Presented by: BUTTERFLY EFFECT THEATRE COMPANY
The play “Coal Country” delivers a deeply personal look at the West Virginia’s Upper Big Branch mine explosion of 2010, which killed 29 miners and destroyed a small West Virginia mining community. The words of miners and their families set to the music of country-rock legend Steve Earle, is being performed Oct.26 – Nov 19 at the Dairy Arts Center.
“Coal Country” opened at the Public Theater in New York in 2020 and ran for just 26 performances before the Covid pandemic shut down theaters in March of that year. It was revived this year with a limited off-Broadway run through mid-April at the Cherry Lane Theater. This the first time it’s being done outside New York City, and Month of Modern’s discount gives an amazing opportunity to see a Regional Premiere.
“Coal Country” is a prime example of how creativity and well-crafted cultural output, in this case a play that pops up off-Broadway, can speak truth to power through the power of story. Our lessons become the morals of our stories, and so long as “Coal Country” has an afterlife—after off-Broadway and after Butterfly Effect’s premiere—that is a very good thing.