The Provincial Government delighted islanders when they announced they would be bringing Come From Away The Concert and the new musical comedy Tell Tale Harbour to Newfoundland and Labrador as part of the Arts and Culture Centres’ program line up for Come Home 2022.

The Tony and Olivier Award-winning international hit musical Come From Away  returns to the Steele Community Centre in Gander and premiers at the Mary Brown’s Centre in St. John’s reuniting  members of the Toronto cast and band along with original Broadway cast member, the province’s own Petrina Bromley. 

Come From Away The Concert will be presented in Gander, from Sept.13-15 and in St. John’s from September 19-20, as marquee events for Come Home 2022.

Later in October, the province’s Arts and Culture Centres’ present Tell Tale Harbour, based on the screenplay, The Grand Seduction. This new musical comedy from the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Prince Edward Island will see its Newfoundland and Labrador debut as another marquee event for Come Home 2022. 

Co-written by and starring the province’s own musical icon Alan Doyle, Tell Tale Harbour also features the talents of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians Jillian Keiley and Edward Riche.

“Exciting things are happening in Newfoundland and Labrador for Come Home 2022. The stage is set for some incredible performances. Along with the impressive performances that will grace the stages of our Arts and Culture Centres province-wide, we are thrilled to be bringing Come From Away The Concert and the Tell Tale Harbour musical home to our province,” said Premier Andrew Furey at the announcement. 

“We are beyond thrilled to bring Come From Away back to its home in Newfoundland this year. When we first performed our show there, it was a life-changing experience for us – and the Come From Away Company – and we are grateful to be invited back with a Canadian cast including several Newfoundlanders and Labradorians, like Petrina Bromley, coming home from Broadway. It means the world to us to share these stories with the community that was so generous with us and has now inspired millions around the globe,” said Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away’s creators. 

The Herald spoke to Bromley who said she was “excited” to be returning to ‘The Rock.’ “The idea of bringing the show home to Newfoundland for people to see is an incredible experience. Sharing that story and seeing that it gets told so that everyone can get a sense of how important it is and how big a moment it was is just magical,” she said.

Bromley’s favourite memories of the show’s run are the performances on home soil, she added. “It was just the most unbelievable experience to be welcomed and embraced into the community and to have that feeling of pure nervous joy. I always say for me it was like bringing your new boyfriend home to meet the family.”

by Kyle Curtis

The events on 9/11 forced 38 planes carrying 6,700 passengers to land at Gander International Airport. Residents of Gander were able to make sure the grounded passengers were safe by providing housing, food and whatever they needed to get through their time in Newfoundland.

Herald one-on-one

Betty Mullaly-Moulton, a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross, registered passengers coming off the planes and placed them into the proper accommodations. She says the Department of Human resources and Employment put together a team to make sure everything went smoothly for the deboarding of the passengers.

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“They had called around to all of the hotels and the community-based service agencies like The Legion, Knights of Columbus and the Salvation Army and said ‘how many people can you accommodate, number of bathrooms and can you provide food?’ They did that for not only Gander, but for the communities outside of Gander like Lewisporte, Glovertown and Appleton. Once every place in Gander was full then they would start sending them to other communities.”

On the front lines

Moulton described during a one-on-one with The Newfoundland Herald, her role on the front lines at the airport.

“Myself and Heather Paul, a psychologist here in Gander, led the psychosocial response team. So (when) someone deplaned we would approach them with our Red Cross vest on and say ‘how are you doing, do you need support?’ So once all these passengers and crew went through security … they were greeted by Red Cross volunteers who took down each passenger’s information,”

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Moulton shared that creating a care plan for the unaccompanied minors required quick thinking, but they were able to make a plan to keep children safe. “When the flight crew got off and approached us about these unaccompanied minors we just looked at each other and said ‘well that’s interesting.’”

Safe & sound

What they did then was find out the number of children that were on each flight so they could accommodate them easily as they were getting off.

As each unaccompanied minor went through the registration process, Moulton shared that she took them to a payphone where she called their parent or guardian to let them know where their child was and that they were safe.

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An interaction with a passenger that she will never forget, Moulton explained, was with a lady and her two small children. “We brought over supplies and toys for the children to her hotel room. They also brought her to a phone where she could call her husband to let him know where she was and that she was being taken care of.”

