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Diplomatic Relations

To lure tourists to her city, the mayor of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania has built an embassy for the fictional country of Portikrania. But when the State Department and mafia get involved, her scheme explodes into a comedy of Pennsylvanian proportions.

Read a selection from the script.

Characters

  • VEENA GERALDINE HINCKLE, mayor of Wilkes-Barre, mid-50s
  • TONY MALONE, a "contractor," late 20s
  • JENNIFER HINCKLE, Veena's daughter, early 20s
  • DESMOND WESTWOOD, inspector for the State Department, 40s

Productions

  • Riant Strawberry One-Act Festival (New York, August 2010)

Backstory

My childhood babysitter grew up in Wilkes-Barre and moved back fifty years later to find the city well past its prime. I started thinking about what a politician would have to do to save Wilkes-Barre; Diplomatic Relations was my best guess.

Physicists are the golden children of science; the Institute gives them the longest fellowships--three to five years--and the nicest housing. Mathematicians are the bastard stepkids; they get one-year fellowships and have to find their own lodging, often made out of cardboard. Historians are permitted at the Institute only that the mathematicians will have someone to mock. ~ Physics Prom