As the drums pick up and one character tells another to "turn on your radio," in the opening number of “Come From Away,” the cast at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre transports the audience to “that morning.”
That morning was Sept. 11, 2001 in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland. Thirty-eight planes were diverted to the town's airport when U.S. airspace was closed following the terrorist attacks 25 years ago.
IF YOU GO
● The Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre's production opens tonight at 7:30 p.m.
● Performances continue on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. and will resume next weekend with shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
The musical tells the true story of how the residents of Gander cared for the stranded “plane people” for nearly a week. It opens tonight at Little Theatre of Wilkes-Barre.
“I think each person … we say like, ‘where were you?’ And you can rattle off where you were, maybe what you were wearing that day,” director Angel Burlane Mulcahy said. “We know exactly what happened in our world. What’s so pivotal about this story is … we get to see what (was) happening with people I didn’t even think about.”
'Come From Away,' delivers memories, perspective for cast and audience
Each night, as the cast of 12 rehearses, Mulcahy finds herself reflecting on where she was 25 years ago.
She was 16 years old then, living in Bradford County, worried for her dad who was supposed to be working in the World Trade Center that day. She was homeschooled, and her mother turned on the television when she heard about a fire in one of the towers.
“The reporters they didn't even know at the time what was happening. So then, when that second plane hit, there was a lot of confusion,” she said.
Her dad was a stagehand, and she said he was originally scheduled to work in one of the towers that Tuesday. He’d been “rerouted” to a different job, but Mulcahy and her mother didn’t know that at first.
“He was … in New Jersey,” she said. “He was on top of a building and saw the planes crash.”
Each of the 12 actors plays multiple roles throughout the show, with barely any time off stage. Joe Hudak plays Claude, the character based on Claude Elliot, Gander's mayor at the time.
"This is by far the the most challenging show I've had to do, and it's the most rewarding as well," Hudak said. "I love telling this story."
Hudak was in Erie, Pennsylvania on Sept. 11, 2001. He was there for work, getting ready in his hotel room when his wife called and told him to turn on his television.
"I turned it on maybe five minutes before the second plane hit. So I didn't know what to do," he said. "I just ... went out and I went down to the coffee shop down the street, and there's just people walking around in a daze."
Then his wife called again with the news that another plane — Flight 93 — had crashed in Pennsylvania. She told him to "get someplace safe and stay there."
"She didn't know where in Pennsylvania, but they said it was Western Pennsylvania," Hudak said. "Erie's in Western Pennsylvania."
Hudak stayed an extra night in Erie, and when he finally drove home, he saw "so many cars" flying American flags along Interstate 80.
"I'd never seen anything like it," he said. "It was emotional ... in the days following, it was nice to see everyone coming together which is kind of what this story talks about too."
Scott Colin Woolnough's main role in the show is Nick, one of the passengers based on Nick Marson.
"I had never even heard of the story of Gander until this show ... it's very interesting playing a role that is based on a real person," Woolnough said. "We're not even talking about a historical figure. This person is still alive."
Woolnough was in New York City that morning, living in Queens while going to college. He'd been in the military after high school, so he was 31 years old at the time.
He remembers getting off the train in Manhattan that day and hearing people talk about something happening downtown. But, like a "typical New Yorker," he brushed it off.
"Something's always happening downtown," he said.
But when he got to his job at a tutorial center on campus, a TV set had been rolled into the room. The news was on, and everyone was watching.
"I sat down pretty close to when the second plane impacted. I immediately, not even thinking, I went downstairs, got in a cab, and went south," he said. "I figured I could, you know, flash my military ID and help in some way."
He says he got as far as Houston Street, showed someone his military ID, but was told to go home since he couldn't offer medical help. He went back to his college campus and stayed there until the Queensboro Bridge reopened and he could walk home to Queens with thousands of other people.
Woolnough says "Come From Away's" focus on the days after the attacks has resonated with him for years.
"What really impacted me was not necessarily the day, but the days that followed. You know, generally in New York, you hear horns going and you hear people yelling ... there was none of that," he said. "Nobody complained. Nobody was upset. Whenever a fire truck would come by, everybody stopped and clapped and cheered. I mean, it was just a real sense of togetherness in that week that followed."
Meg Davis plays Bonnie Harris, the head of the local SPCA in Gander.
"My character focuses mainly on the animals that were on those planes," Davis said. "If it wasn't for this one person, animals could have also died just being in the planes because they weren't thought about."
Davis was in 4th grade at St. Nicholas St. Mary School in Wilkes-Barre in 2001. There were no TVs in the classrooms that September morning, but she remembers an announcement telling the school there was an "emergency" and they would all gather in the basement of St. Nicholas Church.
"There were the older students that were really upset, but the younger students were kind of kept in the dark of what was happening," she said.
As one teacher played guitar and tried to keep the students calm, Davis said parents started coming to pick up their kids and bring them home. Eventually Davis and her older sister went home with their grandmother and learned what had happened.
"I feel like it didn't quite hit me what because I was on the younger side, so I didn't really understand what was happening," she said.
Davis said doing "Come From Away" has helped her to understand a different perspective.
"It's amazing how this small town took a tragedy and comforted the people and didn't let them drown in the sorrow of it and made them feel okay," she said. "even if deep down they were still hurting from everything or worried."
Director: 'Come from Away' can be 'healing' on 25th anniversary
While the show opens on this 25th anniversary of the attacks, Mulcahy is quick to emphasize that the story is about "the days following."
"I think when you've gone through something really like horrific ... a lot of that first day could be like huge blur," she said. "I think this show can be very healing to people experiencing it. It brings up a lot of memories that they might be able to say, 'yeah, I went through that.'"
Hudak says the show doesn't change anything his mind about what happened, but the story it tells gives him hope.
"It shows the humanity of people. I just wish it didn't take a tragedy for that to happen," he said. "It changed my perspective not of the events, but of what happened afterwards, and how people came together."
Mulcahy said that's why she wanted to bring "Come from Away" to the Wilkes-Barre community.
"I think that is important to show our community," she said. "When a town comes together up against so many obstacles, like how do you face it? What do you do? And that's what this show really is about at its core. It's humanity."
