Synkroniciti is pleased to welcome playwright Don Narkevic of West Virginia with ’til Death, a drama set in 1970 about a marriage unraveling in middle age. Russell Reed is a coal miner who has been keeping a secret from his wife, Pauline. It isn’t the first time he’s hidden something, but this one—if he could allow himself to be vulnerable—might actually make her more sympathetic. The mine is closed tonight, and Pauline uses the rare quiet to try once more to convince him to join the day shift and be more present in her life. She tries to explain her loneliness, her longing, and the needs she has carried alone for years.
PAULINE: Most people think those two vows are followed by ‘til death do us part.’ It’s only logical: ‘in sickness and in health, ‘til death do us part.’ But there’s more. The last two vows are ‘to love and to cherish.’ You’ve never told me you loved me, Russell.
RUSSELL: I ain’t good with words, Pauline. You know that.
PAULINE: But I actually believe you love me.
RUSSELL: Love. Love. Love. That’s all you hear about today from them hippies. Love-ins. Summer of love. Free love. Well, let me tell you something. Love ain’t free. It’s gettin’ up every day and goin’ to work. It’s stokin’ the coal furnace before bed and again when you rise. It’s eatin’ what’s set in front of you, even when it’s… well, you know what I mean. What else do you want?
By the time Russell finally bares his own disappointment at the way life has kicked him to the curb, he’s already lost her. Considering what Pauline reveals, it’s a miracle she didn’t leave years ago.
Narkevic creates a gritty, believable couple: Pauline, exhausted from reaching out only to be ignored and betrayed, and Russell, using gruffness and coarse humor to hide his inadequacy and quiet despair. We watch their twenty‑seven‑year marriage collapse—irretrievable, intimate, and tragic.
Read “til Death” in Synkroniciti’s Expectations, Vol. 8, No. 2, available here: https://synkroniciti.com/the-magazine/purchase-individual-issues/.
Don Narkevic, Buckhannon, WV. MFA National University. In 2002, “The Interview” won a grant from the Arch & Bruce Brown Foundation. In 2013, Barter’s Appalachian Festival of Plays chose “Buffalo Creek” as a finalist, and it received a reading. Short plays have been published in 2019 & 2023. In 2024, The Potomac Playmakers produced “From Birth,” a one-act, and in 2025 Culture Cult Press published the play. Plays have received readings in Chicago, New York, Virginia, Maryland, and West Virginia.