Off-Broadway story of World Trade Center first responders set to be staged at Durango's Community Concert Hall this weekend.
A play about a New York City Fire Department Captain who lost eight men in the World Trade Center collapse has the potential to be mournful.
But according to actress Wendi Malick, who co-stars with Dan Lauria in the off-Broadway play The Guys, it's also filled with humor, and the honor of what she calls “the indomitable human spirit. ”
The play has been well-received by audiences nationwide, partially because it deals with a range of human emotions. Even humor.
“I find it to be one of the most elegiac, beautiful, poignant pieces,” said Malick, “because it not only mourns the death of these men and women, but also celebrates their lives.”
The Guys, which is based on a true story, revolves around Lauria's fire captain, who is grappling with the deaths of eight of his men; and an editor, played by Malick, who helps him write their eulogies for a memorial service.
For Wendi Malick, a former New Yorker, her part in the play lets her feel as if she did something meaningful to help heal the wounds of 9/11.
“Anytime someone needs you in a situation like this, and you feel that you bring something to the dance," she said, “that's a gift.”
The Guys, a play by Anne Nelson, will be performed for one night only at the Community Concert Hall at Fort Lewis College, Saturday September 10 at 7:00 p.m. The production is a benefit for the Durango Arts Center and local first responders, including the Durango Fire Protection District, La Plata County Search & Rescue, Colorado Flight for Life, and the La Plata County Sheriff's Department.