Moulton says that this experience had a great impact on her life. “I actually went back to school and did post-graduate studies in disaster emergency management.”

Click here for more stories by freelance journalist, Kyle Curtis

As the world prepares to mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, Gander’s mayor Percy Farwell takes a moment to reflect on the day the people of the region embraced 6,600 strangers who arrived on 34 passenger flights the morning of September 11, 2001.

Facing the almost unbelievable reality of having the town’s population almost doubling in mere hours was quite the day for the man who was, at the time, the Deputy Mayor.

MONUMENT UNVEILING

Though Gander and many surrounding communities have been celebrated in both documentaries and on Broadway, the upcoming events will be focused on the victims of the September 11 attacks.

This year’s events include a non-denominational service at the town’s arena on the afternoon of September 11, as well as a monument unveiling that features a piece of World Trade Center steel that was donated to the Town of Gander by New York firefighters in 2011.

Many of the events will be virtual and available for viewing online, with NTV set to broadcast the non-denominational service. Farwell says there’s been massive interest in the events from national and international media and he’s moved each time he’s asked to speak on the topic.

“The whole intent of this is certainly not a celebration of anything. This is a reflection on those horrible events and which really, in many respects, changed the world,” he began.

“It’s a reflection for those who were impacted either by losing their lives or by losing loved ones or those who were a first responder,” he continued.

A COMMEMORATION

“Many will never get over what happened so this is a reflection and a commemoration for those people. But it’s also a reminder of the importance of kindness and compassion in times of adversity. The type of things that happened here and elsewhere in the days following that tragedy hopefully provided some reassurance and comfort to the people that were distressed about the events that were going on,” he said.
At a time when events driven by hatred were occurring, love showed the way, he added.

“Hopefully it’ll be seen as personally uplifting because, fortunately, there were some good on display and that message and the importance of that has been picked up worldwide.”

HELPING HANDS

The story of hope and helping hands is what we need to remember 20 years later, he continued.

“The story of Gander has certainly been told far and wide and it’s been impactful to some people hearing the story. I think that’s important,” Farwell shared

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Two decades later, the town still hears from people who were affected, or who were moved after hearing the story of ‘the plane people.’
“I’ve received packages of letters from school-aged children who were writing to thank the people of Gander and those in the area for what we did during 9/11. They share how they reflect on the importance of kindness and generosity in their own actions since hearing the story. They were not born in September 2001. But this story has continued to have a positive impact on people as it’s being relayed in the school system.”

It’s both humbling and very encouraging, he added.

“That’s the legacy that will be attached – a thank you to those that stepped forward and did what we all would do. Nobody did anything that they wouldn’t expect someone else to do for them, it just seemed to be an instinctive reaction. Wherever help was needed, help was provided just instinctively.”

HONOURED TO SHARE

It’s a legacy the town and the province is honoured to share.

“Hatred gave rise to those attacks, but let’s focus on the goodness that followed and the affirmation of the importance of basic human values and basic human kindness and how important that is and how those individual acts of kindness on a one-on-one basis made such an impact on people in times of distress.”

Kindness didn’t make up for the lives lost, of course, he added thoughtfully, but it does give hope that good and thoughtful deeds can prevail.
“The horrors of that day and the people that have to go the rest of their lives with loved ones missing or gone is never far from anyone’s mind, but it’s humbling and it’s encouraging that there’s some good that came out of that day, and we can be thankful for that.”

Stay tuned to NTV for “The Power of Many: 9/11 Commemorative Service.” NTV will broadcast love from Gander from 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm. The program will also repeat on Sept. 12th from 8:00 am to 10:00 am

After the Twin Towers fell, Newfoundlanders were among those who rose to the occasion and gave what they could to help heal the world with kindness

Bishop John Watton

In 2001, Bishop Watton was Director of an Anglican Parish in Bonavista North and he had a close connection with Mint Brook Camp. When the planes landed in Gander, Watton received a call.

“The Senate office manager phoned me and was asking for my help urging people to get some supplies for those visitors because we’re trying to find places for people to stay,” he began. Watton’s contacts began making phone calls looking for volunteers. “We were building a network of hope to see what we could do for the Americans in the midst of this conflict.”

