The opening of the new performing arts center at the World Trade Center site…has done what the rebuilders had hoped it would, at least for me. On the anniversary of 9/11, the imagery of Ground Zero, and my memory of that awful day, have been supplemented (if not yet completely replaced) by memorable theatrical performances within the glowing marble cube of the Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, now commonly called PAC NYC,…– Reframing 9/11: PAC NYC’s First Year, September 11, 2024
There is no way to ignore the 25th anniversary of the attack this year, as I’ve tried to do most years, so I’ll go back to the first 9/11, and the account that my colleagues and I put together for the publication I edited, which happened to have its offices across the street. But 9/11 did not just occur in 2001. It has occurred every year since. Below is a sample,
2001
Shortly before 9 a.m., while a customer was waiting for his bialy to be toasted, the owner of Grace Deli at 198 Broadway rushed in. “There was an explosion at the World Trade Center.” The customer asked if he was joking, but the owner shook his head grimly. About half a dozen of the people in the deli rushed out to see the twin towers, right across the street.
All we could see was a darkened band near the top, something like the band around a cigar, that was spreading. It was the first moment in a day that witnesses, those who survived, may never forget, a day when two planes crashed into the twin towers of the World Trade Center, and the buildings completely collapsed. It was, officials say, the worst act of terrorism in United States history. For the rest of the day, people who saw what happened were walking around, telling the story of what they had seen, of what they had lived through, to anyone who would listen…
Seven hours later, at 3 p.m., the fact that this was Election Day was all but forgotten, and Mayor Giuliani was giving a press conference at “undisclosed location.” After explaining what they knew, and assuring New Yorkers that the city was safe, he asked everybody to pray for strength. “American democracy is much stronger than vicious cowardly terrorism, and we’re going to overcome this.”. – Twin Towers Attack, posted 4:30 pm September 11, 2001
2002
There are hundreds of memorial events in the city today. Are such public events more helpful or less helpful for people who are suffering?
Dr. Joseph Hirsch: For some people, as the families of victims who attended today to whom it is very comforting. Other people, who escaped with their lives told me yesterday that they did not want any more reminders. Many of them volunteered that they would turn off the TV, something that I advised people to do last year. Saturation, for some people is retraumatizing, equivalent to rubbing salt in the psychic wound. — Coping with September 11 one year later., live chats September 11, 2002
2003
Whatever the second anniversary of the destruction of the World Trade Center means to the public at large, to many of those who remain most intimately involved with the aftermath of September 11th — the thousand construction workers at Ground Zero, the 13 members of the jury charged with selecting a memorial design, the countless architects and engineers and planners designing the new buildings and new transportation facilities and new streets – it means mostly a solemn pause from their focus on the future.
Much has happened since the rebuilding of Ground Zero began in earnest, which could be dated back to the first public hearing in May, 2002, when even those most affected by the historical moment of September 11, 2001 were concerned with what lay ahead: Monica Iken, founder of September’s Mission, stood up and said, “I need to know that I can visit that site in the future and have a sense of peace and reflection on my husband’s last day on Earth.”
That future is much clearer now…Rebuilding, Two Years Later, September 8, 2003
2006
Days before New Yorkers marked the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, researchers confirmed what many had long assumed: that the collapse of the Twin Towers led to serious health problems. Mt. Sinai Medical Center published the first major clinical study (in pdf format) of the 40,000 men and women who worked at Ground Zero in the days immediately following 9/11. Seventy percent of those tested reported respiratory problems, and 60 percent of them continue to be sick – Health Problems at Ground Zero, September 2006
2011
“Sweet and Sad,” the second in Richard Nelson’s series of plays at the Public Theater about the Apple family of Rhinebeck, New York, is set — and took place — on the tenth anniversary of 9/11. “Sweet and Sad” ultimately dares to ask questions about our responses to Sept. 11 that we might be afraid to tackle ourselves, even among friends, such as the relative definitions of victim and hero. At the same time Mr. Nelson is asking us to consider what role art — and particularly theater — plays in how we assimilate the fears of loss that are always, on some level, with us – For Family, 9/11 Is Uninvited Guest, September 12, 2011
2016
My local supermarket just e-mailed me their weekly deals on raspberries and sushi rolls with the subject head “Always Remember, September 11th.”They were not trying to be crass, of course, but I don’t need reminders to remember. I would sooner forget. – Forgetting 9/11, September 11, 2016
2017
When I saw Come From Away, I was grateful that the musical didn’t wind up being “triggering,” as I wrote in my review of it for DC Theatre Scene. But I have to admit that I couldn’t help harboring some resentment towards the show and its admirers. Why is this first “9/11 musical” on Broadway set 1,500 miles away from New York—or indeed very far from any place that was attacked? Are they implying that you had to travel a great distance to find people acting decently during the crisis? There were many New Yorkers who behaved decently during 9/11, even though their lives were endangered. Some of the most decent lost their lives. – Come From Away: Resenting the Decency in This 9/11 Musical, April 7, 2017
2021
I did not react well to the news that the musical “Come from Away” would commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 by giving a free concert of the musical at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. ….The producers’ decision to stage a concert at the United States’ most visited national monument on the eve of this significant 9/11 anniversary strikes me as not just about presenting a performance, but promoting a message: This commercial venture is now the official representation of 9/11, the best embodiment of this historic tragedy. This feels arrogant to me, and greatly amplifies the resentment I’ve always felt towards this musical.- Why I Resent “Come From Away”, July 21, 2021
By the time that Bill Rauch became the artistic director of the performing arts center on the site of the World Trade Center, it had been nearly two decades in the making. On this, the twentieth anniversary of the WTC’s destruction – which is two years after Rauch moved to New York to begin the job full-time — it will be another two years before the arts building, now referred to as the PAC, will be open for business.
The reasons for the delay are manifold, including the pandemic, but, as he says in my interview with him below, “to me the question is not why did it take so long, but how did this miracle even happen…(g)iven the physical and societal and emotional complexities of the site…” He laid out for me what the arts will look like at the World Trade Center site: performances that blur boundaries, a lobby open noon to midnight with free shows, a building that glows at night.- The arts looking forward from 9/11: Q & A with Bill Rauch of the PAC at the World Trade Center — September 11, 2021
2026
“A History of Paper,’ a musical at the Pitlochry Festival Theatre in the Scottish Highland, seemed to promise that it would be the story of a couple’s life and love together over the years, a tuneful, charming chamber musical (and star vehicle) reminiscent of a straight play like A.R. Gurney’s “Love Letters.” And that is what it was for most of its 70-minute running time — until, three thousand miles away from home, “A History of Paper” hits home, swerving abruptly into a musical about 9/11…She gets an offer of an interview for a job in New York. He accompanies her to the city, but not for the interview, which is at the World Trade Center. The play shifts in tone, and the title takes on new meaning. He remembers what it was like in downtown Manhattan. “There’s paper everywhere. It falls from the sky and out across the lower path of the island, as far as the eye can see.”
That’s not how I remember it….you might understand why I can’t accept the facile artistic choice to graft on this tragedy, and to time the run of this production during the 25th anniversary of the attack — even as I appreciate that there is a modicum of beauty and insight in “A History of Paper” — an effort to use paper as a metaphor for loss, and grief. and impermanence. A History of Paper Review. A love story, and a 9/11 musical, September 9, 2026
