Ric Siler

George and Gloria Crutcher are making do, or as George likes to say: "More like making don't." George is an ex-coal miner, disabled with black lung, but has discovered an artistic side he never knew was there; Gloria is a nurse. Despite their troubles, there is a lot of love there. When a meteorite crashes into their house, it sets off a chain of events that changes their lives forever.

Chief and Boggs are a couple of criminals. When Boggs steals a leather bag with a play and a laptop in it, Chief is intrigued. When the playwright shows up at their door, it brings up questions that may be better left unanswered, as to how to handle this situation. Finally Chief prevails and they read the play.

Amanda Plantz is lonely. She has a best friend, a struggling literary agent, Muriel Pender, and she has her job: taking care of plants for offices and a small florist shop. Other than that, she has her books. But she doesn’t read contemporary authors, feeling that they don’t speak to her in the same way as the classics. She also has visitations from her favorite dead authors, who come to her while she sleeps and suggest things that might happen, or tell her things aren’t as they seem. She meets one of Muriel’s clients, Ben Grubb, and is smitten. For his part Amanda inspires something in him and he overcomes a lethargy and writes again; when he shows Amanda the work she inspired he clumsily leaves her shop and we hear the sound of a horrible crash and Ben is run over by a garbage truck and killed. Through Amanda’s efforts, Ben becomes an overnight sensation as a tragic literary figure, snuffed out before his time . . . but then Jack Kerouac suggests in a dream that he doesn’t know any Ben Grubb, dead or otherwise, and when Amanda wakes up, she finds a ‘new’ manuscript by Ben at her bedside. Amanda finds herself in the middle of a storm she couldn’t have foreseen, and can see no way out of.

The youngest of the family is prone to making predictions that generally come true. Only trouble is, no one ever believes her. On the morning of her birthday, Daughter wakes up with the prediction that the world will end today. Her doting Mother is not sure what to make of this, and her brother (known in the play as Son) is dismissive, all he wants to do is play his music . . . loud. Father, when he arrives, allows for the possibility but is also skeptical. When pressed, Daughter tells them a likely time for the end to come (during Jeopardy!) and how it will manifest: Mother will give birth to a black hole. Son takes this idea and runs with it, hustling off to write a song called The Brother of the End of the World. At close, we find that the prediction may be coming true.

Jimmy Barton is married to Martha, who is very large, agoraphobic and verbally abusive. An accident at work leaves him with hallucinations that seem to suggest that murder may be a way to deal with her. A chance meeting in a bar opens the door a crack for Jimmy to see other options, not only with his wife, but with life in general.

Three people wait in a room in a secluded cabin. One is a Girl, blindfolded and bound to a chair. The others are Bro and Blade, names adopted for this job. Bro is here to pay off a gambling debt, Blade is here to make sure Bro sees this through to the end. The Girl is being held for ransom. Blade is a professional, he does what he is paid to do and then “evaporates”.

For his part Bro just wants out. They have to wait though. They have to wait for the signal that all is clear, the ransom has been paid, and they can let the Girl go . . . that is, if the ransom is paid. If not? Either way the waiting is torture for Bro, and the longer it lasts, the more the dread builds . . . until finally there is only one way out.

‘Whispers’ isn’t a ghost play, but people in it are haunted: by the past, by decisions they made or didn’t make, and yes, by a recently deceased friend. The play opens with a scene between Joey and Fin discussing whether or not to go to their fiftieth high school reunion; at the end of the scene we discover Joey has to be at a funeral, his own. Joey’s death brings out feelings of roads not taken in Fin which he works through with the help of his wife, Diane, and Joey’s widow, Stace. While Fin is dealing with past decisions, Stace is grappling with what comes next, how to go on as a widow. Ultimately Stace comes to grips with how to move forward as Diane confronts Fin and helps him see a path forward . . . together.

Suede comes to visit Uncle Lee and Aunt Lottie. Lottie has promised him some of his favorite fried chicken. But Lottie is no where to be found. Lee feigns ignorance until he finally tells Suede a story, that shocks him beyond belief.

Part one of my coal miners trilogy. The strike has been going on for months now and it’s hard on the miners and their families. A group of miners mans a picket line at the entrance to a mine. One of the miners is about to break. His wife is pregnant and they need the money so he decides to drive a truck across the picket line. He ends up driving his truck right over the picket line, killing one of the miners; and then has to come to grips with what he has done.

Part two of my coal miners trilogy. Two miners are trapped in a coal mine after a roof fall. One is a firebrand the other an older man with secrets that wear on him. They have no great love for each other and ultimately have differing views of what to do in their situation. Dewey, the young trouble maker wants to try to dig out, while Wade counsels him to be patient. After Dewey ignores Wade’s advice and is injured trying to dig out, Wade finally tells Dewey his story, the secret that has weighed on him for years and he has never told anyone. At the end of the play, with Dewey passed out and the sounds of rescue audible from the other side of the pile of coal, Wade hopes to keep Dewey alive long enough to get him to safety.

Part 3 of my coal miner trilogy. Beulah is seriously considering selling her bar and retiring. As she shares her thoughts with her friend Mace, Johnny and Al stop by, fresh from interviews to work at a plant that will make parts for wind turbines. Mining is played out for them much like running the bar is for Beulah.

A farmer sits outside his farmhouse and sells baskets of tomatoes he grows, and talks to the people who come to buy them. He also grows tobacco and other crops as well. On this day he tells the story of the relationship with his wife and daughters, which leads, inevitably to the story of how he dealt with the abusive husband of his oldest daughter.

With the encouragement of the folks at Joan’s Diner, and his brother, Travis Hall enters politics for the first time to run for Mayor. He is an idealist who sees problems, inequities, that need to be fixed and decides to take on the well entrenched encumbent. It’s an uphill battle but it’s something he feels he must do. He has the help of his businessman brother Brice and his very efficient assistant Julia. The folks at Joan’s give him whatever support they can.

After receiving news of an elevated PSA, I started taking notes. This piece tracks the journey over the next year and a half, which includes, surgery, radiation, hormone treatments . . . and Italy!

Jimmy Hall can only take so much. As he stands there sharpening his favorite knife, Old Hickory, he waits for his ex-wife to show up and tells the story of his life with her, and without her, and why it has come to this moment.

Herb Cooper sits at his desk in his employment agency, where he has worked these many years helping others find their way in the world. Professionalism is very important to Herb, and even the hint of impropriety is unacceptable. Herb is recording his ‘letter of resignation’. A suicide note. recording a message about his life and the events that have lead him to the corner he has now painted himself into. He is and has always been, alone. When he misreads the intentions of a young woman who has come to him for help, he lets down his professional guard and allows himself a moment of passion. Nothing will ever be the same. He betrayed her and he betrayed himself, and there is no way he can live with that.

Becca Martin's land, which has been in the family for generations, is threatened by a coal company wanting to strip-mine the mountaintop.