Mint Brook Camp in Bonavista hosted “a substantial number of people,” he recalled.  “We had over 100 people stay.”

When he thinks back, he’s amazed but not surprised at the response of the church community and the people of the region.

“That’s the story. Honestly, within less than two hours, we had about 10 vehicles that were lined up with supplies and groceries and home-cooked food. We had a network, that was our part. We made it possible to get started.”

Watton says the connections made during that time remain. “There’s some great friendships that were made along the way with people from all over the world.”

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Des & Jean Dillon

Des Dillon and his wife Jean were volunteers with the Red Cross in 2001.

“We got the call that the planes were here and the decision was made that they had to stay overnight so we had to arrange for the passengers to be accommodated once they got off the plane,” he began.

The Dillon’s organized their volunteers and, with swift training, began registering passengers as they got off the planes.

Thinking back, he sometimes is amazed that they pulled it off. “Our communities were able to provide services to everybody. Looking back, people are left wondering how we ever did it, and I’m left without any great answers at all. We just all did what we had to do, what anyone would do – I hope – under the same circumstances.”

Judy May Foote

Lieutenant Governor of Newfoundland and Labrador

The 20th anniversary is coming up, and I know they’re having a big celebration in Gander. And it is a celebration. It’s a celebration of love. It’s a celebration of caring for each other. It’s a celebration of recognizing that kindness matters. And it does. And that’s what 9/11 was all about. I have seen Come From Away four times and the first couple of times, it was just for me.

I watched what we had to offer as Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and saw the kindness that’s here on display. The other two times I saw it, it was to watch other people to see their reaction to what’s happening on the stage as they watched the message that came out of 9/11. There’s tears, of course, but also hearts are so filled with gratitude for the people of Newfoundland and Labrador.

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The names of the major players, what was taken – stripped away – need not be mentioned here. It is what occurred in the immediate aftermath of one of the more tragic events in modern times – on a bustling unsung jewel of an island in the Atlantic – that are worthy of note and recognition.

3,000 kilometres from Manhattan, some 38 planes, with over 6,500 confused and frightened passengers from all walks of life, touched down in the picturesque aviation town of Gander, Newfoundland and Labrador. What happened next, in the context of the day, was nothing short of extraordinary.

Bonds of friendship were formed – bonds of love in some cases – and the accepting and welcoming of complete strangers turned immediate family, were forged, and tightly.

Yes, the kindness of the Ganderites and neighbouring communities – if not Newfoundlanders as a Labradorians as a whole – to the descended come from aways has been well documented. Hell, it is the stuff Tony winning musicals are made of.

Now one filmmaker has taken that story of beauty and brightness out of pain and darkness and has adapted it into an emotional, poignant and heartwarming documentary – You Are Here: A Come From Away Story. 

Celebrated Canadian director and filmmaker Moze Mossanen, fully immersed in the magnitude of the growing sensation that was the soon-to-be Broadway gem Come From Away, had the idea of telling the story of Gander on September 11th and the days that followed, and doing so on a wide scale.

“I contacted the producers of Come From Away in New York with this crazy idea of creating a documentary, and I really needed to have their ok with it, because I really wanted to have access to a lot of people and to build relationships,” shared Mossanen. “This is the type of project that is really special because of the source material, the music and the way they went about it was to create a bond with a community and to gain their trust and confidence. And that’s exactly what I wanted – for me and my producers it was really important to do that, to move forward in a really organic, grassroots level.”

Rewind to September of 2001 and perfect strangers Nick and Diane found themselves amongst the 6,000 strong displaced at Gander airport.

“On the plane we were not told what happened, we were just told that the American airspace was closed,” Nick shared. “I thought oh there’s something wrong with the airplane. Then when we landed we were told what had happened. That didn’t really sink in until we got taken to our shelter. They put the tvs on with the looping news and it was, oh my god, it was like a movie. It was like a horror movie, it didn’t look like it was real. It was terrible to keep watching this and to think of all the lives that were lost. What on earth is going on?”

“It was especially worrying to me, because we were on the plane for over 28 hours,” seconds Diane. “All of the planes had to sit there for several reasons. Security reasons, there could have been bombers or terrorists on our planes, any of those planes. Plus they had to organize to do something with us. It was worrying to me to sit there, because I did not know how my family in Houston was. I had a son who lived here who used to have to fly for work and I didn’t know where he was. I didn’t know if my family knew where I was at first.”

