|
|
|
Sept. 11 has affected us all in some way. For Meron Langsner, it may mark the start of his career as a playwright.
He isn't sure if that is how he wants it, since profiting from such a tragedy might be unsettling.
"Bystander 9/11," which was performed at Brandeis University on the one-year anniversary of the tragic event and is playing there again tomorrow, covers a one-week period from the attacks until the day the financial district reopened and workers were allowed back.
"In my writing I try to avoid autobiography and politics," said Langsner, who graduated in May from Brandeis with a masters of fine arts in playwriting.
Langsner's words are ironic because anything about 9/11 is political, and the play is about his experiences when he was coming out of the World Trade Center subway stop just after the first plane hit. Maybe "Bystander" has changed his mind with political subjects because Langsner recently received a Kennedy Center award for "B'Shalom," a piece about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it affects New York City residents.
Langsner was working in a temp-to-hire position at Goldman Sachs in the financial district in Manhattan on 9/11 when he was exiting the turnstile at the Chambers Street stop on the A line, only to be mobbed by an oncoming crowd.
"My inner New York self said it was a shooting; my inner Israeli (self) said it was a bombing," said Langsner, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel.
He said he asked a woman in the token booth what was going on. She told him a plane had crashed and he should get back on the train. He went one stop further where he was able to get to the street level.
The woman's advice may have saved his life because had he gone up at the Chambers stop he would have been right under the towers and been open to debris falling from either of the planes. Of course, had he been on time that day this all might have been a moot point.
His first view of the twin towers was blocked by other buildings and the black sky, but when he rounded the corner he saw both towers ablaze.
Originally he had no inclination to write a script about the worst attack on U.S. soil.
Soon after witnessing the destruction, he went to NYU and sent an e-mail to his friends and family to let them know he was out of harm's way. A friend in Israel noted that the e-mail was a great foundation for a play for the aspiring playwright.
Sept. 11 has affected us all in some way. For Meron Langsner, it may mark the start of his career as a playwright.
He isn't sure if that is how he wants it, since profiting from such a tragedy might be unsettling.
"Bystander 9/11," which was performed at Brandeis University on the one-year anniversary of the tragic event and is playing there again tomorrow, covers a one-week period from the attacks until the day the financial district reopened and workers were allowed back.
"In my writing I try to avoid autobiography and politics," said Langsner, who graduated in May from Brandeis with a masters of fine arts in playwriting.
Langsner's words are ironic because anything about 9/11 is political, and the play is about his experiences when he was coming out of the World Trade Center subway stop just after the first plane hit. Maybe "Bystander" has changed his mind with political subjects because Langsner recently received a Kennedy Center award for "B'Shalom," a piece about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and how it affects New York City residents.
Langsner was working in a temp-to-hire position at Goldman Sachs in the financial district in Manhattan on 9/11 when he was exiting the turnstile at the Chambers Street stop on the A line, only to be mobbed by an oncoming crowd.
"My inner New York self said it was a shooting; my inner Israeli (self) said it was a bombing," said Langsner, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Israel.
He said he asked a woman in the token booth what was going on. She told him a plane had crashed and he should get back on the train. He went one stop further where he was able to get to the street level.
The woman's advice may have saved his life because had he gone up at the Chambers stop he would have been right under the towers and been open to debris falling from either of the planes. Of course, had he been on time that day this all might have been a moot point.
His first view of the twin towers was blocked by other buildings and the black sky, but when he rounded the corner he saw both towers ablaze.
Originally he had no inclination to write a script about the worst attack on U.S. soil.
Soon after witnessing the destruction, he went to NYU and sent an e-mail to his friends and family to let them know he was out of harm's way. A friend in Israel noted that the e-mail was a great foundation for a play for the aspiring playwright.
The first draft was done by the end of September -- less than three weeks -- and the performance draft was ready in time for the one-year anniversary.
Today, after seeing it performed a few times and having it a part of his life for three years, Langsner goes back and forth on how he feels.
"It feels good to be part of the healing process, for me and others," said the current Somerville resident. "But to some degree I have a little...not sure if guilt is the right word...some degree of feeling like I am profiting.
"It's good to see people in tears halfway through it because as a writer I am like, 'yeah, this is good,' but I don't want to profit from it."
Regardless how he feels, it is now part of stage history. It has been performed in New York City, Buffalo (where he did his undergraduate work) and Brandeis.
"I feel...at this point that it is kind of historical. I am glad it is there and done a few good things for my career," he said.
"I have a certain detachment from it. I won't necessarily want to keep seeing it myself."
That doesn't mean he doesn't want you to not see it for the first time, or the third.
"Bystander 9/11" plays at the Shapiro Campus Center Theatre at 4 and 8 p.m. Saturday. It is directed by Tina Snell and features Jake Barnett, Carey Fisher and Douglas Van Hollen. The play is free.
