ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
Come From Away returns to stage and screen, with Jewish values at its center Jacob Gurvis
(JTA)—When U.S. airspace closed as a result of the attacks on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001, 38 planes were grounded in Gander, Newfoundland, stranding nearly 7,000 international travelers “on the northeast tip of North America.” So begins the story of Come From Away, the Tony Award-winning Canadian musical chronicling the real experiences of those “plane people,” and of the goodhearted locals who took them in. With a filmed version now on Apple TV+ to commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11, and the musical back on Broadway after suspending its run last year due to COVID-19, more audiences than ever are being exposed to the show’s unique brand of warmhearted hospitality—and to its fundamentally Jewish
roots. David Hein, half of the Canadian Jewish couple who wrote the show, explains that Come From Away draws from both Jewish and Newfoundland traditions. “There’s a line in our show of, ‘If a stranger ends up at your door, you welcome them in,’” Hein says. “That’s important in communities that have defined themselves as willing to help one another.” Hein and his wife and writing partner Irene Sankoff got their start in theater with a much more explicitly Jewish show: the autobiographical, My Mother’s Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding. That musical, which had a successful tour in Canada in 2009, tells the story of how Hein’s mother rediscovered her Judaism when she came out to her family and met her now ex-wife. “I think for a long time it was a
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surprise for me that suddenly my mom was learning Hebrew and that she was singing at temple,” says Hein, who grew up non-practicing. “It’s been really wonderful to explore those traditions with her, and every year we celebrate Hanukkah and Passover with her, and whenever we come down we have seders.” Sankoff grew up in an interfaith family—her father is Jewish—and also celebrated Passover and Hanukkah growing up. She points to both her and Hein’s families’ experiences escaping “countries that no longer exist” as a formative aspect of their Jewish identities. “You just say, in a different situation this was me, and this was my people. And you look out for people as best as you can,” she says. That theme is clear from the opening number of Come From Away. The story is ultimately one about human kindness and pulling together in the face of tragedy. It is a show not directly about the events of 9/11, but rather its ripple effects around the world, and about the people who responded to help those in need. In other words, Come From Away is about welcoming the stranger—those who physically “come from away.” And the inherent Jewishness of that message is no coincidence. The show begins by introducing the small, tight-knit community of Gander: the mayor, the police constable, a teacher, a rookie television reporter, among others. It’s the morning of Sept. 11, and the townsfolk barely have time to grasp what has happened before they are forced to prepare for unexpected guests. “With thousands of passengers arriving at any minute, the town is asking for help with—well, anything you can do,” the reporter says during one of the opening numbers. Gander locals don’t hesitate. They begin gathering everything from food and blankets to toilet paper, diapers, and tampons. As the ensemble sings later in the same song, “If a stranger ends up at your door, you get on the horn.” The telephone, that is.
The idea of welcoming the stranger is deeply Jewish. The Torah mentions the concept no fewer than 36 times, and there are reminders throughout Jewish text and tradition that “you know the feelings of a stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 23:9).
Come From Away is about welcoming the stranger—those who physically “come from away.” And the inherent Jewishness of that message is no coincidence.
It’s also a Newfoundland tradition, Hein explains. As a large island, Newfoundland often faces harsh winters that can make food production difficult. “When you know what it’s like to not have enough, you are more inclined to share,” he says. To research the show, Hein and Sankoff traveled to Gander for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in 2011, interviewing as many people as possible, and distilling many of their stories into the musical that has now performed worldwide. Including the 9,000 local Newfoundlanders and 7,000 unplanned visitors, the pair jokes that they were telling 16,000 stories. “But it really felt that way,” Hein says. “Every story was better than the next.”
