Buried: the Sago Mine Disaster is a docudrama in the “theatre of social justice tradition.” It tells the inspiring story of the wives and daughters of the 12 miners who died (one disabled survivor) in the Sago Mine explosion in West Virginia, January 2006. These women rejected self pity for activism and, in the process, became heroes—spurring the nation’s first major mine safety bill in more than 30 years.

Buried is presented in ten scenes without intermission and includes music, written and arranged by renowned labor songwriter/singer Anne Feeney. The scenes in the piece follow the sequence of events as they transpired. The words spoken by public actors in public settings are accurate (albeit edited) as quoted in transcriptions and the media. Even the dialogue of the miners’ wives and daughters is based on actual recorded statements, embellished by material based on published research.

Taking 75 minutes to play, Buried premiered as a staged reading at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, December 6, 2006 with a mostly Equity cast. It was chosen to close the last four days of San Diego’s Sixth@Penn Theatre’s “Resilience of the Human Spirit Festival,” August 9-12, 2007. Over April 5-8, 2008, Buried received a full student production from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Presently, theatres in Chicago and Detroit are planning full productions.

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  Pittsburgh Playwright's Cast

   

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