Fire in the Hole
by Robert Schenkkan
Highlights
Awards & Recognition
Winner! 1992 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
Synopsis
With coal tipple standing where once there were trees, the Blue Star Mining Company owns the valley.
If coal is king, the people of the town are peasants, working like slaves in dangerous mines, paid in script, indebted to the Blue Star for life.
Mary Ann Rowen, married to Tommy Jackson, has buried 4 sons and does not want to see her only remaining boy go into the mines.
A stranger, Abe Steinman, tries to organize the miners into a union, but is betrayed by Mary Ann's husband during the strike.
Abe is hanged and the miners lose heart.
Spurning her husband, Mary Ann takes her son Joshua and leads the miners to victory.
This play is included in The Kentucky Cycle .
Characters
| Character |
|---|
MARY ANNE ROWEN JACKSON Age forty-nine |
JOSHUA ROWEN JACKSON Age ten, Mary Anne‘s son |
TOMMY JACKSON Age fifty, Joshua‘s father |
DOCTOR |
MACKIE A miner |
ANDREW TALBERT WINSTON A mine boss |
SILUS A miner |
ABE STEINMAN A union organizer |
MOTHER JONES A union organizer |
CASSIUS BIGGS A miner and a bootlegger |
SURETA BIGGS Cassius‘s wife |
PREACHER |
LUCY A miner‘s wife |
A MAN In the forest |
MINERS, TOWNSPEOPLE, ETC. |
Publication
Fire in the Hole is a play written by Robert Schenkkan and published by Dramatists Play Service (1994).
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Paperback
Dramatists Play Service · 1994 · 264 pp
Performance Rights
Restrictions: Major Markets Plus (US) / Standard Plus Add'l Postcodes (UK)
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