A crushed metal file drawer pulled from the rubble of the World Trade Center will greet audiences in the lobby of Chagrin Falls Performing Arts Center this week, as high school students mount a production of the Tony-winning musical ‘Come From Away.’ The Academy for the Performing Arts will present the show Thursday, October 22, and Saturday, October 24, at 7 p.m., with a Sunday matinee October 25 at 2 p.m., at the center located at 400 E. Washington St. in Chagrin Falls, Ohio.
The artifact is on loan from the Bedford Historical Society, whose museum is in a restored Town Hall on Public Square in Bedford, Ohio. It will remain displayed in the lobby throughout performances, as reported by Cleveland.com. Scenic, lighting, and projection design were handled by Ben Needham. Needham said guiding students born years after September 11 helped them understand the day through an act of humanity, per the same account.
A Musical Rooted in a Real Newfoundland Crisis
‘Come From Away’ tells the story of Gander, Newfoundland, where 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers were diverted after U.S. airspace closed on September 11, 2001, according to the Cleveland.com report. Gander residents provided food, shelter, and other assistance to the stranded travelers for five days, the outlet notes. Transport Canada's broader emergency effort, known as Operation Yellow Ribbon, ultimately diverted between 225 and 240 international flights carrying more than 33,000 passengers to 17 Canadian airports that day, according to Wikipedia's Operation Yellow Ribbon entry.
Gander itself had under 10,000 residents at the time, meaning nearly 6,700 stranded passengers and crew arriving across 38 flights swelled the town's population by more than 50 percent in a few hours, per TravelPulse Canada. The musical, created by Canadian writing duo Irene Sankoff and David Hein, ran 1,669 regular performances on Broadway between March 2017 and October 2022, and was a 2017 Best Musical nominee, according to Playbill.
Licensing Opens the Door for High Schools
Music Theatre International has released ‘Come From Away’ for licensing in North America, Playbill reported.
The show is directed and choreographed by Dan Hendrock, with Emily Morgan serving as music director and stage manager, Cleveland.com reports. Costumes are designed by April Rock, and Parker Strong handles sound design, per the same account.
A Multi-District Program Behind the Production
The Academy for the Performing Arts is a two-year Career Technical Education program under the Excel TECC consortium, serving high school juniors and seniors from 10 area school districts across Northeast Ohio — Solon, Beachwood, Mayfield, Aurora, Orange, Chagrin Falls, Newbury, Richmond Heights, South Euclid–Lyndhurst, and West Geauga — according to Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools. That regional structure means the cast and crew staging this week's performances are drawn from well beyond the village itself.
The program opened its prior 2025–26 season with the Broadway musical ‘Hairspray,’ featuring a 25-student ensemble, a live pit orchestra, and an LED video wall, the district said.
