Phoenix Performing Arts.

You know, I love to be in this space, especially with my bestie Ashley.

We are dressed for the event.

We are now an honorary Newfoundlanders, so it's official you're no longer come from away.

I love it.

You guys are doing come from away.

Now, this is a really unique story.

I haven't seen this performance before, but I'm familiar with it.

This is based on a true story.

Yeah.

True story.

Real people.

It's based on the, 38 planes that were rerouted on the September 11th attacks in 2001.

To gander, Newfoundland and Canada.

And so it's all about how those people from gander kind of welcomed all of those come from a ways in and took care of them during that time of uncertainty.

For five days, clothed them, fed them, gave them places to sleep and how they kind of became this come from a way family.

And I suppose I love that, I love that, and I love that you're able to bring those stories up to the stage.

No.

Are they the true stories or have they been kind of modified?

So there's only 12 cast members in the show, and we play we play collectively 84 characters.

So.

Oh, wait, hold on, hold on.

Say that again.

There are 12 of us on the stage.

And throughout that, the one act musical we play at 84 different people.

80.

So some of the, some of the intricacies of some of the background characters are probably a little, you know, done up a little bit, but they're the main line of characters that you'll hear mostly about are all based on real life stories of real people.

Even even with the names.

Yeah, yeah.

Sean, what role are you playing?

So I'm in the show.

I play the role of Oz.

He's the town constable of gander, a two person police department that I think was kind of taken aback when 7000 people landed in, you know, in their backyard.

So I kind of had to deal with the logistics of all of that.

And then I'm honored to be able to co-direct this show as well.

That's exciting.

Is that your first time doing this?

It is it is.

So tell us how that experience has been.

Oh, it's been great.

One of the first things I was tasked with was, teaching this Newfoundland accent, which is kind of a mix of a standard Canadian one, a little bit of Irish, just other European flavors to it.

And, you know, like most, if a show calls for an accent, it's like a British or Southern, right.

This is unlike anything I've ever.

So I like did YouTube tutorials.

I was going to say, yeah, what kind of legwork do you have to do to prepare for that?

Luckily, because the rights came out recently, there's been a lot of videos out with like tutorials on how to use it.

And so I kind of just made this worksheet for the cast, and we had our first rehearsal was literally just the accent itself.

Yeah.

So learning that teaching that and then you know, I'm in the show, so I have my ears on the whole time listening for, you know, little things here and there that we can work on.

So it's, it's fun to be able to kind of wear both hats, but, Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I will tell you from the audience, we're not going to know if it's right or wrong.

So great.

You know, as much I know.

So the play that you guys are onstage like the whole time.

Yes.

Yeah.

So they're I wish I should have counted all the props that we have for the show.

Oh my gosh.

The only time we are really off stage is to truthfully run, to grab a prop and to come back on if the scene calls for that.

But all of the chairs that you'll see back here are basically what makes up the mobility of the set.

So while we're on the stage, we're doing the singing, dancing, acting and then moving the chairs.

You're also the backstage crew too?

Yes.

Yeah.

So we have some amazing hands that are backstage just in case.

Knock on wood, something were to go wrong.

Really?

It's unlike anything you've ever seen on on the stage before, but just because of the simple way it was constructed and you guys have just such a great set here, you always do.

We got to talk about the set.

Thank you.

Yeah, I know he won't ever come to talk about it, but, so it's a lot of it is true to what you would see, on the original Broadway for the original Broadway production.

You know, we are the regional premiere.

So I think there was a sense of authenticity, of wanting to just keep it true to the heart of it.

And the way it was done, it was done beautifully.

But then Zach took some artistic license, and he constructed some things that work better for the space that we're in.

And so, I don't know, every time I walk in, even though I've seen it and I've been watching him do it for, you know, several weeks I just walk in and I'm like, we're just so lucky.

It's just it's so beautiful.

And the team behind that's done the painting and the lights, Andrew and everybody that works here, I'm just like, I mean, it's just it's breathtaking.

I just I feel like a proud mom and they're all older than me.

Tiffany green eyes.

Right.

And I know.

So we were kind of looking as we were coming up to the stage.

And you're part of that director directorial process too.

There are a number of, strike marks on the set.

Yeah.

We can we just kind of.

Look, if you want to.

There are at least.

What do we say, 216?

I think you said this is a lot.

