Spring, 1894. Blacks Run, Pennsylvania. Three sisters, Bella, Sadie, and Nellie Remaley, are building lives of their own near the Acme Powder Works, the dangerous factory that keeps their small town running. When their parents arrive for a visit, it should be an ordinary, happy day. A family dinner. A little worry from a father who has never quite trusted the powder works. A little pride from a mother watching her daughters grow into their own lives.
None of them know it is the last time they will all be together.
Beneath the Allegheny Sky is rooted in real family history, mine included, and in the real newspaper accounts of the explosion that changed a town and a family forever. It is a play about love, duty, and the quiet cost of progress, and it asks a question I keep coming back to as a writer: how do you say goodbye to someone when you do not know it is goodbye?
Programming note: the play’s final act draws its dialogue directly from period newspaper coverage of the tragedy, and it can be graphic. I wanted the ending to be true to what actually happened, not softened for comfort.
Who’s In It
- John R. Remaley, a Civil War veteran and father who has never fully made peace with the danger his daughters live near
- Elizabeth Remaley, the family’s emotional anchor, an Irish immigrant carrying quiet fears for her children
- Bella Arthur, the youngest sister, newly married and hopeful
- Sadie Remaley, caught between family loyalty and a growing, complicated romance
- Nellie Remaley, the eldest sister, with dreams that reach beyond the powder works
- William Arthur, Bella’s husband, ambitious and a little guilty about the risks of his job
- Samuel Robbins, superintendent of the powder works, torn between duty and feeling
- Charles Robbins, Samuel’s younger brother, shy, stuttering, and quietly courting Nellie
Historical Drama/Tragedy, Full-Length, Cast of 9 to 11.
If this story belongs on your stage, I would love for you to read it.
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