In its debut production, a Philadelphia theater company will retell stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things on 9/11. “E-mail: 9/12″ is based on real experiences as the playwright reconnected with friends and family following the 2001 attacks.
New Jersey playwright Midge Guerrera wrote about how, while the phones were overloaded in New York City, people reconnected via email, sharing their stories and checking in on each other.
“Once I read the play,” said Andre Brown, founder of …AND Company Theatre, “it haunted me. But when I got to those last few pages, it made me feel like it was some sort of miracle. I knew then that these stories needed to be expressed on stage.”
The play will be performed one day only at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Sept. 24, 2011, in the Christ Church Neighborhood House Theatre, 20 N. American Street, Philadelphia.
Originally, Guerrera wrote the play as a one-woman performance in 2004. She has since rewritten it, and the Philadelphia production will be the first to feature six actors. They will dramatize the events taking place in the emails: stories from police, firefighters, Lower Manhattan workers, and people across the country and the world.
“I think it illustrates how one person’s life can really have a global effect,” said Colleen O’Brien, who plays the lead, Margaret, and also handles public relations for the fledgling company.
The show will also utilize multimedia to help bring the stories to life, with a projection screen showing such information as email headers and subjects.
“Sometimes, what the character chooses to type as the subject of their email reply can tell you a great deal about their personality and their relationship to Margaret,” O’Brien said.
Using an option written into the play, the production will be personalized for Philadelphia by inviting people to include their own “e-mail monologues.” The monologues should be 300-500 words and can be submitted to O’Brien at [email protected] .
In addition, O’Brien said the company plans to invite local firemen and police “to serve as a tribute to these folks who put their lives on the line every day, and continue to do so despite tragic events.”
… AND Company was started in 2010 by Brown, an equity actor who serves as the company’s artistic director.
“Basically, we are ensemble theatre at its best,” O’Brien said, “with the emphasis on the company, hence the name, …AND Company.” Rather than relying on one principal actor or n plays that showcase the talents of one individual, …AND Company was founded to do ensemble work.
“We all play many roles in our lives, and we are those roles,” Brown said. “In my life, I’m a son, a nephew, an uncle, a godfather… and by highlighting the ensemble, I get to tell the stories for each of those different roles I play.”
“E-mail 9/12″ is directed by Brown and produced by Israel Atkins Jr. It stars O’Brien, Pauline Anne Schantzer, Jennifer Cupcakes, Kai Leh Nikol, Kyle Paul Dandridge, and Walter DeShields. The stage manager is Ryan Dadalski, and the prop mistress is Shenee Carroll.
Tickets are $25 and can be purchased from the …AND Company website or by calling 609-891-7555.