Written shortly after September 11, 2001, following Linda MacCluggage’s first visit to ruins of the Twin Towers, nine/eleven,her self-described “play for voices” conjures visions beyond the limits of traditional staging.
At The Players of Sarasota, a doubled screen held a repeated single image. On an above-stage starless night scene of NYC buildings, two blue lights -- where skyscrapers had stood -- now thrust heaven-ward from unseen depths. Below the screens, four black-clad interpreters readied their lecterns, seats, selves to paint impressions of 102 minutes that changed a world.
The readings were performed collectively at first and then individually in sequences, often grouped as man and woman or as two younger and then two older interpreters. No portion of the performance was static.
Delivered with the immediacy of a radio broadcast, the script quoted relevant poetry and unfolded stories from newspapers, NPR, CNN, The New Yorker, web sources, internet message boards. Probably the most poignant remarks came from witnesses and survivors, lent emphasis by coming physically -- not just in print or by hearing -- to the audience.
Each reader took on a variety of “roles” to interpret, not to try to act (which would have been a distraction). Attention went to the messages and, in the right cases, to those who had actually delivered them. The script, both personally and factually comprehensive, did not lack emotion. But it never wallowed self-consciously or drew attention to those who expressed feelings rather than to what the feelings were about.
Tragedies do not have happy endings. But they can rouse an audience to seek the positive. And in positively commemorating the lives affected by the tragedy of a fall (in both senses of the word) on what should have been a sunny September 2001 day, nine/eleven reminded its audience to remain roused, to not let memory of the tragedy and its victims die, to keep vigilant.
The audience responded positively. I doubt that another ten years will pass before nine/eleven is re-staged, and I hope it will appear before many more youths.
