War Brides: A Play in One Act

The year is 1915. In a war-torn European village, two sisters face an impossible choice that will define their lives. Amelia has fallen in love with Hans Hoffman, a soldier heading to the front. Their marriage would be a "war bride" union - patriotic, expected, even celebrated. But Amelia also yearns to serve as a nurse, to do something meaningful with her hands while men bleed. Her sister Hedwig has watched the war devour their brothers, their neighbors, their future. She refuses to become another footnote in someone else's glory. When Hedwig makes a devastating choice to prove her point about the true cost of war, the sisters must confront what they owe to country, to each other, and to themselves. Wentworth's 1915 drama cuts to the bone of a question we still ask: what happens to the women left holding the wreckage?