"Where were you on 9/11?" "Are you ok?" "Why would someone do that?" "Is a return to normal even possible?" -- Questions relevant both then and now on the 20th anniversary of both the attacks that changed the world forever and the costly war in Afghanistan that followed.
For two nights only on its outdoor "Courtyard Stage", The Cloverdale Playhouse is presenting a staged reading of Anne Nelson's The Guys, in commemoration of the legions of men and women first responders at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, as well as those serving at the Pentagon and the brave citizens on United Flight 93 who diverted it from its targeted destination, the U.S. Capital, and crashed it in a field in Pennsylvania. -- It is also a fund-raiser for Montgomery Fire and Rescue.
Written in just nine days, The Guys premiered Off-Broadway at The Flea Theatre in New York in December 2001. Based on the playwright's experiences, it recounts the meeting of its two characters who piece together their experiences, their grief, their bewilderment, their anger, and their helplessness in coming to terms with events they could not control. -- Nick [Scott Page] is a NYFD Captain who lost eight members of his team, and is conscripted to deliver eulogies for his fallen friends -- "the guys" of the title; Joan [Sarah Walker Thornton] is a journalist who comes to Nick's aid to help shape his thoughts into meaningful words to deliver to the bereaved.
With all the media attention on this anniversary from networks and cable stations, we tend to get lost in the overload from talking heads touting the first responders as "heroes". -- But it is words that matter, and Ms. Nelson is so keenly aware of this that she avoids such heightened language by referring to the men as "the guys": ordinary people who have families, go to church, drink with their buddies, welcome newcomers into their midst, and work as a team. These are "the guys" we should commemorate. -- And audiences get to know them and respect them through the conversations between the two characters.
Mr. Page shows Nick as a good "guy" so broken and guilt-ridden by the catastrophe that he can't express what needs to be said, and is apologetic for dragging Joan in to his predicament. Ms. Thornton's presents Joan's anger and frustrated empathy unapologetically. Once she gets him to talk about his friends with her open-ended questions and then molds the details of their lives and experiences into ordinary words, they create a bond that enables them to continue, and they emerge as fully realized and empathetic characters.
Directed sensitively by Greg Thornton, who affords his actors room to explore the nuances of the script's themes and character relationships, and supported by J. Scott Grinstead's technical direction, the result is a touching and provocative evening that has audiences riveted throughout its 75-minute running time.
An America that seemed unified after 9/11 when politics, religion, and social status did not seem to matter, is now fraught on almost every quarter some 20-years later, where insurrectionist citizens threatened the fabric of our democracy, and where a global pandemic has become an excuse for divisiveness. The question remains: "Is a return to normal even possible?"
