Coal Country

Coal Country is a poignant capture of one small town’s efforts to be heard. In 2010, the Upper Big Branch explosion took 29 miners’ lives, and tore a gaping hole in a small West Virginia mining community. Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank (the award-winning writers of The Exonerated) crafted this moving, raw play from interviews with people who lived its story, and three-time Grammy-Award-winning singer/songwriter Steve Earle wrote the music that courses through, under, and alongside their words.

This David-and-Goliath story draws you into a distinct world few have encountered and a power dynamic that is all too familiar.

Coal Country was last performed in NYC in 2022. BETC is honored to be the first theatre company to produce it in the Rocky Mountain Region.