PERFORMING OUR FUTURE:
L E T C H E R C O U N T Y P L A Y
Six men and women aged 17-25 are presently being mentored by senior Roadside Theater ensemble members as they create a play about their generation’s search for sustainable lives in their mountain communities at the end of coal mining – not just as a job, but as a multi-generational heritage.
The play script (below) draws on stories gathered from residents of varied ages, occupations, economic situations, and points of view. It received its first public reading under the title We're Trying to Make It at the Performing Our Future Institute in July, where an audience of international scholars and community organizers provided feedback and questions for the youth ensemble.
The play script (below) draws on stories gathered from residents of varied ages, occupations, economic situations, and points of view. It received its first public reading under the title We're Trying to Make It at the Performing Our Future Institute in July, where an audience of international scholars and community organizers provided feedback and questions for the youth ensemble.
Youth led, the play will be performed in venues throughout the County by an intergenerational group of County residents.
The Letcher County Play is one part of Appalshop’s Culture Hub work.
The Letcher County Play is one part of Appalshop’s Culture Hub work.
Read a working draft of the Letcher County Play, performed as a staged reading by Appalshop staff and Culture Hub partners at our 2017 Seedtime on the Cumberland Festival (as The Future of Letcher County):
Watch a 2-minute clip of that reading of The Future of Letcher County: