Published: April 15, 2009 11:41 pm      

Memories of Number 9

FAIRMONT — A play to be performed at Fairmont State will explore the memories and effects of the 1968 Farmington Number Nine mine disaster.

“Stories from the Farmington Mine Disaster,” a devised performance piece, will be presented May 1-2 and 7-9 at 7:30 p.m. and May 3 at 2 p.m. in Room 314 of Wallman Hall. Tickets are $5 for general admission and $4 for students with ID. For tickets, call the Box Office at (304) 367-4240.

The play is based on interviews conducted by Celi Oliveto, Samantha Huffman and Jason Young as part of a project funded by the FSU Undergraduate Research Program.

It is “actually many stories,” said director Dr. Francine Kirk. Most of the characters are compilations of actual persons who were interviewed.

“With the exception of Bill Evans (editor of the Times-West Virginian at the time), we used no one’s real names,” she said. “We chose names that sound like they could be from North Central West Virginia.”

There are no costumes, no scenery, few props. Photos taken by Bob Campione, a free-lance photographer, will provide a visual back drop.

“We can’t re-create that world. We let Bob’s pictures tell the story.

“Our goal was to see how these stories intersect and how these people dealt with the tragedy.”

The students worked with oral historians Michael and Carrie Nobel Kline, who operate Talking Across the Lines, a folklife documentary and projection consulting firm, in Elkins. They instructed the researchers in interviewing techniques and provided them with models of documentary style research performance, including an audio story about the Farmington Mine explosion the Klines produced for West Virginia Public Radio.

Twenty actors will portray the 30 or more characters.

Dialogue was written “to capture the way people talk around here,” Kirk said.

“We’ve taken a lot of dramatic liberties with some of the information, but for the most part it’s pretty historially accurate,” Kirk said.

For example, only one press conference is shown in the play, “although we know there were multiple. We wanted people to get the idea that there was constant waiting,” Kirk said.

“A lot of the show is about waiting. That doesn’t sound like good drama, but we hope it is.

“Reporters were here from all over the world. In one scene, the characters talk about the intrusiveness of the media not familiar with the culture, versus the more sensitive local media.

“One scene is of the representatives of the union, the mine inspectors and the company, and the agony of making the decision of what to do. The mine kept exploding. The fire was intense and the rescue effort was unsuccessful. Yet they were holding out hope that someone was still alive.”

The Undergraduate Research Program began at Fairmont State in 2005. It was designed to give students an opportunity to independently further their education with the guidance of a faculty mentor. At the conclusion of the project, the transcripts of the interviews will be housed in the Frank and Jane Gabor West Virginia Folklife Center at FSU.

“There's one line. The reporters come in and somebody says, ‘It’s starting. They’re feeding on our suffering.’”

The project grew out of her fascination with Sago, she said.

“I sat glued to the TV for so many reasons. I can’t even imagine the waiting.

“That’s what drew me. When I started talking with these three students I said we’ve got this event that happened in our own backyard. With the wounds of Sago so fresh, why not explore the memories these people have?”

One woman, the youngest child in her family when the explosion occurred, relayed her memories. But that’s not how it happened, her older siblings told her.

“She said, ‘That’s how I remember it,’” Kirk said. “I thought that was powerful. Some of the audience will say, this isn’t how it happened. Others will say it’s exactly how it happened. Others will say it was something like this.”

There’s the story of the miner known for wearing plaid shirts and having Juicy Fruit gum in his pocket.

“And when they found him two years later, sure enough, the gum was in his pocket,” Kirk said.

“Our hope is we honor these stories and educate people not aware that this happened in our own backyard. We want people to know.

“The students learned about the disaster, but more importantly they learned about listening, about appreciating peoples' memories. We’re hoping the people were glad to have been listened to.”

The second act is still being written, she said.

The play will be reprised this fall, with revisions and additions based on feedback from the audience of the spring performance.

“This is the most inspirational, exciting project I’ve ever worked on, Kirk said.”

E-mail Debra Minor Wilson at dwilson@timeswv.com.