BETC’s hard-hitting drama about a mine explosion speaks to a common reality for the families left behind
As is now becoming abundantly clear, the worst thing humanity has ever done has been to dig stuff out of the ground and burn it for warmth and energy long past the time when it was known to be incredibly harmful to life on Earth. Coal, we’ve also learned, is the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel we can burn — while also being incredibly dangerous to mine.
It’s amazing that we still hear politicians and others laud the sacred role of coal miners and how we must somehow prop up this dying industry. It’s hard for most of us to imagine what it’d be like to spend a 10-hour shift deep in a coal mine, day in and day out for decades. Or to co-exist with the death and illness that accompanies the job. And, we may wonder, why would anyone choose this occupation?
In Coal Country — the season opener for the Boulder Ensemble Theatre Company — we get an eye-opening look into this world in the wake of a horrific explosion that killed 29 West Virginia miners in 2010. Playwrights Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank spent many hours interviewing family members of those killed in the Upper Big Branch Mine disaster, leading to a script that’s as personal as it is an indictment of corporate callousness toward human life.
Director Jessica Robblee has assembled an all-star cast of local talent to portray the grieving family members who alternate between describing their pain and anger while painting a picture of life in a coal-mining community. Amidst a rugged, striking set depicting the entrance to a mine (designed by Tina Anderson), the seven are accompanied by a singer (Joe Jung) who belts out songs written by Steve Earle — many of which serve as individual tributes to the lost miners. Although not a musical, the songs are a key ingredient that augments the story’s folksy heart while helping to break up the testimonial-style dialogue that comprises much of the script.
On the way home after seeing this show on its sold-out opening night Friday, I was contemplating the nature of “wrongful death” in all its forms. As we live through yet another frightening chapter of history where thousands are dying in Israel, Gaza, Ukraine and other places, it’s tempting to wonder why we should be focused on these 29 deaths that occurred over a decade ago. Innocent civilians killed in wartime may seem far removed from those who perish in industrial accidents, but what Coal Country drives home is the story behind every one of those lost lives. We can eventually accept natural deaths due to illness, old age, accidents and other force majeure, but what these characters illustrate is how incredibly difficult it is to move forward when those deaths could have been avoided; when they were the result of criminal carelessness.
Robblee starts off with simple blocking that has our characters recounting life in coal country told from their individual perspectives and with little interaction between them. As their stories are joined in tragedy, there are more deliberate and coordinated movements between them that nicely illustrate their shared experience.
There’s a wife mourning her husband (Anastasia Davidson); a man who’s lost his son and two other family members (Jason Maxwell); a retired mineworker who’s seen enough (Chris Kendall); a whistleblower who saw it all coming (Mark Collins) and his wife (Lindsey Pierce); the son of a miner known for his great charity (Cajardo Lindsey); and a local doctor (Martha Harmon Pardee) who’s seen the impacts of coal mining on her community’s health.
The nature of the script affords each player the chance to fully realize and define their character as they recount their truths to the audience. What the script may lack in dramatic interaction is more than compensated for with these deep dives into who these people are. As such, BETC’s production of Coal Country is notable for so many excellent performances that it’s hard to identify standouts.
One of the characters who hits hardest is Tommy Davis, played by Maxwell. A gifted actor who often deploys his querulous delivery for laughs, Maxwell’s salt-of-the-earth characterization of Tommy is as funny as it is poignant. While his quirky vocal range brings some levity to the story, it also serves to punctuate the rage he feels at the loss of three family members, and it’s a powerful and memorable performance.
Anastasia Davidson as Patti
Davidson’s depiction of a wife who only had four-and-a-half years with the love of her life is similarly devastating. There’s less rage and more heartbreak in her portrayal of Patti Stover, and the actor really brings home the powerless grief and shock that accompanies such a loss. Similarly stunned and struggling to come to terms with the new reality is Roosevelt (a compelling Cajardo Lindsey), whose grief is shared by the whole town for a father who was deeply involved in the lives of the community.
One of Colorado’s preeminent dramatic actors, Chris Kendall, fully inhabits Gary Quarles — a man who’s utterly sickened not just by the recent disaster but by the long history of injustice inflicted on the community by the mine owners. With the change from a union operation to a non-union one under new owner Masseey Energy, Kendall brings out the anger and frustration they all feel trapped in a world they can neither change nor escape.
As the whistleblower Goose, Collins is convincing as the Cassandra in the coal mine — a worker so alarmed at seeing safety go by the boards that he started taking notes about it. As his supportive wife, Mindi, Lindsey Pierce becomes part of the chorus of townsfolk angrily calling for Massy to be punished — and particularly its CEO Don Blankenship.
All of it comes to a head at the trial of Blankenship, with all that grief and anger focused around the hope that this one man, at least, will be held accountable. When the judge (Simone St. John) reads out the highly unsatisfactory verdict, the deflation is palpable and, as is so often the case, the wealthy walk and the rest are left to pick up the pieces. As a statement, Coal Country underscores this reality all too well, bringing it home in a highly personal way through the individual stories while the addition of music makes it go down a little easier.
Whether they’re soldiers used as cannon fodder, civilians caught between warring factions, mass-shooting victims or workers exposed to lethal danger, Coal Country speaks to all of them. By elevating these voices beyond anonymous “numbers killed” on the nightly news, this one drives home the humanity and the injustice that still exists no matter the rules and regulations meant to prevent it. And for those in any type of coal country, the message that sticking together is the best way to get through it resonates passionately through those we meet in Coal Country.
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