“Come From Away” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival

Come From Away is the taut and captivating account about 6,700 airplane passengers who wound up being fed and emotionally supported for 5 or 6 days when their flights were diverted to Gander, Newfoundland immediately after the September 11 attacks. The facts could have been satisfyingly stitched together in a adventure narrative, but fortunately the playwrights instead brilliantly wove the stories into an emotional, uplifting revelation of how humans act together in moments filled with tragedy.

The objective story is straightforward and chilling. The United States closed its airspace after the hijacked planes smashed into the Pentagon and the World Trade Center. Passengers in one other hijacked plane attacked the terrorists who crashed it near near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing everyone on board. No one knew how many, if any, other hijacked planes were aloft, so all planes were told to land and no flights into the country were allowed.

Planes flying toward the United States were diverted. Thirty-eight flights were sent to Gander, Newfoundland where the local population was less than 10,000. After a day of security checks passengers left the plane and were welcomed and helped by the Newfoundlanders. Come From Away tells the real life stories of some of the passengers and crew that came into the town and also shows the humanity and reaction of people in Gander and surrounding small towns.

At opening weekend at the festival members of the cast and artistic staff held a panel discussion which explored how much the director and other creative team members researched Gander, the six September, 2001 days, and the stories of the people featured in the play. A takeaway from listening was that there was not just one outstanding character in the play or on the group, there’s also not a single biggest revelation. The panel members, Director Laurie Woolery, actor Kiki deLohr, and FAIR Assistant Director Dylan  Cole, had moments they loved. But they loved most the narrative of the sharing of the days.

I have a similar problem if you ask me who the outstanding actor was. All of them felt true, important, and part of the town’s emotional adventure.

The panel, and I, did recall moments of compassion that are especially strong. Two relationships pop into my mind.

The first is Bonnie (Royer Bockus ) going into the piled up checked luggage looking for animals needing food, water, and love. She is the Gander SPCA chief and her intensity and love grabs your heart. Maybe it’s because the spotlight is on dogs and other animals we get to let go of our reserve. But Royer let us feel the determination and urgency to help. Those feelings are the same as humans felt for each other throughout the play.

My other especially strong memory is of Hanna (Teri Brown) whose son is a New York City Firefighter. She cannot reach him by phone and the fire department is unsure of his status. Her agony, especially in conversations with Gander resident Beulah (Amy Lizardo), are so real and so strong. Maybe because I used to dispatch police I felt the anxiety of the mother of another first responder more sharply?

Naw. It’s not my background. The character, her lines, her relationship were perfectly written and delivered.

FAIR Assistant Director Dylan Cole

The technical aspects of the production are also excellent, especially the movement of the people and chairs onstage.

The set is almost blank except the back wall is full of checked luggage from the flights. The actors skillfully move themselves and chairs around making clear that they are in a hall used for sleeping, on a bus, in an airplane, or wherever.

Director Woolery in the discussion panel made special call out to FAIR Assistant Director Dylan Cole who she said was responsible for most of the movement suggestions. Her compliments to a junior member of her staff reflects how tight and warm this production is. You in the audience feel the collaborative support between cast members and artistic team.

The September 11th terrors occurred 25 years ago this fall. In my mind there is no statement about the good that can come from The Horrible that is as strong as this Oregon Shakespeare Festival production of Come From Away. OSF has created a monumental tribute to the soul of Gander and of the refugees who were forced to land there.

Geoffrey and I have booked seats for the September 11, 2026 production in Ashland. I very much hope that the Festival and Cast are able to break the fourth wall and address the importance of this show.

“May this play be a reminder to us all that it is through seemingly ordinary acts of generosity that heroic change and healing are found,” writes Laurie Woolery in her Director’s Notes.

Amen.