This is Voice of the Arts.

I'm Nick Tommarello.

25 years after 9/11, the stories of the people who lived through it are still u “Behind the Lines, A 911 Story brings together firefighter Bill combat veteran Jaymes Poling and internationally accla musician Dominick Farinacci for a performance that blends f storytelling, live music and the But this isn't simply a retellin of September 11th.

It's a look at what happen after the headlines fade and how carry, process and find meaning and experiences that change them forever.

Being a firefighter in a rescue I was always told theres no one coming after you.

I was not going to leave one civ behind in those towers.

After 9/11, I knew I wanted to f I watched the wars in Ira and Afghanistan and hoped to see I enlisted less than a month after my 17th birthday.

No matter what your story is or where you were connected us all.

I would like to invite Dominick, and Jaymes here.

Thank you for joining me today on Voice of the Arts.

Thank you.

So we are 25 years removed from 9/11, and you're b “Behind the Lines” to audiences Why was this the right stor to tell at this particular momen I think to provide a bit of con about that, just take you back, like a few years.

When James and I first me and we created our first product together, Modern Warrior Live, where centered around James.

The story of fighting in Afghani and coming back home built the whole musical orchestration around it.

We spent several years kind of touring that, and as we got closer to the, 25th anniversary of 911, you know, we thought, well, why don't we create a show that is really kind of the impe for why James, went to Afghanist And, you know, this story you know, working with, with Bil and hearing about his experienc and responding to the world Trad attacks, you know, yes, it's im to tell this year and every year and every day of every year, for because, there's so many, you know, important stories her the, the sacrifice that, that Bi and so many others have given an and then James, through the lens of fightin and the subsequent war are real, timeless and important storie that need to be told all the tim And Bill and Jaymes what is it like to walk onto a s and say, essentially, I'm not playing a character.

I'm telling you what happened to and what I experienced.

Yeah, I think, you know, it's definitely something I never thought I would be doing before meeting Dominick.

And even when I first met Domin something I didn't think I would But Dominick has approache everything that we've worked on in a way of really wanting to s the message that Bill and I want In our own words I think a lot of times artists might come to a project with an of what they want that project t and then they look to find the s that fits that mold.

And this has been something very different.

So I think that's empowering fo first of all, and then being abl to see how the audience reacts t and maybe more importantly, how they relate to it and absor and apply it to their own life.

It's just something that's it's it's not just rewarding.

It kind of re-energize m personally for the next shows.

When Dominick and Jaymes approac and at first, it was about my 9/ which I've told over 500 times two to three the years.

They also cared about what happened to me on 9/12 and after And that was so important to me.

And that's what a lot of the sto about, healing and PTSD.

And if we can help others and in that's what's so important.

And that's what really made me s and, and agree to do this.

How did you approac turning these real life experien into, a theatrical narrativ without losing their authenticit When Jaymes and I first started together, you know we establishe of, our, our guidelines for how we wanted to do this.

And number one, it's most impor that whoever the storyteller is these are their own word and that they're communicating exactly what they want to share.

That level of trust that is req you know, between me and Jaymes and now between me and Jaymes and Bill is the thin that is the magic thing of why t Yeah.

And I'll second Dominick's point that I think that the trus and the authenticity really is what lays the foundatio that the entire show is built on The production deals directly wi and mental health but it isn't a lecture about eit Why was it important to tell the through an emotional and artistic experience?

I think it's something that naturally evolved out of the conversation Dominick and I had early on.

with Dominic being one of the best trumpet pl in the world and leading world class musicians, and me being somebody who' just willing to write my story and hopefully write my stor in a way that feels relatable to I think at the end of the day, it really is kind of the only way in whic we could come together and tell You know, everybody goes through our own challenges in life.

And when people have an extraord challenge like Bill had like Jaymes had, sometimes that becomes the defin of them as a human being.

But what's so important is that Bill and Jaymes are just ordinar people who have done extraordina And I love going on Sunday to Staten Island to Bill's bingo that he does.

And, you know, at his, at his sw “Bingo Bill” is lik his nickname is Staten Island, r is one of the funniest, most wo guys like I've gotten to know, r And, you know, all that stuff i into every aspect of his existen Also, Nick, you talked about lec people who come back from war or maybe firs first responders involved with something, traumatic to them.

They don't want to be lectured about things they should do awa having avenues they should take.

But if Jayme and I tell our story in a normal and Dominick adds wonderful musi it gets the point across just as And maybe even better.

And, if somebody in the audience thinks that, hey, maybe, you know, seekin counseling or something can help We've helped somebody.

And that's, you know that's what we're out to do to to make sure everybody in the audience is comfortable.

People that may not have a traum experience is enjoying the the music and all and our storie But those that affected by anything can hear it and not feel lik they're being lectured to, but f hey, this is something they wen and that's how they dealt with i Has telling these stories public your relationshi with the experiences themselves?