Nick and Diane’s story – one of thousands of unique tales of where and when and with whom in the aftermath of 9/11 – is one of the more uncompromisingly beautiful and bright of the bunch, one that would see a growing relationship blossom in the midst of utter chaos.

“I don’t know if you’d find anywhere else in the world where people are so open, loving and welcoming, and friendly,” Nick says of his appreciation for Newfoundland hospitality. “You couldn’t have chosen a more incredible place to be stranded for five days. If it hadn’t have been for their kindness and generosity – they were entertaining us and screeching us in and taking us to Dover fault – if it wasn’t for all of that kindness I wouldn’t be sitting here today with Diane. We could have been stuck in the corner of a hanger somewhere, laying on the cement and not even knowing your next door neighbour. It’s due to the kindness, generosity and given nature of the Newfoundlanders that I am here with Diane today.”

Nick and Diane, from strangers to friends and much more, were married on September 7, 2002. They honeymooned in Newfoundland, where they were treated to a lively local reception planned by their vast growing network of friends.

Kevin Tuerff, known to Come From Away buffs as Kevin T., was likewise amongst the throngs of passengers who touched down in Gander. His experience, the warmth and generosity dolled out generously by livyers, moved him to the point of near life-changing, epiphany striking status.

“I came back and immediately wanted to tell people that story,” shared Tuerff. “In that terrible month and year our country was living in fear and it was one terrible story after another, constantly watching the same video of the planes hitting the tower and the pentagon. I wanted to tell the story of what I saw on that dark day in Gander that restored my faith in humanity.”

Nick and Diane Marson and Kevin Tuerff were among the dozens interviewed by Mossanen for You Are Here, who delved deep into the Gander connection from multiple angles – be it the locals, come from aways and more. The recurring thread of compassion and kindness in the face of struggle was overwhelmingly apparent in all cases.

“What was extraordinary was something good came out of this on one of the worst days known to memory,” says Mossanen. “When so much death happened, so much destruction and tragedy, that in another part of the world we saw a better face of humanity, that our true capacity is actually in the face of the people who turn out to help. I don’t know who said this to me, but I’ll never forget it, that in a moment of crisis don’t look for the culprit, don’t look for who caused it, look for the people who are turning out to help. That’s the true reflection of what we’re like and I think that’s such a good thing to remember. It’s hard to do that, because you ultimately want to go towards revenge and finger-pointing and accusations and culpability, but then we forget that no, during these times more people turn out to save, to help, to aid, to comfort.”

Mossanen’s vision was to put a spotlight on Gander and the surrounding region, to share the – at the time – little known reality of just how far a group of people would go, pushing selflessness to the extremes, to come to the aid of those who need it. That vision is one shared by the Marson’s, Tuerff and so many come from aways turned familiar faces to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

“In the troubled times we live in where there’s such divide in the world, not just America, I believe the only way we can solve some of that is by being compassionate and helping others, talking with others and doing good deeds for others. Arguing over the facts just isn’t working,” said Tuerff. “Newfoundland and Labrador is a beacon for how we should be living in this world … It’s like going to a second family reunion. We have this common bond, both the Canadians and the Americans, so it’s just great. I have, on my subsequent trips, made a lot of friends. I’ve spent more time travelling across the province and exploring what amazing natural beauty you have. I’m the unpaid ambassador of Newfoundland. I’m trying as hard as I can to get Americans to see the show and visit. I know that they’ve seen an uptake in tourism, but I know it’s only going to get better.”

“What’s wonderful is the story of Newfoundland and how Gander and other towns took care of passengers all over the world,” Diane says. “It needs to be told. There needs to be more of that humanity celebrated … We’re not the heroes of this story. The Newfoundland people are. Whatever we can do to promote this for Newfoundland, that’s what we want to do.”

(From 2018) You Are Here: A Come From Away Story, premieres on HBO Canada on tonight, Tuesday September 11th at 10:30 pm. Newfoundland time, 9:00 pm EST. It will then be available for viewing on HBO Go and The Movie Network on Demand as well as on streaming service Crave TV.