When Your 9/11 Story Becomes a Tony-Award Winning Broadway Musical
Excerpt from the Channel of Peace: Stranded in Gander on 9/11 by Kevin Tuerff (real “Kevin T” in Come From Away)
On one of America’s worst days in history, I saw actions that restored my faith in humanity. It all happened on an island in the Atlantic Ocean in a foreign country.
I never expected that my story of being a 9/11 refugee in Gander, Newfoundland (Canada), and the stories of many others who had similar experiences, would ultimately be told in the Tony-nominated Broadway musical Come From Away. It’s surreal to have a younger, better-looking, and immensely talented Tony-nominated actor-singer to portray my story onstage. The musical was nominated for seven Tony awards, and won an award for Best Direction, by Christopher Ashley.
On the tenth anniversary of the terror attacks on America in 2011, I met David Hein and Irene Sankoff. This husband and wife team from Toronto wrote the book, lyrics, and music for Come From Away (earning two Tony award nominations). They interviewed me, and hundreds of others, about our experiences in Gander in 2001.
We met at the College of the North Atlantic, on my first return trip back to my 9/11 shelter. They interviewed me several times over the next year via Skype. Then, in 2013, I traveled to Sheridan College in Toronto, Canada, to see the first version of the show performed. Although the show blew me away, I assumed the musical would end with that college production. But March 12, 2017, the show debuted at the Schoenfeld Theatre on Broadway.
In Come From Away, Kevin T— my character — begins the song “Prayer,” which is based in part on the Christian hymn “Make Me a Channel of Your Peace.” The hymn includes the phrases “where there is hatred, let me sow love,” and my favorite, “for it is in giving that we receive.” After watching on TV the continuous loop of video of planes crashing into the World Trade Center in 2001, this song played in my head in the days after 9/11. As a member of Generation X, I grew up primarily in a time of peace, where Americans were not engaged in war with another country. This hymn is based on the “Prayer of St. Francis,” which extols the simple virtues of peace, love, and kindness to all.
But how could my doppelgänger be singing this onstage if I never told anyone that this hymn had run through my mind? I didn’t remember telling David and Irene.
When I first heard the song “Prayer” in the musical, I couldn’t breathe. It was like someone had sucker punched me. In the play, that song in my head begins a litany that’s joined by the voices of other characters, adding Jewish, Muslim, and Hindu prayers about peace in song.
Michael Rubinoff, who first commissioned Come From Away for the Canadian Music Theatre Project at Sheridan College, shared an email with me from his friend Paul Akins, who had seen the full production. Paul wrote, “I was bolted back into my Catholic childhood when ‘Make Me a Channel of Your Peace’ began. It’s a song that helped shape who I am today, but it also made me run for the hills when the Catholic Church made me feel shameful when I was a young gay man. The song tonight made me look at life differently. It allowed me to forgive, accept, and move on. What a brilliant piece of theater — especially that very moving scene!”
Wow. Through the beauty of storytelling, fifteen years after a hymn went through my head, I was able to connect with a stranger just like me, a gay Catholic struggling to remain faithful to an unwelcoming church.
When I came out of the closet at twenty-two, I was blessed by finding a support group of other gay Catholics in Austin, Texas. Because that group helped me realize that my identity and my faith could be consistent with each other, I remain an active member of the Catholic Church. Almost all my LGBT friends have left the Church due to hate speech from the Vatican and other church leaders. I jokingly told others that I was “the last gay Catholic with my foot in the door.” I hoped for change eventually, and I tried to change hearts and minds by being visible while providing leadership, service, and financial support to my church.
I’m happy Pope Francis has begun to heal the wounds of the past with welcoming comments like this: “If a person is gay and seeks out the Lord and is willing, who am I to judge that person?”
Even better, Pope Francis has said that gays and lesbians are owed an apology by the Church, whom it has offended.
On the fifteenth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, many US communities had dialed-back ceremonies commemorating the lives lost. In Washington, DC, the leaders at Ford’s Theatre believed this musical was exactly what their audience needed to see right then.
It was surreal to find myself sitting near the front row of this historic theater, the place where President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. I’d worked for years in Washington, DC, but I had never been inside the theater, which is also a national historic site. The presidential box seats are empty, with a framed portrait of Washington facing the stage. Ford’s Theatre celebrates the legacy of President Lincoln and explores the American experience through theater and education.
Before the show began, I was introduced along with a handful of others whose stories are portrayed in the show. I thought, Is this really happening?
As I looked around the theater, I couldn’t believe I was sitting amid some of the most high-profile political leaders in the country. Directly in front of me was Andrew Card, the chief of staff to President George W. Bush. He’s the man who whispered to President Bush that America was under attack as the president read to schoolchildren in Florida. Sitting in the front row was the US secretary of the interior Sally Jewell, appointed by President Obama. Behind me was Republican Senator Roy Blunt from Missouri. Across the aisle were Senators Susan Collins, Republican from Maine, and former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat from Nevada. Since I’d already seen the show three times, I decided to watch how these political leaders from both parties reacted to Come From Away. Guess what?
They all laughed and cried throughout the entire performance. It didn’t matter what political party you were in, this show was uniting people, reminding everyone of the power, beauty, and importance of kindness to strangers. After the show, I shook hands with Andrew Card and thanked him for his service on that tragic day. I disagreed with the decisions of Mr. Card and President Bush, taking our country into war in Iraq. Perhaps this show could unite us all back to a time of peace?
Before the opening of the musical in Washington, I was invited to a welcome reception at the Canadian Embassy to the United States. David MacNaughton, the Canadian ambassador, told the guests and patrons from Ford’s Theatre that “On that tragic day, Canadians lent a hand to their neighbor. No thanks are necessary. The debt is paid in full.”
