Calling Hours - Columbus Premiere at Mershon Auditorium
Calling Hours gives voice to the losses of an Ohio community and its workers in a world moving away from coal.
Four years ago, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, AEP Conesville, located 70 miles east of Columbus and one of the nation’s largest coal-fired power plants, ceased operations. The plant’s closure, though planned, abruptly happened months ahead of schedule—leaving employees isolated in their homes without a chance to say goodbye, much less grieve together.
Performed entirely by residents of Coshocton, Calling Hours was written as a memorial service that should have been: a multidisciplinary requiem in text, live music, and projected animation paying tribute to the monumentality of coal work while acknowledging coal’s complex legacy and future. The performance tells stories of how this specific closure affected a community—among countless others across the globe impacted by the transition away from coal energy.
Calling Hours is the final product of the Ohio Coal Communities transdisciplinary research project at The Ohio State University, which included sociologists, geographers, community developers, engineers, librarians, and visual and performing artists. (program approx. 60 mins.)
A celebration of community with light refreshments will be held in the lobby of Mershon Auditorium immediately following the performance.
IMAGE CAPTION
Calling Hours, courtesy of Tom Dugdale.