In a play about forgiveness, Freedom Tower pits the price of pain against the 110-story-high tract of memory, and whether a new building is truly enough to help us move on.
Share this poster! I'm incredibly excited about the world premier of Sam Graber's "Freedom Tower."
Roger Banks, via Seven Stories Theatre Company, is directing "Freedom Tower," 8 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in the Tanner Theatre at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC) here in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Thanks to Seven Stories Theatre Company, particularly Mr. Banks and Joey Madia, artistic director, for bringing this important play to Morgantown.
"Freedom Tower" is the latest in a fascinating line up of full-length plays by Sam Graber, including "Lottery Play," "In Congress with the Night," "What Happened to the Dollar" (Bitcoin fans take notice!), and "Modern Prophet."
To the delight of interested folks in the literature/theatre communities, Mr. Graber has made the scripts of his plays available online (follow the links above).
I'm looking forward to reading the script for "Freedom Tower." I applaud Mr. Graber for taking on a very difficult subject that affects everyone.
My heart goes out to everyone across the world who continues to be affected by 9-11.
(To be clear, these following thoughts below are simply my own thoughts & feelings. The following paragraphs are not speaking specifically to Mr. Graber's play, which I haven't yet seen, but rather, speak to my strong, general interest in literature related to 9-11.)
Personally speaking, when I think about 9-11, I often think of it as "our generation's Pearl Harbor."
I have vivid memories of visiting the World Trade Center in 1998, gazing out over the New York City skyline with someone I love.
Although I was in my early 20s, living in Oregon on September 11, 2001, the events of that day felt extremely personal to me at the time. For my younger self, the World Trade Center represented the love of a person, love of my homeland, love of the people who died that day.
In fact, 9-11 was the catalyst for my voluntarily enlisting in the U.S. Army in the fall of 2001. I enlisted (then going through Basic Training) fully expecting, indeed hoping, to go to the combat zone in Afghanistan. However, myself and thousands of my fellow Soldiers were instead sent to Iraq (many were deployed BOTH to Iraq and Afghanistan, meaning back-to-back deployments for years.)
All of the events over the past 12 years (including my own mistakes, limited understanding and lessons learned) informed my Dystopian "STARLING Series."
Although my series doesn't discuss 9-11 directly, it deals strongly with issues surrounding freedom and official promises of "security," privacy and human rights, education, military service and much more. (For more of my thoughts on some current issues, read my essays here on theodorewebb.com.)
"The STARLING Connection" shares the story of four teenagers fighting to take back their freedom of speech, which has been lost by the year 2045.
The above named issues will certainly define my own life and death, along with the issue of inclusion and the Truth of the connected Nature of every life in this Universe.
To that end, I encourage MORE consciousness and MORE thought about the most important issues of our time. I support the efforts of others working toward the goal of increased understanding.
I highly encourage everyone who will be in the Morgantown area Oct. 31-Nov. 2 to go see "Freedom Tower."
Roger Banks, via Seven Stories Theatre Company, is directing "Freedom Tower," 8 p.m. Oct. 31-Nov. 2 in the Tanner Theatre at the Monongalia Arts Center (MAC) here in Morgantown, West Virginia.
Thanks to Seven Stories Theatre Company, particularly Mr. Banks and Joey Madia, artistic director, for bringing this important play to Morgantown.
"Freedom Tower" is the latest in a fascinating line up of full-length plays by Sam Graber, including "Lottery Play," "In Congress with the Night," "What Happened to the Dollar" (Bitcoin fans take notice!), and "Modern Prophet."
To the delight of interested folks in the literature/theatre communities, Mr. Graber has made the scripts of his plays available online (follow the links above).
I'm looking forward to reading the script for "Freedom Tower." I applaud Mr. Graber for taking on a very difficult subject that affects everyone.
My heart goes out to everyone across the world who continues to be affected by 9-11.
(To be clear, these following thoughts below are simply my own thoughts & feelings. The following paragraphs are not speaking specifically to Mr. Graber's play, which I haven't yet seen, but rather, speak to my strong, general interest in literature related to 9-11.)
Personally speaking, when I think about 9-11, I often think of it as "our generation's Pearl Harbor."
I have vivid memories of visiting the World Trade Center in 1998, gazing out over the New York City skyline with someone I love.
Although I was in my early 20s, living in Oregon on September 11, 2001, the events of that day felt extremely personal to me at the time. For my younger self, the World Trade Center represented the love of a person, love of my homeland, love of the people who died that day.
In fact, 9-11 was the catalyst for my voluntarily enlisting in the U.S. Army in the fall of 2001. I enlisted (then going through Basic Training) fully expecting, indeed hoping, to go to the combat zone in Afghanistan. However, myself and thousands of my fellow Soldiers were instead sent to Iraq (many were deployed BOTH to Iraq and Afghanistan, meaning back-to-back deployments for years.)
All of the events over the past 12 years (including my own mistakes, limited understanding and lessons learned) informed my Dystopian "STARLING Series."
Although my series doesn't discuss 9-11 directly, it deals strongly with issues surrounding freedom and official promises of "security," privacy and human rights, education, military service and much more. (For more of my thoughts on some current issues, read my essays here on theodorewebb.com.)
"The STARLING Connection" shares the story of four teenagers fighting to take back their freedom of speech, which has been lost by the year 2045.
The above named issues will certainly define my own life and death, along with the issue of inclusion and the Truth of the connected Nature of every life in this Universe.
To that end, I encourage MORE consciousness and MORE thought about the most important issues of our time. I support the efforts of others working toward the goal of increased understanding.
I highly encourage everyone who will be in the Morgantown area Oct. 31-Nov. 2 to go see "Freedom Tower."
