Audible Theater Announces Talk-Back Series For COAL COUNTRY; Previews Begin Tonight

Audible has announced a special series of post-show talk-backs for the return engagement of The Public Theater's critically acclaimed Coal Country, written by Drama Desk winners Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen with original music written and performed by three-time Grammy Award winner Steve Earle. For four Wednesday nights during the run, audience members are invited to stay after the show for discussions featuring the following guests:

Steve Earle

Wednesday, March 16 & Wednesday, March 30

Steve Earle discusses the process of creating original music for Coal Country.

Jessica Blank

Wednesday, March 23 & Wednesday, April 6

Director & Co-Playwright Jessica Blank and members of the Coal Country cast discuss the play and bringing this true story to the stage.

Coal Country begins previews tonight, Friday, March 4 at the Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce Street, NYC) ahead of opening on Thursday, March 10, 2022. Opening night will mark 2 years to the day that the original production shut down as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Each day beginning at 9:00am, a limited amount of rush tickets for Coal Country will be available on a first-come, first-served basis through TodayTix for $25. To gain access to rush tickets, ticket-buyers must download the TodayTix app and share the show information on their Facebook or Twitter pages. Tickets will be available for pick up at the Cherry Lane Theatre box office. The mobile rush concludes either when inventory has sold out, or two hours before the performance.

The cast of Coal Country features Mary Bacon (Patti), Amelia Campbell (Mindi), Kym Gomes (Judge), Ezra Knight (Roosevelt), Thomas Kopache (Gary), Michael Laurence (Tommy), Deirdre Madigan (Judy) and Carl Palmer (Goose). Steve Earle returns to perform his original score, with select performances by Joe Jung.

Directed by Jessica Blank, Coal Country's world premiere run opened as a New York Times Critic's Pick on March 3, 2020. Before an untimely closing in the face of the pandemic, The New York Times called it "devasting and heart-wrenching," The Hollywood Reporter said it is "political theater of the most lucid, urgent, and necessary kind, given soaring emotional heft by Steve Earle's songs," and The New Yorker praised it as "an outstanding, outraged, life-filled documentary play."

In September 2021, Audible recorded and released the play, with the majority of the original cast, as an Audible Original (available here), giving the riveting documentary play new life and extending its reach to millions of Audible listeners around the world.

Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, the creative minds behind the award-winning docudrama The Exonerated, bring their signature style to this strikingly innovative New York Times Critic's Pick that delves into the aftermath of the West Virginia mine explosion of 2010, highlighting the indomitable resilience of an American community on a quest for justice.

Featuring the musical talents of three-time Grammy Award winner Steve Earle (the Audible Original (The Moment in) 1965 (When Rock and Roll Becomes Art), Coal Country powerfully combines the country/folk legend's "superbly evocative string-picking" (The Hollywood Reporter) with actual first-person accounts from survivors and family members, immortalizing their stories of survival in this soulful yet resolute tribute.

The show's original creative team is reunited for this production: Richard Hoover (scenic design), Jessica Jahn (costume design), David Lander (lighting design), Darron L West (sound design), and Adesola Osakalumi (movement director), in addition to Janelle Caso (Production Stage Manager) and Andy Jones & Dylan Pager (General Management, Baseline Theatrical). Casting by Jordan Thaler & Kate Murray with additional Casting by X Casting, Victor Vazquez.

Ticketing Information

Tickets are on sale to the general public at www.coalcountrymusical.com.

Coal Country runs approximately 1 hour 30 minutes with no intermission.

Health & Safety Information

Audible Theater values the health and safety of its theatergoers, employees, and performers. All attendees must show proof of vaccination and wear a mask. For more information on the Cherry Lane Theatre's COVID policy, https://www.cherrylanetheatre.org/covid-19-protocol

About The Public Theater

THE PUBLIC continues the work of its visionary founder Joe Papp as a civic institution engaging, both on-stage and off, with some of the most important ideas and social issues of today. Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation's first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public's wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City's five boroughs, Public Forum, Under the Radar, Public Lab, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe's Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Girl From the North Country. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 59 Tony Awards, 184 Obie Awards, 55 Drama Desk Awards, 58 Lortel Awards, 34 Outer Critic Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards, 58 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. publictheater.org

About Audible Theater

Audible Theater makes outstanding performances and powerful storytelling available to millions of people all over the world. As part of this initiative, Audible has produced Girls & Boys with Carey Mulligan, The Half-Life of Marie Curie with Kate Mulgrew, Harry Clarke starring Billy Crudup, Billy Crystal's Have A Nice Day with Annette Bening and Kevin Kline, the revival of Aasif Mandvi's Sakina's Restaurant, and many others at the Minetta Lane Theatre in New York City. In May 2018, Audible announced that the Minetta Lane Theatre in Greenwich Village will serve as its creative home for live performances in New York. Audible hosts and produces a wide variety of live performances at the Minetta Lane including dramatic plays, comedic shows, engaging panel discussions, and more, with Audible members receiving exclusive access to discounted tickets and related audio content.

Audible was co-producer for the Broadway transfer of the Tony Award-nominated Latin History for Morons written by and starring John Leguizamo and for the Tony Award-nominated Sea Wall /A Life starring Jake Gyllenhaal and Tom Sturridge. The initiative also saw the release of John Lithgow's Stories By Heart, Judith Light's All The Ways To Say I Love You, Sharon Washington's Feeding The Dragon, and more. Since June 2017, Audible has commissioned 40 theater playwrights to receive support from its $5 million Emerging Playwrights Fund dedicated to developing innovative English-language works from around the globe. The $5 million fund enables the creation of original plays driven by language and voice, keeping with Audible's core commitment to elevating listening experiences through powerful performances and extraordinary vocal storytelling.

About Audible, Inc.

Audible, Inc., an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is the leading creator and provider of premium audio storytelling, offering customers a new way to enhance and enrich their lives every day. Audible content includes more than 700,000 audio programs from leading audiobook publishers, broadcasters, entertainers, magazine and newspaper publishers, and business information providers.

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