There’s No Place Like Home
To me, there are two definitions of the word “home”. The first is the place where a person lives. The second, and the one I’m going to be talking about today, is where a person feels safe and most comfortable both with yourself and INSIDE yourself. Sure, I feel at home at my house here in New York, but when I feel down or when I need a “pick-me-up”, (or honestly, when too much is going on in my life and I’m feeling lost, alone, and in a strange place like a Come From Away), I find myself sitting in a seat at the Schoenfeld Theatre or a few other theatres with people that I feel safer with out there in the world today. This piece is going to be about who and where and why I feel safe and at home with certain shows, theatres and people within them.
So, buckle up and come travel with me, see where I go and who I go see when I feel like a Come From Away.
The first person I’d like to talk about is one I’ve spoken about before, my friend Rori Nogee. For a long time, ever since we were younger, I’ve followed her just about anywhere I could follow her to. From those times, we were still needing our parents to drive us everywhere and when we sang at her piano with her little sisters watching us over the banister. Eventually, I resorted to taking busses and trains to go even out of state, to see her in shows all across the East Coast. Most recently, I’ve seen both the pieces she’s written that have been performed, starring her (for good reasons) “Siren’s Den” and “Aftershocks”, and seen her perform in other people’s works like “RENT”. In “Siren’s Den” her own musical, there are characters called Vultures, they’re the people who stand at the stage door and follow the star, Skylar, everywhere they can, and when it comes to Rori, I’ll always be her Vulture. I know she knows it, and one of the reasons why I would go see her again and again, is because she’s always made me feel better than I felt before being with her. She’s a strong, brave, kind woman, who has made so much possible, and she shows me every time I get to see her that EVERYONE she’s around is important. She shows me that anyone can do anything they put their minds to!
Secondly, I’d like to speak of my new friend Preston, a man to be proud of in more ways than one. He has written a musical about Killer Cheerleaders (We Are The Tigers), even written a phenomenal script for Carrie 2: The Rage, an Unauthorized Musical Parody. But what’s more is once you’ve met him for the first time, he remembers you, and he makes you feel more than special each time you see him again. For example, when I met him in person for the first time at Broadway Flea, it was almost like we knew each other already, likely because I did that interview with him for another piece, and he hugged me with a smile that could light up a whole theatre. When I went back into the city to see his Carrie 2, he recognized me right away and was quick to hug me again. It is because of him, and Tigers, that I went to see Scotland, PA a few months ago (and why I went back again December 8th for the closing show) with Wonu Ogunfowora (Cairo in Tigers) and then again I went to see both Preston and Jenny Rose Baker (Kate in Tigers) in Carrie 2 October 10th. They are all phenomenal and talented people, and I would follow each Tiger (and Preston) to the edges of the earth if I had to. I’ve proven I could and would do so, and I’ll continue to show it. They, just like Rori, make me feel like I’m home and safe as they wouldn’t let anyone hurt me. That leads me into the next bit of this piece.
Come From Away.
Firstly, if you’ve read any of my other pieces, many of which lead me to this 9/11 Musical about what happened when the good people of Newfoundland took care of thousands of people that just quite literally dropped down on their town when the airspace in the United States was shut down, following the tragedy of 9/11/01. The people of Newfoundland such as Diane Davis, Beulah Cooper, Bonnie Harris, Oz Fudge and Mayor Claude Elliott took it upon themselves and alongside others to take care of these plane passengers, all being strangers to them like Kevin Tuerff, Kevin Jung, Captain Bev Bass, Hannah O’Roarke, and others yet make them like family. Every time I walk into the Schoenfeld Theatre, I feel like I’m home again where nothing can hurt me because they’ve got my back. Both the real people these actors and actresses portray, AND the actors and actresses themselves; Chad Kimball, Astrid Van Wieren, Petrina Bromley, Joel Hatch, Sharon Wheatley, Caesar Samayoa, De’Lon Grant, Kenita Miller, Jim Walton, Josh Breckenridge, John Jellison, Tony LePage, Happy McPartlin, Julie Reiber, Geno Carr, Jenn Colella, Alex Finke, Lee MacDougall, Tamika Lawrence, Rodney Hicks, Q Smith, Pearl Sun, Kendra Kassebaum, Emily Walton, Becky Gulsvig, and Paul Whitty. Whether I’ve met you or not, you all helped me feel safe and you are family. Thank you for your kindness.
Secondly, I’d like to give a small thank you to some people I’ve met through Come From Away, Jeanette Gutierrez, Laura Townsend, Andy and a number of others who I’ve gotten to experience the show with. Each and every one of you mean so much to me!
Extra special thanks go to Rori Nogee, Preston Max Allen, Wonu Ogunfowora, Jenny Rose Baker, Chad Kimball, Astrid Van Wieren, Julie Reiber, Jeanette Gutierrez, Laura Townsend, Andy, Kevin Tuerff, Diane Davis, Nick and Diane Marcen, Oz and Lisa Fudge, for helping to both change my life for the better and to know that there’s no place like home.
