From the first crash at the Towers to a last goodbye at Ground Zero, 110 STORIES is a moment-by-moment journey through 9/11 as told by eyewitnesses, survivors, and recovery workers. These “everyday people” include a photojournalist, a mother, an ironworker, a nurse, a massage therapist, and a homeless man who saved lives that day too. Their unflinching, freaked-out, and sometimes funny stories take us back to when 9/11 was unimaginable, capturing the shock and horror of the day as well as the resilience of New York City in the tragedy's aftermath. 110 STORIES memorializes September 11th without politics or hyperbole. Instead, it restores the human side to history by honoring our capacity for compassion.
110 STORIES has been staged at Geffen Playhouse, The Public, Vineyard Theater, and Skirball Center for the Performing Arts by actors including Ed Asner, Billy Crudup, Catherine Curtin, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Noah Emmerich, Edie Falco, James Gandolfini, Neil Patrick Harris, John Hawkes, Jessica Hecht, Jon Heder, Katie Holmes, Neal Huff, Samuel L. Jackson, Sharon Lawrence, Melissa Leo, Aasif Mandvi, Katharine McPhee, James McCaffrey, Dash Mihok, Cynthia Nixon, Tonya Pinkins, Jeremy Piven, Jay O. Sanders, Susan Sarandon, Pablo Schreiber, Tony Shalhoub, Daniel Sunjata, D.B. Sweeney, Kathleen Turner, John Turturro, Ben Vereen, and many others.
“Tuft, while avoiding the political, intentionally culled her monologues from (those) with more complicated, less “camera-ready” accounts.”
“It is to Tuft’s credit that the immediacy… is realistically shown and your heart breaks all over again...”
“Instead of exploiting the drama and despair of that day, (Tuft) captured the moments afterward, when survivors found strength they didn’t know they had”
JAMES MCCAFFREY, DAPHNE RUBIN-VEGA, & DAVID ZAYAS READ EXCERPTS OF 110 STORIES ON A&E
“‘I want to take us back to that time… we’ve squandered that moment when we all wanted to help each other,’ (Tuft) says. ‘There was something in the air that I wanted to bottle up.’”
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110 STORIES been mounted to raise funds for charities including The Leary Firefighters Foundation, Operation Gratitude, The Salvation Army, Red Cross for Haiti Relief, and New York Says Thank You Foundation. Just as 110 STORIES chronicles the power of people to respond to suffering, the play's history shows the power of art to respond to crisis.
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Published by Playscripts, 110 STORIES has been produced by over 60 community theaters, high school and university drama departments in over 30 states, as well as in British Columbia, Canada and Germany.
110 STORIES is especially meaningful for high school students, who were born after September 11th. Through the play, they’re able to experience history with moment-by-moment immediacy. 110 STORIES also takes us from trauma to recovery, which resonates with members of the Armed Forces, many of whom signed up to serve in the wake of 9/11.
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THE 110 STORIES STORYTELLERS
110 STORIES shares the untold stories of September 11th, not just those of the police and firefighters paraded on the evening news, but also those of a pet-owner, waitress, web app developer, K9 handler, nurse, ironworker, photojournalist, even a homeless man who saved lives that day too. Their raw, freaked out, and sometimes humorous responses give us a 9/11 we’ve never seen.
A mother wonders if all the papers in the air might be a ticker tape parade. “Was there a Yankees game? I'm not much up on sports.” A doctor feels guilty about the incongruous deluge of donated luxury food at the recovery site, "You feel like you should be suffering too, rather than eating chicken parmigiana.” A chiropractor, giving massages to ironworkers, reports, “One guy asked me, ‘Will this make me gay?’ I said, ‘Only if you take your dick out while you walk over!’” Even Firefighter Don Casey, who emerges as the play’s reluctant protagonist, isn’t a larger-than-life “hero” in bunker gear. He’s an ordinary guy in extraordinary circumstances. We’re with him as he realizes this is no ordinary fire, “It looks like a desk at first. But as it's coming closer, you can see arms and legs…” His journey from trauma to recovery echoes 110 STORIES’ central theme.
110 STORIES also includes information withheld from the official version of 9/11. A nurse overhears EPA workers fudge air quality readings. First responders aren’t given adequate medical treatment despite respiratory problems. And the Fire Department delayed companies a crucial fourteen minutes to save overtime money. The City’s shortcomings are made further evident as we intercut between eight characters describing, in gripping detail, some kind of explosion. Only later do we learn, when they do, that it was the North Tower collapsing. Not even the recovery personnel knew what was going on.
