(Ocala Civic Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Ann Dunan) Excerpt from "The Sugar Bean Sisters" At rise, the Nettles home in Sugar Bean, Florida is revealed. The house settles deep within the ancient, mystical world of Buster Swamp in Watchalahoochee County, Florida, east of the great Watchalahoochee River.
The house itself is very old and rustic, even primitive. The main living area of the Nettles homestead is open and flowing and consists of a sofa, coffee table and armchair.
A small table where meals are consumed, an antique refrigerator, stove and sink make up the kitchen area of the old swamp dwelling. At one end of the room is an antique vanity, a hope chest and a brass bed. A large, imposing rocking chair inhabits its proper place downstage. Mama's venerable rocker is the very heart of the decaying old house.
A back screen door near the kitchen leads off-stage in the direction of the Nettles family sugarcane field. A front screen door opens onto a rickety, old porch. The rotting planks of wood are beginning to sag and one small section of the front porch has already fallen to the ground completely. On closer inspection, one might observe that the left side of the house is actually lower than the right. Over time, the impenetrable old swamp shack has begun to sink into the boggy mire.
When the sisters are home, both doors remain open so that a refreshing breeze might flow through the outer screen doors. Although several antique fans have been strategically positioned throughout the house in an attempt to create cross-ventilation, torn lace curtains hang motionless in the hot stillness.
A large open attic space runs the full length of the house. A crudely fashioned wood ladder is mounted to the upstage wall for easy access to the storage area above. The attic area is filled with old junk: packing house crates, toys, broken down kitchen appliances, window fans, personal keepsakes and most importantly, an old suitcase from the early 1960's.
The house is brightly decorated in typical Southern Christmas fashion. Blinking lights, various-sized manger scenes and plastic Santas clutter the large open rooms. A door up-stage right leads to the home's only real bedroom. There is a bathroom lean-to there as well, though the audience never actually sees this part of the house.
A neglected sugar cane field surrounds the house like a fortress. The wood that forms the interior walls of the house appear to have been fashioned from various road signs and store fronts, i.e. "RC COLA", "SUGAR BEAN FEED AND GRAIN", "HOME COOKING", "LAST CHANCE TEXACO", etc.
The old shack is dark except for the numerous strings of Christmas lights that outline the roof of the house, the front porch and the interior attic space. Colorful lights frame the interior of the windows of the house as well.
An old tin outhouse with a half-moon carved in the door stands at the edge of the sugarcane field. The Nettles family graveyard sits on a small plot of land just beyond the antiquated privy. Five primitive tombstones mark the location of the Nettles family burial ground. The graves are crowded together and overgrown with swamp brush. One of the headstones seems dangerously close to toppling over completely.
This is the house that Papa Fate Nettles built with his bare hands in the middle of Buster Swamp on the outskirts of Sugar Bean in Watchalahoochee County, Florida.
(San Jose Stage Co. production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Chin-Yi Wie) 
(Greenbrier Valley Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Marc Sherrell) 
(Florida Repertory Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Robert F. Wolin) 
(San Jose Stage Co. production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Chin-Yi Wei) 
(The WPA Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" - New York City - Set Design by David Gallo) 
(Ocala Civic Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Ann Dunan) 
(San Jose Stage Co. production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Chin-Yi Wei) 
(San Jose Stage Co. production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Chin-Yi Wei) 
(Ocala Civic Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" - Set Design by Ann Dunan) 
(Ocala Civic Theatre production of "The Sugar Bean Sisters" -
Set Design by Ann Dunan) |