I think that the process of creating the show changed my relationship with the experiences.

Kind of early on, because as I would write down my experience and how I felt about my experien and would send that to Dominick, and then he would craft a piece of music that reflected and send it back to me.

It kind of held a mirror up to I was saying about my own experi And so one example might be there's an experience that I, you know, generally jus I was frustrated or angry about.

But ultimately, once we got into musically and emotionally, I was able to recognize, like i just something I was sad about.

It's just something that, you kn needed a minute to grieve.

And it really helped me kind of flush out some of my own experiences.

Telling my story each time.

You know, going to go into thera is, something that people used to keep quiet and and hidd and I still see that in a life t Somebody.

Oh, I'm seeking counseling, but want to tell you I'm out and tel I went to four years of counseli to help me get through it.

It helped me speak about it.

And, although I, I tear up at times and I get emo it brings me back to that day and and the event.

But I feel it's better to get i in the open to keep things insid And, you know, that's just the way I feel.

And I, I've had audience members We've only done a few show and a couple of people saying, I'm going to be more open about One fella told me, whenever I have something, I go in my basemen and I keep it to myself, and I. He kind of hides out in his base He said, I'm not going to do that anymore, you know?

So we will will touch on lives and what we're doing.

Has performin this story been healing or thera for either of you in presenting it's not forgetting, you know, I I've been asked a lot of times to speak already for this 25th anniversary, and people go, how can you do it?

And it's to not forget, you kno if somebody told me a while back if I wasn't telling the story, it'll be forgotten.

You know, of other people I cam the people I was involved with.

So I felt good about talking abo and, and getting their name out that they won't be forgotten.

And I think, you know, I I never want to sound too clinic when talking about the show because I think the show doe stand on its own as entertainmen And I think that's always what we want to lead with.

At the same time, when Bill and I are up there sharing our experience in the first person present tens the parallels between exposure therapy, times cognitive processing therapy are pretty obvious, and they're amplified by the env that our director creates and the music that Dominic and t you know, surrounds us with.

And so, you know we can can never perform the sho without feeling like you are to some extent, doing exposure t And Dominick, you describe the musi as the internal voice of the pie What can music communicate about trauma, memory, or grief that maybe the spoken w the beautiful thin about integrating music in this way is that i lets everybody internalize the s in a way that's really personal and meaningful to them.

And like James says, like you know, it's kind of his story and these stories are kind of h a mirror to the audience in some because the way Bill and James communicate their stories, it allows us who can never imag going through what they went thr but allows us to kind of see our own lives, y through the lens of how they sha So that aspec and the musical aspect really ki you know, makes this show about not about Bill, not about James is not even a 91 story is not a story about war.

It's a story of just the human e and how we move forward past difficul things we go through in our live Amen.

You know.

Thank you Bill.

And musi is such an important part to the But the production also uses lig imagery, color to represent righ the the psychological states of and transitioning throughout.

How did you turn something as in as memory and trauma into something that the audience and experience?

Our wonderful director Emmett Murphy is kind of the, the mastermind behin what everybody's experiencing vi Right.

In terms of like our input, I w on, you know, I really wanted to some really important footage a you know, visual things of Jayme and now of Bill integrate and also some beautiful moments you know, honoring a lot of othe and first responders.

And so that aspect.

And so Emmett kind of took tha and then expanded that and built built a concep where every aspect of the visual like different chamber and of Jaymes's mind and of Bill So, yeah, he has a brilliant min in, in helping to bring to life we have the story and the musi at its core, which is very stron And then just bring to lif the kind of visual immersive ele Bill and Jaymes, you're bot telling two very different stori from different generation and different forms of service.

What happens when those stories meet on stage?

Jaymes and I do discuss similarities on the telephone or in person, and he said, did you ever feel this I'm sorry.

Yeah, I felt that way Do you think about this?

And I go all the time and he goe So there's so muc we we find out that we have in c you know, coming back from the, or coming back from 911 that, we're dealing with thing in the same way, you know, and, we handle it, we both do it dif but yet, it's the same result, you know, and, I find that, you we're a couple years apart.

was in high school on September I remember watching it in study It was a big part of wh I wanted to join the military.

And, you know, I think as for as different, as intense or traumatic experiences can be for everyone there, there's a lot of commonality in the symptoms and the approac to improving those symptoms, too And so I think that that's an a where, regardless of your backgr if you've really worked throug a challenging experience in your it's something that you can come you can talk about and relate to each other on.

I think that there's a lot of cr between the militar and first responder culture as w I think the idea of having a tea that you trust your life with is something that that Bill and I probably, if I'm speaking frankly and at speaking for Bill a little bit, And so it's nice to be able to come together to and have some of that relationsh I mean, you both touched on it, but was there anything that you learned about each oth or about your own experiences th making this show that you didn't I've lived 9/11 every day since in my mind.

