Marla Brown (Joan) and Lou Dalessandro (Nick) star in Davidson Community Players' production of Anne Nelson's "The Guys." (Davidson Community Players photo)

By DAVID BORAKS
DavidsonNews.net

In the decade since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, America has recovered uneasily by tightening security, hunting down those responsible and debating the threat of radical Islam. We’ve fought costly wars, debated good versus evil, and struggled with the global issues raised in the attacks. On the 10th anniversary of the national tragedy that defined a generation, Davidson Community Players’ production of “The Guys” is a painful reminder that the attacks also took a personal and local toll, in the nearly 3,000 lives lost.

Anne Nelson’s 70-minute, one-act play is a fitting way to honor those whose deaths seemed so random that day. It cuts through 10 years of politics and debates over the battle against al-Qaeda, and puts a human face on the tragedy. And it captures the struggles of those left behind to make sense of the attacks’ personal result: the absence of loved ones never coming back.

“The Guys” is a dialogue between a writer named Joan (Marla Brown) and a grieving New York fire captain named Nick (Lou Dalessandro).

He comes to her for help, paralyzed by the thought of eulogizing eight firefighters who perished responding to the World Trade Center, where hijackers had flown two jets into the twin towers.

Ms. Brown brings a convincing sense of loss to the character of Joan, a writer who is seeking meaning in the attacks.  She describes hearing about the attacks that morning in a phone call from her dad in Oklahoma, and delivers one of the play’s many great lines: “I turned on the television and joined the witnesses of the world.”

Joan wants to help, but she is no emergency worker or laborer who can climb through wreckage at Ground Zero. When Nick arrives, she realizes that as a writer she has a way to help the recovery effort – in however small a way. (The play is based on Ms. Nelson’s actual experience after the attacks.)

Mr. Dalessandro is strong in the role of Nick, portraying him as a slumping, beaten-down public servant facing a job he wasn’t trained for, and also grieving the loss of his best friend, a fire lieutenant name Patrick.

“I just don’t know what to do,” Nick tells Joan. He conveys the enormity of the New York Fire Department’s loss when he walks her through the calculation: Nearly 350 first responders died in the towers. In a bad year, he tells her, we lose six men. He complains about too many speeches by public officials talking about heroes. These were people, my friends, he says.

Joan sees her role clearly and goes to work. “We’ll just try and take it a step at a time,” she tells Nick. “We want to make them human, not just plastic saints.”

And so she leads him out of his paralysis, quizzing him about the “the guys” – the “food critic,” the new guy, the handyman, the family man. We hear Nick’s stories and watch as she puts them into words for their funerals. We see his face light up as she succeeds.

As the stories come out, Joan’s understanding of his loss deepens, and her tears begin to flow. And so do ours.

“The Guys” is filled with emotion, and Ms. Brown and Mr. Dalessandro do not hold back. Their tears are real and their performances powerful. (That box of tissues on stage was more than a prop.)

We can’t help but be moved.

Director Melissa Ohlman-Roberge has gone with a simple set – nothing more really is needed. And the play is presented in what she calls a “modified staged reading,” where the actors perform with scripts in hand. In this case, the scripts are tucked into notebooks or file folders, and barely visible. If the idea was to help the actors with the massive amount of dialogue, the approach didn’t seem necessary. On opening night Thursday, both actors appeared to have their lines down.

Ms. Nelson wrote “The Guys” in 2001, in the months after the attacks. It’s about one place – New York City – and one particular set of victims. To be sure, similar tales could be written about the lost army of bankers and traders in the towers, or about those who died in the attack on the Pentagon and plane crash in Pennsylvania. But the survivors’ experiences are universal.

And we are among the survivors. If you have 70 minutes to spare this weekend or next, see “The Guys.” It will make the 10th anniversary of 9/11 all the more real. It’s a fitting eulogy for the tragedy of our lifetimes.

THE GUYS

By Anne Nelson, produced by Davidson Community Players, directed by Melissa Ohlman-Roberge, starring Marla Brown (Joan) and Lou Dalessandro (Nick).

Performances Sept. 8, 9, 15 at 8 p.m., Sept. 10 and 17 at 7 p.m., Sept. 11 at 2 and 7 p.m., Sept. 16 at 10 p.m.

Armour Street Theater, 307 Armour St., Davidson

Tickets $10, with a portion going to support Davidson Volunteer Fire Department training. Appropriate for ages 10 and above. 704-892-7953 or www.davidsoncommunityplayers.org