BECKLEY, WV (LOOTPRESS) – Theatre West Virginia is teaming with Audible and Public Theatre of New York for a one-night only Off-Broadway production of ‘Coal Country.’
Written by Drama Desk winners Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, and featuring legendary singer/songwriter and Grammy winner Steve Earle, ‘Coal Country’ explores the effects and aftermath of the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine Disaster, which occurred in Raleigh County and claimed the lives of 29 of the 30 miners who were on-site at the time of the explosion.
“We’re really excited about having Steve Earle and ‘Coal Country’ here as Theatre West Virginia kicks off its 66nd season,” said Theatre West Virginia General Manager Scott Hill.
The production, which Hill called “part tribute, part concert, part play,” explores the events of the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster which occured in 2010. The show’s creators, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, are adamant that the production is not a reimagining of the events that occurred and the subsequent aftermath.
Rather, it was put together as a representation of the tragedy “in the words of the West Virginians who lived it,” as Jensen said in reference to the exhaustive sequence of interviews conducted with families affected by the Upper Big Branch explosion. “95% of the dialogue in the play is taken directly from the interviews we did with people,” says Blank.
Iconic singer/songwriter Steve Earle plays a substantial part in the production, performing the music throughout. Hill refers to Earle’s contribution to the production as being similar to that of a “narrator.”
Many of the songs featured on Earle’s 2020 album, Ghosts of West Virginia, were written specifically for the ‘Coal Country’ production. Earle says that the function of the songs featured throughout the production, and indeed of his role in the work, is to “move the narrative along.”
“The intention was always [for ‘Coal Country’] to come to West Virginia,” Earle says of the decision to bring the show to the Mountain State, “I’ve been doing Mountain Stage for years, and we did manage to come in and play several of these songs with my band on Mountain Stage last summer, and that was as close as we came.”
Theatre West Virginia’s one-time production of ‘Coal Country’ will be held at the Woodrow Wilson High School Auditorium in Beckley, WV on Monday, May 9, 2022 at 7:30pm.
The first 400 tickets of the production will be offered to any family members who lost loved ones at the Upper Big Branch disaster, along with survivors and former employees at no cost. These tickets can be attained by emailing coalcountryticketsubb@gmail.com.
Theatre West Virginia’s website, www.theatrewestvirginia.org, will also be offering free tickets to the show on a first-come first-serve basis while supplies last. The show will run for one hour and thirty minutes, and will feature no intermission.