And Jayme also says the same thing with hi His days of war.

I he I put it onc background music in his mind all And, you know, I, I maybe I didn always expect that, you know, maybe I don't know if he expect that out of me, but we both have that so, so much in common that, it isn't the day we we do the show or we we rehearse that it comes to min It's every single day.

You know, I think when I firs got out of the military, I told you know, if I transition corre the civilian world, nobody will I was a veteran in ten years.

And I would joke about not wanti to be a professional veteran and something like that.

So obviously that's change quite a bit for me in doing this and just stepping on stage.

Being out there like that I never saw myself as an artisti I never thought that I would be in, you know, any any space like But being elevated by Dominick and the team that Dominick build and being able to stand across f I think that it's hard not to feel a pride in tha and kind of refine it as a skill And it's something that, you kn hope I get to do for the rest of as well as helping other peopl share their stories in a similar This year marks 25 years since 9 There is now an entire generatio that has grown up knowing September 11th primarily as history.

Did that change how you though about telling or presenting this one of the members of our band.

Yeah, Gabe, wonderful drummer, i I think he's like 23 or 24.

And anyway, he was born after 9/ And, and so, you know, we find a lot of young, young people don't, don't under like the gravity of what happene which is like shocking to us.

But, you know, it's common, righ So, yeah.

So bringing, you know, these st and specifically like, the stori like, told in the way that Bill tell them again, like it's like a reflection on, you know, speaks to our own personal ways and the best way to internalize history is to for us to be able to relate to somethi to see ourselves in something.

And that's how you remember it, how you really kind of internali What does “Behind the Lines” allow audiences to understand about the aftermat that they may not get from a do a news report or the history boo One thing for sure is, what happened on 9/12.

What happened a year later?

I talk about going to over 15 f before Christmas of that year.

Nobody who interviews m or anything ever asked me those How did you deal with, counselin and getting help?

How did the other families that their, fathers, make make it, yo so questions like that, in the s and and Dominick and Jaymes and Emmett all.

You know they asked me about that, how I how has things changed since 9/1 And that's a big thing, you know definitely changed on that day and how it changed.

I answer some of that in the sho When people are experiencing the And I think, too about other art forms of of telling, sharing, retelling the story of 9/11.

Right.

Come From Away,” an amazing musi You know, the the movie of fligh capturing that story.

So, so what do you hope that that people can take awa from both of your unique stories And I think the way that it's pr to having stories, spoken word music, the interaction of t Yeah.

What do you hop the audience takes away from tha I know, we've had a lot of, my son was two months old, and, one of my sons was two months ol So, he's in his 25 now.

And, he's brought some of his f to the show, and they all say, wow, that's something all kids our age should come and see.

You know, maybe they were even b like I said before, 9/11 or right around it, but they do really know the story of of of i And, and it opens the eyes to some of When 9/11 really you know, affected the whole wor I volunteer at the 9/11 museum in the city, and people come from all over th and know where they were at that moment on that day.

And being also in Pittsburgh you're very close to, Shanksvill And, I watched my uncle on fligh 93 that day as well.

And, you know, I stayed in Pitts when we visited Shanksville a fe So they're very nearby.

One of the major parts of the st Im just proud to be part of the the show at all.

Like I said, Im just a, firefig who was doing his job on 9/11 and, 2,977 people that day were in the United States due to this, terrorist act.

And Jaymes responded by, you kno signing up for the military and and going to fight the war on te I hope that when people come ou and see the show and, you know, even though there are going to b parts of Bill's story and my st that feel unrelatable to them, I hope that they are able to find the relatable points that, you know, ultimately, when they leave, they can look at individual like Bill and myself who they mi might have previously fel like they didn't have a connecti and realize that, you know, we much more in common than what di And I think that there's no sho of forces trying to divide us ri So I think just that, that leaning into shared humanity is something that we hope peopl with them after the show, as wel What you hear from Bil and what you hear from Jaymes is kind of the best of the human ex And every time I'm on stage just hearing their story night after night, I come awa feeling like I can be a better p and that's really what it's abou And it's such a gift to be able to work with them and to bring such wonderful artist on stage who are all so committed to this and these stories, and to be able to share this wi with audiences all over the coun I'm very excited about coming to Pittsburgh and bringing thi to Pittsburgh for the first time Thanks to Dominick, Bill and Jayme for joining us on Voice of the A And Bill and Jaymes, thank you for your service.

We look forward to watching and “Behind the Lines: A 9/11 Story” when it comes to Pittsburgh September 16th at the Byam Theat You can get your tickets at trus You're listening to Voice of the