Playbill: Irene Sankoff and David Hein have always considered their musical Come From Away as a show, not about 9/11, but about what happened on 9/12 and after. Notes Hein, "In times of tragedy, we often focus on the horrible things that happen. And in the days after, it's the wave of support and the wave of people who are doing good that doesn't get highlighted enough."
5 comments:
The story of Come From Away is so well done and such an important one to have been shared. When tragedy happens often the awful outcomes are what gets focused on and the community and charity people shared in the days following is important to highlight as well. Come From Away’s focus on the community and lasting friendships that resulted from 7,000 people being stuck in Gander shares the hopeful message that I think is always relevant and needed. As someone who was born after 9/11, we don’t really get taught much about the good things, we only get told about the tragedy. I have gone to several different productions of Come From Away and I love how they are all so different but all share such a great sense of hope and faith in humanity with the audience. Additionally I am excited to see the works the writers are now working on because they sound incredible, especially Vienna which sounds like another powerful message they are working on.
While I have only ever seen Come From Away online, the music, book, movement, and design of the Broadway show really stuck with me. This article was able to highlight the poignant nature of the piece and how it resonates for its narrative of friendship, community, care, and compassion. The article included a lot of interesting detail, but what stood out to me was learning how directly the show came from Sankoff and Hein's own experience living in Harlem during 9/11. More so, the impact 9/11 had on the artistic community at the time - with Broadway opening back up on 9/13. The compassion that is displayed in Come From Away is taken deeply from the unique ecosystem created in Gander, but also from the two's own experience seeing the aftermath of 9/11 in New York. I also thought it was very fascinating to see the vast amount of productions in regional, community, and educational theatres recently, with the 25th anniversary occurring.
Seeing what the news has to say about Sept. 11th, especially after we memorialized the 25th anniversary, gives me a sense of hope in humanity. Despite the horrors that occurred in New York that day, is is inspiring to hear the stories about how people united together and put asides their differences. It was insightful to learn about Irene Sankoff and David Hein's experiences during Sept. 11th, and how they continued to live their lives after the tragedy. Society had to move on, and the couple processed the event together and got married a month after Sept. 11th.
I'm sure it was intimidating to write a show about such a horrific event in American history. Learning how storytelling can be used as a method of teaching rather than solely entertainment is something I believe all musicals should learn from. Without Irene and David having the courage to share their story, the history of this event might have been looked at completely differently.
Come From Away is one of the most beautiful productions I have ever seen in my life. Its message is so powerful, and hearing the two minds behind the production share their personal experiences was honestly amazing. The thing the two creators said that really stood out to me was that this production was meant to be a healing method to talk about the tragic events of 9/11 rather than to re-traumatize anyone. They made sure to strictly follow this goal by only physically stating “terrorist” and “9/11” only one time during the entire show, respectively. They also wanted to focus not on the tragedy itself, but how people picked themselves back up and continued after the traumatic events. The story of how the two were living with other graduate students that all started playing music together after the towers were struck was extremely moving, and it explains why this show is as powerful as it is. The two creators saw how music and art healed the frightened people around them in real time, and then they created this show to return that feeling of healing and peace to not just the rest of New York City, but to the entire country. Reading this article really made me want to watch the original production again, because I feel like I understand the level of care and compassion that was poured into this show on an even deeper level than before.
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