In the midst of our turbulent times, Northern Stage’s latest production of “Come From Away” instills some hope in the audience, filling the theater with laughter and tears, and illuminating the connection that unites us all.
“Come From Away” is currently playing at Northern Stage through Oct. 26.
Centered around the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, “Come From Away” follows the moments immediately following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The production opens with news of the terrorist attack breaking, and suddenly this small Canadian city finds itself inundated with stranded foreign passengers, as hundreds of planes make emergency landings in Newfoundland. Over a four-day odyssey, this community must find a way to accommodate thousands of terrified people and navigate a forever-changed world.
The Company of “Come From Away,” featuring Lisa Karlin (center left) and Tom Ford (center right) performing one of the more serious musical numbers, as the characters on stage grapple with the immediate aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Kata Sasvari Photos
Oscillating between the townspeople of Gander and the stranded plane passengers, the twelve-person ensemble cast manages to slip between characters, personas, and cultures to inevitably hit on elements of the universal human experience. Fear, hope, sadness, confusion, chaos, and love bind the entire production. On this emotional roller-coaster, audience members can expect to laugh one minute at the exaggerated rural-Canadian culture and cry the next as each quip ultimately lands on something true and the reality of the devastation sets in. “Come From Away” does not shy away from the horror of September 11th or the nuance of each lived experience. Touching on racism and fear towards non-white Americans, the crisis of not being able to get a hold of loved ones serving on the frontlines in New York, and the chaos of not yet understanding the full extent of the attack — the production manages to somehow balance it all.
Carol Dunne, the director of this production, says, “I hope all those who come to this show experience the full power of theater…When we come together in the theater with a production as powerful as this, we start breathing to the same tempo and heartbeats set to the same pace. I think people should come to Northern Stage to experience this opportunity of communing with something greater; to feel and celebrate that which we share — empathy, understanding, and the ability to help each other through even the darkest periods of difficulty and despair.”
For more on this, please see our October 2 edition of the Vermont Standard.
