Picher Project

The Picher Project, a new musical, explores the rise, boom, destruction and fall of the abandoned mining town of Picher, Oklahoma. The town that once was the largest producer of lead and zinc in the world became the EPA’s #1 Superfund site, deeming Picher the most toxic place in America. Town politics, involvement with the native Quapaw tribe, illness, natural disasters, and the earth literally falling apart under them, all led to Picher officially dissolving in 2013, making it a ghost town. 
 Comprised of interviews and stories from former Picher residents, the musical follows the lives of individuals from different points in the town’s 100-year history. Picher, a town that meant the world to its citizens, was founded and destroyed by the mining industry, leaving its population with no way to return home.