Disproving that good theater must be located within a certain radius, Sean Cullen’s new play Safe Home is now playing at Women’s Interart Center on 10th Avenue. A family/war drama that manages to breath new life into both genres, even for this wary audience member, Safe Home resolutely refuses to dabble in either safe answers or safe choices.

Jumping around in time, Cullen’s play follows the Hollytree family after oldest son Jimmy (Eric Miller) joins the Marines during the Korean War. But anyone expecting a heart-warming tale of family strength will be disappointed, if not downright shocked, by the Hollytrees. The matriarch (played with a fiery determination and frightening intensity by Cynthia Mace that demands to be seen) unapologetically chases her middle son around a coffin in the living room, slashing at him with a screwdriver. Patriarch Jim (Michael Cullen) orders Jimmy out of his house when he finds out that Jimmy might take over his job due to Jim’s medical condition. This isn’t the home-and-hearth of traditional 1950s America, but it’s something that feels a lot more familiar and truthful.

Ably staged by Chris Henry with the help of projections to keep the audience clear on the timeline, Safe Home is shocking, powerful and almost redemptive. Cullen lays the groundwork for forgiveness, but wisely refrains from being explicit. The Hollytrees have failed one another too often and too thoroughly for him to give them a blanket free pass. The cast all rise to the occasion (except Katy Wright Mead as Jimmy’s girlfriend, who fails her powerful material with her thin, quivery voice), giving towering performances that make Safe Home seem, at times, like a long-lost Arthur Miller play. Buy your tickets now and then pray that this show gets the transfer it deserves.

> Safe Home

Through Jan. 31, Women’s Interart Center, 500 W. 52nd St. (at 10th Ave.), 212-868-4444; $18.