How did I hear about Come From Away
I follow a number of blogs and one of them is OnStage. I enjoy the opinions of others, and blogging is a great place for that. Well, April of 2016 I read this As I read the article now, I realize that I probably should not have been as angry about it as I was in April of 2016. But when I read this, I was angry.
I was not in New York on 9/11. I was in North Carolina. I had never felt so alone in my life, and yet I was embraced by the people that were around me at the time. All of us were away from home, we were nomads working a summer Shakespeare Festival. I had also never heard this story of Gander. I was intrigued.
In April of 2016 when I read this article I was angry. I was angry because I have heard so many people say "you weren't in New York, so you did not experience 9/11" I will NEVER diminish what it must have been like that day in New York. I will never even try and imagine it.
Okay, so we have established..... the blog post made me angry. So, as soon as I read that post I wanted to know more. I read up on the show, I saw where it was, how it was doing. I found out more about Gander, and I made plans to see this show early. I was actually planning to see it during previews on Presidents Day weekend. My friend and coworker, a fellow theatre junkie like myself, decided to make a weekend of it. We had been trying to do this for years and never had. She knew someone in the show, I wanted to see it, and we had a long weekend. So, we decided we would see it.
Why Previews didn't happen
President's Day Weekend previews did not happen. Not only because plans fell through, but because I lost that Friend on January 16th. The day that we should have been sitting in the Schoenfeld, I was watching her memorial service via a facebook live feed.
But here is the thing, in the sadness and loss, I had actually forgotten about us making those plans. I forgot until I was actually in New York. I was working out of our New York office. I had been listening to the soundtrack, and of course to Jenn Colella. For some reason, the name started to ring a bell. I looked at her bio and I saw that Jenn had been in Chaplin. Cristin LOVED Chaplin. She's actually possibly the only person that I know that saw Chaplin.
I spoke with a coworker about this, and we found this picture on Cristin's Facebook:
Immediately so many things came back to me. How much Cristin admired Jenn. How she had worked with her on a show at the York Theatre, how she had gone to see so many of her shows. I hate that I couldn't see this with Cristin.
I made a couple of decisions there and then.
1. If there is a performer that I know Cristin admired, not only will I find a way to see their shows, I will be sure to thank them for bringing so much joy to her life.
2. If there is a performance that touches me, I will make sure that the performer receives a note as to how much their performance touched me.
So, that's my BCFA post. I hope that when you read my post about my reactions to the show, this will make sense.
Oh yeah, see come from away! you won't regret it.
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