Miner's Row
Book and Lyrics by Tammy Samuels
Music by Corey Samuels

Synopsis. Blackford, Nova Scotia, 1925. At the first glimpse of dawn, the men of Miners Row awaken to begin their shift in the gassy coal seams below the surface of the sea. When the shifts have ended and the women have completed their daily chores, the dreary streets of the Row illuminate. The fiddle, bohdrain, and moonshine come out, filling the air with ancient Celtic rhythms and Gaelic melodies, and the people rejoice in the pride of generations of miners.

Rose Fraser questions that pride, as she, her family, and her community endure mine explosions and demoralizing strikes. She implores her husband Jack and her son Jimmy to find jobs above ground, but leaving the pit would be seditious in the eyes of their buddies, who believe the coal is in their blood.

Rose, however, insists that if she can not escape the mining life, her young daughter, Alison, will. With the help of Katie, Alison’s schoolteacher, and Neil, Jack’s estranged brother who made his fortune in Boston, Rose will attempt to get her daughter out of the Row.

But on the road out of Blackford lurks the inevitable in shadow. And when the chance comes for Alison to escape, it will be Rose who pays the price.


Production History

• Spring, 1996 Reading at Playwright's Workshop, Montreal
• Autumn, 1998 Reading at 14th Street Theatre, New York

Recordings
• Miner's Row 1997 Demo Recording (Produced by Corey Samuels)
• Miner's Row Cast Recording (Produced by Scott Mebus and Corey Samuels - October, 1998)

Miner's Row MP3s

Beautiful Cape Breton (performed by Beth Janson and Benny Younger)
Fall (performed by Christopher Puckett)
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