Sugar in Our Wounds
by Donja R. Love

Name: Sugar in Our Wounds
Brand: Donja R. Love
SKU: 9780822239369
Rating: 4.49 (55 reviews)

Off-Broadway

Sugar in Our Wounds Book Cover — Sugar in Our Wounds Cover

Highlights

Female

Male

105 mins 19th Century Role(s) for Black Actor(s) Unit Set/Multiple Settings Period Costumes

Synopsis

On a plantation somewhere down south, a mystical tree reaches up toward heaven.

Generations of slaves have been hanged on this tree.

But James is going to be different, as long as he keeps his head down and practices his reading.

Moreover, as the Civil War rages on, the possibility of freedom looms closer than ever.

When a stranger arrives on the plantation, a striking romance emerges, inviting the couple and those around them into uncharted territory.

This play is part one of a trilogy that explores Queer love through Black History (slavery, the Civil Rights movement, the Black Lives Matter movement).

Part two is the play Fireflies.

Press Reviews

"Throat-lumpening, nose-reddening, fantastically moving… Sugar in Our Wounds [is] written in lush, poetic dialect… Its message is unimpeachable – that when we fail to treat one another as fully human, we invite tragedy."
— The New York Times

"Love’s desire to celebrate these characters and their stories…is accomplished. Sugar in Our Wounds is simple, timeless, magical storytelling at its finest."
— Broadway Blog

"[An] ambitious drama… Evocative… This is a play to celebrate what was beautiful in an ugly world, rather than dwell on tragedy or otherness."
— BroadwayWorld

"Sugar in Our Wounds implausibly manages to find love in the most terrible of circumstances. It searches for a queer history that passed without record, while simultaneously pointing toward a future in which our rigid taxonomy of sexual identities is no longer necessary to achieve political equality."
— TheaterMania

Characters

Character	Gender	Age	Description
Henry M, late teens/early twenties, Black; he’s tall, strong, and harder than the world that made him this way; and he’s dark – real dark. His	—	—	M, late teens/early twenties, Black; he’s tall, strong, and harder than the world that made him this way; and he’s dark – real dark. His
Aunt Mama W, there’s no age here – that’s for a reason, Black; she’s an old, old magic woman who’s probably older than God – let her tell it. She has a gentleness to her that can be hard to see thanks to her quick tongue.	female	—	W, there’s no age here – that’s for a reason, Black; she’s an old, old magic woman who’s probably older than God – let her tell it. She has a gentleness to her that can be hard to see thanks to her quick tongue.
Mattie W, early twenties, Black; she’s a girl who just wants to be loved. Despite the scars on her face, she is very pretty. She has skin so yellow it makes the sun jealous.	female	—	W, early twenties, Black; she’s a girl who just wants to be loved. Despite the scars on her face, she is very pretty. She has skin so yellow it makes the sun jealous.
Isabel W, early twenties, White; she has a desire for things she shouldn’t touch, and it’s dangerous—at least for those she tries to touch. But with that, she’s as well-intentioned as she possibly could be – for a white girl.	female	—	W, early twenties, White; she has a desire for things she shouldn’t touch, and it’s dangerous—at least for those she tries to touch. But with that, she’s as well-intentioned as she possibly could be – for a white girl.
James M, late teens, Black; he’s young, precocious, and innocent – according to his heart; but let the world tell you, he’s a man. He has a magical relationship with a tall, tall tree.	male	—	M, late teens, Black; he’s young, precocious, and innocent – according to his heart; but let the world tell you, he’s a man. He has a magical relationship with a tall, tall tree.