It looks like someone took a handful of confetti and just kind of threw it on the stage, but everything is color coded, so we know that, like, teal, blue is the first plane.

Regular blue is the second plane.

Purple's the church.

So we spent an entire rehearsal going through all of that.

The chair formations, and it it might look like chaos right now, but we've got it down to a science to where, you know, sometimes it's like five seconds to go from, you know, one setting to another and we're, we're establishing all these different worlds.

And you do that while changing your dialect, while changing your costume, while singing and sometimes dancing, and then sing your lines while it's happening.

So for the audience, the goal is that it's seamless, right?

But inside it feels like the duck analogy.

You know, when they're like, swimming and they look smooth on the surface, but underneath they're like, just like, yeah, it's like a duck analogy.

I, you almost need like a black lace on your shoes just to see.

Oh yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Absolutely.

Especially when the colors start to blend together because you only have so many colors.

You can use that kind of creative with some of them, like, I know if you could show it, but there's one that he came up with that was Band Aid because we needed to combine color.

So it's the tan with the talent.

So one of our scene changes is called Band Aid.

We have watermelon in the back.

So, so yeah, you got to do with what?

You can't.

The show must go on, right?

It is, it is.

And now, as a part of a 12 person cash.

Yes.

That's playing such a wide variety.

What does that experience and how does it differ from some of the other things that you have done in the past?

Oh, you know, just being able to jump from character to character has been yeah, absolutely.

The biggest challenge I think for people, because it's not like you're one and done.

You go back to these characters throughout.

So it's a matter of kind of that code switching of, you kind of have to think like, okay, if I stand up tall now, I'm Oz.

If I grab my belt now, I'm, you know, it's it's a matter of going from character to character.

And we have such a great cast that it's, you know, been experienced and, people are, you know, we're up for the challenge and they've established really all these different, unique characters, which is one of the most important things for this show, and translating that to the audience.

Exactly.

I really think I mean, I think everyone understood.

When we first met for our first cast meeting, we talked about what the show meant, where, you know, some of us were alive during September 11th in 2001.

And so where we were at when that happened, what we remember we shared a lot of that vulnerability so we could infuse that, but also care for it, care for the stories we're telling.

Because of course, even during the fun parts of the dancing and singing, there's this underlying, yes, there is this underlying message.

And so trying to meet that with, you know, care but also give some entertainment to our audience.

And so it's been so inspiring to watch not just our cast but our team come together and have these real conversations and just make sure that everyone understands and feels like they can try things and and they can bring that intimate feeling to this global thing that come from a way really, truly is.

I know when people come and see this performance, there's a lot they're going to take away from it.

What is your hope that they taken move forward with?

Oh my goodness, I hope one if they come and they don't know what they're in for, I hope they come away with, becoming come from away nerds like Zach, Sean and I are, because this has been something that we have wanted to do since it first came on Broadway.

And so that part of when did it come on Broadway, 2017.

Right.

1617 season.

Yeah.

So it's almost ten years old.

Yeah.

And it's the nice thing is it's this lesser known story about 911 that's kind of a light in the dark about humanity and being there for people.

And I think people, you know, maybe have heard that Newfoundland played a part in 911, but this gets into all the nitty gritty details.

There's so many things you don't think about, like people had to refill medications.

There were animals under those planes.

And for an hour and a half music hall, they packed so much detail in.

And it shows the humanity that these gander citizens, you know, really took a responsibility that wasn't necessarily theirs to take.

But they still did it.

It really opens your eyes to what else there was to discuss.

As far as 911 is concerned, not just what was happening here stateside for us.

Yeah, I think with your new, younger generation who have learned about it in the history books, there isn't that sense of like realness for them.

Like it.

Maybe us experienced it or had family members that did.

And so I'm hoping that it inspires a new generation to just take in what we've been through and and to find that, like you said, that, camaraderie and sense of humanity and helping others when they're in need, regardless of who they are and where they come from.

I love that so much.

Well, break a leg to you guys.

Thank you so much.

Come from away.

And when is it showing?

Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

So 17, 18, 19.

Friday, Saturday at 730, Sunday at 3 p.m.. And then we're packing it up.

And how can people get their tickets.

You can go to the Phoenix arts.org, or you can buy them at the door all weekend.

All right.

Thank you so much.

Thank you.

Welcome to being a Newfoundland.

Yes, you made it.

How do I say an accent?

Just so thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you.

You nailed it.

Thank you, thank you.