Writer's Bitter Drama By TOM PULEO
A prominent family's bruising divorce saga - taut with allegations of excessive drinking, child abuse and attempted poisoning by nicotine patch - has mushroomed into a $1.4 million defamation lawsuit against one of America's foremost living playwrights.<br /> The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Hartford, accuses Alfred F. Uhry of waging a smear campaign against his son-in-law, Russell B. Rhea.