World War II era drama premieres at Northeast Theatre

SCRANTON, PA — The world premiere of “An American Wife,” by Michael Downend and Karen Blomain, is currently running at The Northeast Theatre, in the Performance Space at the Hotel Jermyn, 326 Spruce Street, Second Floor.

The play is a comic drama set in the Scranton area shortly after World War II, about an Irish-American soldier returning home, and his Polish bride who receives a mixed reception from her new husband’s family. It takes us through a year in the lives of the family as they get to know one another again after having been immutably changed by the war.

Playwrights Blomain and Downend are residents of Wilkes-Barre and Puerta Vallarta, Mexico. Poet, essayist, translator, short story writer, novelist and now playwright, Blomain holds an MFA from Columbia University and is a professor in the Professional Writing Program at Kutztown University. With her husband, playwright, novelist and photo journalist Michael Downend, she has taught and conducted workshops in France, Ireland, Russia, Mexico and across the U.S. “An American Wife” is her first play.

Michael Downend’s career as a playwright began with a one act called “The Mola Mola Fish,” which received productions in theatres across the country. A series of other plays followed, among them “High Thin Cirrus,” “Lone Ranger Mornings” and “Occoquan,” and with them a series of awards including a Rockefeller/ OADR playwriting grant, two Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Playwrighting Fellowships and an ABC Filmwriting Fellowship.

The play will run through Saturday, April 7. Performances are Wednesdays (except March 28) and Thursdays at 7:00 p.m.; Fridays (except March 24) and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays (March 25 and April 1) at 3:00 p.m.

For more information visit thenortheasttheatre.us or call 570/558-1515.