...AND Company Theatre’s production of E-mail: 9/12 by Midge Guerrera is an engaging set of personal stories about the September 11th tragedy. The play opens with Margaret (Colleen O’Brien) on a train to work just outside of NYC. After the towers are struck, she is sent home amid panic and confusion. Once there, she sits alone waiting for word from her husband, who works at a nuclear facility that has been locked down and isolated. She soon turns to email and Grey Goose for comfort. The other five actors in the ensemble do a marvelous job of acting out the emails, which tell the 9/11 stories of Margaret’s friends and family, mostly New Yorkers, but there are also some thought provoking experiences from other parts of the country and the world.
The five ensemble actors do an excellent job of jumping from character to character, making even the background characters distinct. Thanks to both the writing and the performances, the characters feel very familiar. Margaret gets a warm laugh of recognition from the audience when she finds herself mistakenly talking back to a video that has been emailed to her. There are somber stories, like the policewoman (Jennie Cupcakes) forced to leave her daughter and head into the horror of ground zero, which are portrayed quietly and respectfully. However, the play also has lighter characters, especially Margaret’s godson Joey (amusingly portrayed by Kyle Paul Dandridge) who has difficulty working his video camera, but pops up frequently throughout the play to cheer up Margaret and the audience.
The only weakness in the script comes at the end when the play shifts from telling the story of Margaret and her friends to a series of emails sent by the doomed workers in the twin towers, trapped above the fires. The playwright is obviously making one last attempt to get her point across (live without regrets). However, the jarring switch from Margaret’s personal story to the broader impact of 9/11 makes the ending seemed forced; and left me wanting a satisfying conclusion to Margaret’s story.
The set was appropriate and simple. Margaret’s computer, desk and pantry were alone in the center of a mostly empty and dark stage, making the audience feel Margaret’s isolation and limited, cyber connection to the rest of the world. However, the screen in the background, which was obviously meant to show the header of the email Margaret was currently reading, was distracting, poorly run and probably unnecessary. The screen was not on at the beginning of the production, it came on suddenly after about three scenes and the crew scrolled back and forth through the headers until the correct one was found. This was distracting at first, but when it kept happening, it became outright annoying. The actors were doing such a fine job of setting up each new email, that the screen seemed pointless, even when it was configured correctly. That was not the only technical glitch of the afternoon; several times sound effects started late (after the characters had already mentioned them) or were missing altogether. Also the odd choice of music played over the introductory 9/11 slide show bordered on the offensive, and did not set the stage for this otherwise honest and thought provoking reflection on the events of September 11th.
Despite the tragic and world changing events that are the background for this story, the show was uplifting and full of interesting characters. The energetic and professional performances by the actors left me looking forward to the next production from ...AND Company Theatre.
Tracy Hibner is an experienced actor both on stage (Signs of Love, Nightmares Xtreme Scream Park, Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire) and on television (This Job's a Trip). She has also worked on the stage crew for the Delaware Ballet Company and the Wilmington Drama League. While studying for her nursing degree, she wrote for the University of Delaware newsletter Stetho-scoop, and is currently working as an RN. Hibner was in the audience for the matinee performance of ...AND Company Theater's production of the play E-mail: 9/12.
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