The Tale of the Slaughtered Hog is a lively and raucous performance that weaves together Paige Phillips’ memories of growing up in coal country West Virginia with radical Appalachian histories. It is a sweeping narrative that encourages national allyship, highlighting patterns of labor exploitation and wealth inequality.

Audiences learn about the Coal Wars, a series of armed labor conflicts led by a group of multiethnic and multiracial miners. Phillips, a daughter of a coal miner, grapples with redneck tropes and questions why there is so much animosity toward our nation’s rural poor.