As the 25th anniversary of 9/11 approaches, Kevin Shea, a retired FDNY firefighter and former member of Engine 40/Ladder 35, will take the stage at the North Fork Arts Center (211 Front Street, Greenport, 631-477-8600) for a special free performance of The Guys on Sunday, Sept. 13 at 2 p.m.
Shea was one of the last firefighters pulled from the World Trade Center before the South Tower collapsed. He was the only member of his battalion to survive.
Written by Anne Nelson, The Guys is a two-person play based on interviews Nelson conducted with first responders in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. The story follows a writer who helps a New York Fire Department captain who must write eight eulogies for members of his crew who were killed that day.
Stephen Ness, who produced the show with his wife Judith, says Shea introduced him to the play. “Kevin Shea brought the script to me,” Ness says. “I read it and it’s a beautiful play — it’s so moving.”
Two years ago, the Nesses mounted The Guys at CAST in Southold for two performances, with Shea in the firefighter role and Eileen Trilli portraying the writer.
“I brought 300 packs of tissues, and everyone [in the audience] thanked me for bringing them,” says Ness. “There wasn’t a dry eye in the house.”
Shea, who lives in Baiting Hollow, is an actor and master gardener in addition to being a retired NYFD firefighter. For this year’s performance, Trilli returns as the writer. Christian Lepore directs, with assistance from Nicholas Auletti, and the Nesses are again producing.
As members of the North Fork Arts Center’s advisory board, the Nesses felt strongly that the performance should be offered to the public free of charge.
“The production is being run all over the country right now,” Stephen Ness says.
This year’s performance will also give audiences a chance to meet playwright Nelson. “We have Anne Nelson coming for a Q & A,” Judith Ness says.
Nelson is a journalist, former war correspondent, author and professor at Columbia University. The Guys debuted off-off-Broadway in December of 2001 and was later adapted into a film starring Sigourney Weaver.
The Q & A will follow the performance, giving audiences a rare opportunity to hear from the playwright whose work has become a tribute to the lives lost on 9/11, the survivors and those whose lives were forever changed.
Tickets for the free performance are still available, but seating is limited and reservations are encouraged. Visit the NFAC’s website for more information and to reserve your seats.