Gander mayor Claude Elliott added, “We just do good deeds and cherish the memories.” This is precisely the reason behind the Pay it Forward 9/11 initiative I launched in 2002, to do good deeds to strangers as a way to honor the fallen and the heroes and volunteers of that terrible day.
After the September 11, 2016 show in Washington, DC, I woke up to see a newspaper slipped underneath my hotel room door. On the front page of the Metro section of the Washington Post was the headline “Stranded on 9/11, a small town in Canada showed him kindness. This is how he pays it forward,” written by Colby Itkowitz, the Inspired Life blog writer for the Post. The writer described how I’d been true to remembering the anniversary of the attacks by encouraging kindness to strangers, and highlighted generous actions the cast and crew of the musical had taken the previous day.
After that remarkable experience, I began having three unexpected, bizarre spiritual encounters. I called a Catholic priest friend of mine, and he said, “Clearly God is trying to tell you something. I suggest you go on an 8-day spiritual retreat organized by the Jesuit Fathers.” I did just that, visiting the Jesuit Center for Spirituality in Wernersville, Pennsylvania. It was billed as a silent retreat. I thought the silence part was optional. Wrong. It was a powerful week of meditation, prayer and some writing on my new book. By the end of the week, I walked away with a surprise calling to switch the focus of my career and advocacy from environment to kindness to immigrants and refugees.
A month later, I was invited by the show’s producers to join the cast and crew on their trip to Gander, Newfoundland, for a benefit performance of Come From Away. It’s not an easy trip to get to Gander because there are no direct flights from America. I met up with a group of eighty people at LaGuardia Airport for a long day’s journey, flying northwest to Toronto, then east to St. John’s, Newfoundland. From there, it was a late-night four-hour bus ride to the town of Gander. The first people I saw at the airport were Chad Kimball, my doppelgänger who plays the character of Kevin T, and Caesar Samayoa, who plays the character of Kevin J, partly inspired by my ex-boyfriend of seventeen years, who had been on the flight with me. I now count the entire cast, band, crew and producers as my friends.
I’ll never forget my 2016 Gander trip. I was reunited with friends who had been my 9/11 caretakers. At the Gander Airport, I also met Bruce Heyman, the US ambassador to Canada. He presented a beautiful bronze plaque, offering gratitude on behalf of the United States to the people of Gander and the surrounding towns for the role they played in taking care of the more than 6,500 stranded airline passengers for up to five days.
The actors, musicians, and crew were all nervous about performing the show for Gander’s residents. They wanted to be sure they were authentic in the story, sentiment, and Newfoundland accents.
Mayor Claude Elliott shut down the town’s hockey rink (that’s huge!) to accommodate 2,500 people for each of the two performances. In the musical, the writers chose to juxtapose the stories of Nick and Diane, who met and fell in love in Gander, against Kevin T and Kevin J, the nervous gay couple who were falling out of love. I was anxious to see how the audience would react to the storyline about Gander being “the gayest town in Newfoundland.” Roughly half of the town saw the musical in Gander that day, and they absolutely loved it. They cheered, laughed, cried, sang, and danced throughout. Heck, they started the standing ovation, five minutes before the show was complete. It was the blessing that everyone related to the show was looking for before going on to Toronto and Broadway in New York City.
Another blessing for me was an unplanned introduction to a family of Syrian refugees who have been adopted by members of a church in Gander. I spoke to them, from English to Arabic, with the help of a translation app. I told them that I knew from my brief refugee experience there that they were in great hands in Gander. I was profoundly moved that this tiny town was once again showing the rest of the world how to treat strangers, in this case Syrian refugees.
Months later, on opening night of Come From Away on Broadway, I had a surreal experience as I walked onstage for a standing ovation with all the character doppelgangers in attendance, including my former partner. It was the first time we’d seen each other in seven years. #ittakesamusical Although we don’t sing a note or dance a step, we may legitimately state we received a standing ovation on a Broadway stage!
Days later, another surreal experience when I met Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and his wife Sophie. I presented them with a copy of my book, and thanked Trudeau for his leadership on the global refugee crisis. I also shook hands with Ivanka Trump, who was in the audience as a guest of Trudeau.
I’m excited to be attending the Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall on June 11. The show has been nominated for seven awards, including best musical. Just as remarkable was my experience this past weekend when I attended the Ford’s Theater gala as an honored guest. My ongoing efforts to annually organize Pay it Forward 9/11 were recognized onstage during the gala performance, including remarks by the President of the United States. I am once again humbled by the recognition.
When I met the show’s writers in 2011, none of us knew how timely the message for Come From Away would soon become. Since then, there has been a resurgence of people who fear or hate immigrants, people from different cultures, or strangers. Civil wars, climate change, and religious conflicts have caused the world’s refugee crisis to grow, and people are struggling with how to handle strangers in need.
My 9/11 experience in Gander changed my life for the better. I’m committed to telling my story so that we might reconsider how we treat the stranger among us, and have compassion for the millions of immigrants and refugees across the world.
Read more about this book, including where to purchase it, at ChannelofPeaceBook.com.
About the author: Kevin Tuerff is CEO of NYC-based Brokering Goodness, Inc. Using his 25 years of experience in marketing communications, he cultivates common human decency. He founded a college radio station, a national recycling awareness day, an international kindness initiative, and a certified B Corporation environmental marketing company. He is passionate about finding solutions for climate change and refugees. He serves as an ambassador for the international Charter for Compassion.
Proceeds of Channel of Peace are being donated to refugee advocacy and resettlement charities.
