*EPF506 09/06/2002
America・s Cultural Community Confronts 9/11
(Original commemorative artistic pieces come to the fore) (1440)

By Michael J. Bandler
Washington File Staff Writer

From the long-distant past to the present, amid the tumult and in the aftermath of war, revolution, conquest, with the onset of tragedy, triumph or simple evolution, men and women invariably have called upon the muses, to help them shape cultural commemorations that often turn out to stand the test of time.

It is not possible, obviously, to assess how works of art created in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, will measure up, in terms of impact on society, to their counterparts across the centuries. But it is noteworthy that such cultural ferment decidedly exists in America these days, particularly in the nation・s symbolic Ground Zero -- New York City.

The annals of music and art, drama and literature are swelling -- one year after the disaster -- with new work that both acknowledges what happened and reflects the individual artist・s grappling, often in vain, for explanations. This new body of creativity is visceral, personal and utterly selfless.

From the simple objects salvaged from the World Trade Center wreckage that now find their places as art in museums to the mass-market visibility of Bruce Springsteen and his latest album, The Rising, testimony to the uniqueness and the horror of September 11, 2001 is everywhere.

Objects as art -- that is the point of the window shades, the crushed fireman・s helmet, a bent handle of a window-washing tool, a twisted policeman・s badge slated to be incorporated into the collections of New York City museums as well as the Smithsonian Institution・s Museum of American History in Washington. As Kenneth T. Jackson, president of the New York Historical Society, noted, "these objects have been touched by history."

The latest Springsteen collection, bringing back the venerated hero of the working class and his musicians on disk and in concerts across the nation for the first time in 15 years, focuses directly on working men and women who, in one way or another, were caught up in the incidents of the day. As Time magazine observed of this passionate yet not irreconcilably sobering body of songs, "there is more rising on The Rising than in a month of church."

In the publishing world, it was expected that there would be an inundation of new books chronicling the events of a year ago, analyzing their whys and wherefores, and probing the minds and hearts of so many of those affected -- the victims?families, the legions of rescuers and others. One pleasant surprise has been has been the number of books being published for children -- even young readers -- to help them understand, in the simplest terms, that something terrible happened which grownups needed to confront.

Across the spectrum of the arts, creators and performers are pausing to mark the day.

A dance troupe at a church in lower Manhattan will perform "Two Hours that Shook the World," a commemorative work set amid lights and shadows. A community center based in a landmark New York City firehouse will present a series of narrative films offering perspectives on September 11. A public library in midtown Manhattan is displaying a tapestry called "Art From the Heart." On a series of panels, viewers will find a m・ange of poems, stories and paintings created by people of all ages from across the United States who reflect their innermost feelings of fear, anger and resolve. At a folk art museum nearby, a "national tribute quilt" -- incorporating the work of more than 1,000 quilters -- will be on display. Another quilt -- created in the aftermath of the bombing of a U.S. Government building in Oklahoma City in April 1995 -- is on loan to a museum in the borough of Queens as a symbol of support from one victimized venue to another.

Nothing, perhaps, symbolizes the generosity of artists and the sense of community embracing them than a three-day, four-performance cultural coming-together called "Brave New World."

Four times during the commemorative week -- on the evenings of September 9, 10 and 11, and in the afternoon on the 11th -- a 1,500-seat auditorium in the Broadway theater district will be the site of anthologies of remembrance. Dozens of original pieces -- drama, song, poetry and memoir -- are bringing together hundreds of New York theater folk, from the most noted veterans to younger talent. And throughout, children, and children・s creations, at special writing workshops, will be part of the mix.

"The mission of Brave New World was to unite the theatrical community, and the power of it is the community," J. Dakota Powell, its creator and producing artistic director, said recently. "We・re not profiling any one writer. We・re not highlighting any one actor. No one・s getting paid. The community is coming together remarkably to really wrestle with what happened on 9/11, to tackle some of the feelings that have been unresolved and that are within us.

"It・s not about ego. It・s not about fame. It・s not about ambition. It・s about the community. And the material that・s come in is justifying the need for this."

The names, quite simply, are a who・s who, artists whose impact frequently has gone beyond the comparatively narrow world of American theater to the mass entertainment media -- especially film and television. Pieces by playwrights like Terrence McNally, Christopher Durang and John Guare -- interwoven with the music of Stephen Sondheim, Marvin Hamlisch, Alan Menken and others -- will be performed by Oscar-winning and Tony-winning actors and journeymen talent alike. Sigourney Weaver, Blythe Danner, Edie Falco, Matthew Broderick, Ethan Hawke, Marsha Mason, Sarah Jessica Parker, Martin Short, Harvey Keitel, Amy Irving -- these are just a few of those who will be on hand during the four two-hour sessions.

Powell, a young American playwright with virtually no experience as a producer, currently lives in England. She envisioned this event after hearing some European acquaintances wonder, in the wake of September 11, about what they considered an absence of reaction within the U.S. theatrical community. She decided to do something about it, and began by contacting several friends and mentors from her university and workshop years. One person usually led to another; the networking that followed during the first half of this year gave rise to the vast array of participants in this formidable project. Proceeds from ticket sales will go directly to benefit victims?families -- particularly children -- in manifold ways.

"When I speak about wrestling with issues," Powell explained, "I・m not talking about political agitprop. I・m talking about the effect 9/11 has had on our most intimate relationships, on our sense of selves and society. Playwrights can really illuminate that for us -- how we interact with each other, with our loved ones, with our colleagues. Because we・ve all been affected."

The titles of the many pieces, none of which runs longer than 20 minutes, offer hints as to the ground that is being covered and the spirit in which the works are being rendered -- "Hands Holding Hands," "That・s How I Say Good-bye," "Woman at a Threshold, Beckoning," "We Never Knew Their Names," "Stop All the Clocks," "Ribbon in the Sky," "No One You Know," "There Will Be a Miracle."

A piece by playwright Lee Blessing, "Thirty-Fourth and Dyer," depicts a chance encounter on a street corner between a New York City patrolman new to the force and an English teacher. "Impact," by Jose Rivera, presents a final conversation between two people who recall significant "firsts" they・ve experienced in their lives ("the first sunrise after the first death in a family," "the first love letter," "the first birthday of your first child,") as they・re about to leap to their deaths from one of the towers. A song by dramatist John Patrick Shanley alternates between anguish and hope ("Yesterday I woke up in a world gone wrong/And I know I・m alive"). And a U.S. Coast Guard officer, stationed at his post adjacent to the World Trade Center, recounts in his own words (to be read by actor Alex Baldwin) the horror of the day from his first-hand vantage point.

"There was a sense of powerlessness in the face of the attacks," Powell remembers. She was living temporarily ten minutes away from the scene of the disaster. A relative perished in the attacks. "When the second tower collapsed, my immediate reaction was, `he・s dead.? I was watching on television, and there was this disjunct -- the feeling I couldn・t do anything."

Rivera, in the piece he wrote for "Brave New World," refers to "the first time you realize every moment of your life should be a work of art."

That awareness, and that spirit, fuels the entire event, and, by extension, all forms of creativity that are emerging in the days and weeks ahead.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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