and Rucker sing the Doxology.
ACT II, Summer
Love is trimming Rucker’s hair. She has moved into the “company” room and was shocked to find the house had no electricity, running water, or indoor plumbing. Still, to the displeasure of Rucker’s daughters, she has managed to brighten up the house considerably. When their father appears sans moustache and beard, they react in dismay. Rucker leaves to go to the store.
Suddenly Camp, Loma’s husband, comes running in with the news that a man from Texas is looking for Love. It seems that the man, Clayton McAllister, and Love were engaged at one time, but he broke it off. When he sees her, he embraces Love in full view of some townspeople. He has changed his mind and now wants to marry her. She rejects him in no uncertain words, preferring to stay married to Rucker, and he goes back to Texas.
Lightfoot tells Will Tweedy that she has to quit school to help her family. Her dream of an education and bettering herself is over
(If I stop school it’s th’ end of m’ dream). When he offers to ask his grandfather to give her a job in the store, she embraces him in thanks and, as they kiss, they are seen by a disapproving Loma.
While Love is in Atlanta on a buying trip, Rucker has had the house modernized. Will Tweedy has been spreading slightly scandalous stories about his Aunt Loma and, after laughing at the stories, Rucker tells him to apologize. He then shows him all the improvements he has made. When Love sees the changes, she impulsively kisses him, and Rucker returns the kiss, telling her he has loved her ever since he first saw her (I’ve known I loved you right from the start). She feels unworthy of his love because she is “damaged goods”. When she was young, she was raped by a neighbor (Something happened when I was still young). Rather than rejecting her, he asks her to become a ‘real’ wife to him, and she agrees.
ACT III, Fall
 At the store, Love quiets the gossiping ladies by appealing to their vanity. Rucker reproves Will Tweedy for wanting to become a writer instead of taking over the family business. As Rucker closes the store for the day, he is robbed at gunpoint and critically wounded.
The family maintains a vigil for the dying Rucker. He urges Will Tweedy to disregard his earlier criticism and to follow his heart. He then confesses to Love that she is the vision he has always sought. She tries to interrupt him to tell him she is bearing his child, but he dies before she can.
A heartbroken Will Tweedy tells Lightfoot about the plans for Rucker’s funeral party (Sometimes th’ pain of missin’ him).
At Will Tweedy’s urging, Love discloses to the townspeople that Rucker is to be a father again. She is greeted with stunned silence. A few of the townspeople leave but most are won over at last. Love and the other members of Rucker’s family, finally united, receive the joyous congratulations of the crowd and celebrate the legacy of Rucker Lattimore (Love him or hate him).EAO
|