Deep in the heart of Appalachia, a young coal miner fights for his shot at the American Dream while the world around him devolves into chaos and the 1921 West Virginia Coal Wars. With a sweeping folk and bluegrass-infused score, COAL tells a heartfelt and hauntingly relevant story about America and human resilience, complete with humor, romance, and larger-than-life folk heroes.

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COAL will receive a workshop and concert presentation in Saratoga Springs, NY in July 2026 as part of The Orchard Project's Summer Arts Festival. For COAL, Nicholas was also selected for a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship and the Lortel Theatre's 121 Project, which supported work sessions with an all-star Broadway cast. The musical held past residencies at New York Stage & Film and the Goodspeed Johnny Mercer Grove and was a Finalist for the Fred Ebb Award (2025, '24, '22), Ed Kleban Prize ('26, '24), a Jonathan Larson grant ('24), Signature Theatre's Sigworks Lab ('25), and the NAMT Festival ('25, '26),.