As we prepare to recognize the 15th anniversary of Sept. 11, and the sacrifices first responders made that day – and every day – two events will be held in Durango to help observe the occasion.
“Hollywood in the Rockies” is a two-part event presented by New Face Productions, an all-volunteer fundraising group of the Durango Arts Center. The weekend will begin Sept. 9 with a special Backstage Reception at the Powerhouse Science Center downtown. On Sept. 10, the play “The Guys” by Anne Nelson and starring Wendie Malick and Dan Lauria will be performed at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College.
Not only is the weekend a fundraiser for the Arts Center, it’s a benefit for local first responders, as well.
“The Guys” tells the story of a New York City Fire Department captain (Lauria) who lost eight men in the collapse of the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, who is tasked with writing eulogies for the men’s memorial. Malick plays an editor who helps him with the writing. Lauria and Malick have performed “The Guys” together numerous times.
The Herald spoke with the two ahead of their performance.
Q: You and Dan have been doing this play for a while, how did you guys get started doing it?
A: “Dan was one of the first people to do it in New York after 9/11. Anne Nelson asked him to do it early, early on and they became great friends. ... So he asked me when I became friends with him years later, he said, ‘I’d love to do this with you some time because it’s really powerful and it’s a wonderful piece,’ and I did it with him the first time and I was so hooked.
Q: Do you remember where you were on 9/11?
A: “I remember vividly: I was working on ‘Just Shoot Me,’ and we were living in a cabin totally off the grid ... so all I had was a radio, and somebody called me from New York that morning and said, ‘Did you hear what happened?’ and I said, ‘No.’ And I didn’t have a television at the time.
So they called from work, and most of us on ‘Just Shoot Me’ were from New York City, and we said, ‘What do we do? Do we come in? Do we work? What do we do?’ and they said we all feel like we all need to come in and just be together, so I didn’t see any of the images until I got to work that day, and we just sat around and watched the news coverage.”
Q: Do you think with this being the 15th anniversary, does it feel different?
A: “It’s hard to gauge. I think we lived in a bubble for so long; that somehow we were inviolate, and of course that’s not true, and we just sort of caught up with the rest of the world on that fateful day.
The other thing I wanted to say about this play is it’s not just about the horror of that day; it really is about the indomitable human spirit. And in this play you see how they work through, together, a way to honor the fallen heroes and to celebrate their lives as well as mourning their death. So it really is in a way a celebratory piece as well, and a cathartic one and it’s a great way to pay tribute to all of the first responders all over the country.”
Q: Do you remember where you were on Sept. 11?
A: “I couldn’t have been further away: I was in Vancouver working on a TV show, but I got back to – I’m originally a New Yorker – I got back to New York about three weeks later, and every Tuesday for nine months I worked down at Ground Zero. They gave me a golf cart, and I would take coffee and water and doughnuts down into the pit and talk to the firemen and policemen, so I was very involved with it.”
Q: Do you think with the 15th anniversary coming up, it feels different doing the show?
A: “No, I’ve done it more than anyone – I did it with Marlo Thomas; I did it with Swoosie Kurtz; I did it with Peggy Lipton, Lorraine Toussaint. Most of all, I do it with Wendie. For a one-time deal – we haven’t done it in a while – we’re going to do it the way they did it in New York with the scripts in front of us like “Love Letters,” but Wendie and I were the only who ever did it off-book completely, plus, we added the video.”
Q: What’s your favorite part about working with Wendie?
A: “I love working with Wendie. I’ll tell you, as far as this project’s concerned, Anne Nelson always said of all the people who did it, the one that most reminded her of herself was Wendie.”
katie@durangoherald.com
New Face Productions: Supporting Durango Arts Center
New Face Productions is a fundraising committee that helps promote innovative adult programming at the Durango Arts Center.
“It was during a time when the art center was struggling a little bit financially, and a group of us independently started talk,” said NFP member Debbie Wright. “We also had a goal in mind that we really wanted to direct the arts center to bring out a little bit more cutting-edge, more adult programming, sort of less children, more adult.”
So the group, which took as its name New Face Productions, for the new face of the arts center, Wright said, began fundraising for the center, starting with a T-shirt fashion show/auction.
Fellow NFP member Regina Hogan said that raising money for the DAC not only helps the arts but the greater community as well.
“We believe that it’s a win-win situation,” she said. ”We bring in big names and exciting exhibitions and people come to the city, and then they stay, and they eat and they buy, and it’s just good for the general community.”
If you go
What:
“The Guys,” starring Wendie Malick and Dan Lauria
Where:
Fort Lewis College Community Concert Hall
When:
7 p.m. Sept. 10
Tickets:
$35 adults, $20 students. Available at the concert hall, durangoconcerts.tix.com, by phone at 247-7657 and at the Durango Welcome Center, 802 Main Ave.
There will also be a special Backstage Reception held at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 9 at the Powerhouse Science Center. The event will feature catering by Durangogourmet, an auction and live music by Hello, Dollface.
Tickets for the reception are $150 per person and include a ticket to “The Guys,” and are available at the locations listed above.
This event is a fundraiser for the Durango Arts Center and local first responders: Colorado State Patrol, Colorado Flight for Life, Durango Fire Protection District, Durango Police Department, La Plata County Search and Rescue and the La Plata County Sheriff’s Office.
