Last season, the husband-and-wife cofounders of the Boulder-based Butterfly Effect Theatre of Colorado (BETC), Rebecca Remaly and Stephen Weitz, stepped down from the theater company they had led for nearly two decades. On July 1 of this year, the couple turned the business over to seasoned artists Mark Ragan and Jessica Robblee.
The duo’s first production will be BETC season opener Coal Country, a suspenseful play by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank that was inspired by interviews with survivors of a mine explosion in West Virginia and set to the music of country-rock legend Steve Earle.
“It’s the first time it’s being done outside New York City, and we have an amazing cast,” Ragan told Boulder Weekly in August. “No one play completely defines us, but Coal Country will define our taste.”
This documentary-style performance piece examines the Upper Big Branch explosion of 2010, which killed 29 miners and destroyed a small West Virginia mining community. Robblee, who was drawn to the play’s language, directs the regional premiere.
“Coal Country lets you meet these miners and understand where they are coming from,” Robblee says. “It’s not just a string of interviews; the play is really well-structured so that you’re taking this journey with them. I especially love the character’s voices. They’re not how most people talk, but it’s powerful to hear these everyday people’s authentic experience of living through extraordinary circumstances.”
Coal Country features a seven-person cast and Joe Jung, the musician and musical director, who understudied Earle in the original NYC production of Coal Country at The Public and Cherry Lane Theater in New York.
“The music is not recorded exactly in the form that it was made, so even though you can purchase sheet music, that’s not what they ended up doing,” Robblee says. “Joe is this carrier of information about the original process, which will be really special to have in the room … I always think of theater as a place where you can open yourself up to new experiences, and I think this play is a great invitation to do that.”
ON STAGE: Coal Country. Oct. 26-Nov. 19, BETC – Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St., Boulder. Tickets here.
