Interview: COMMUNITY & COMING TOGETHER

Maine State Music Theatre concluded its 2026 Peek Behind the Curtain Series on August 12th with a discussion devoted to the theatre’s hit production of COME FROM AWAY.  A capacity crowd assembled at Curtis Memorial Library to listen to three of the production’s stars, Carolyn Anne Miller (Bonnie/Others), Stephane Duret (Kevin J/Ali/Others), and Kolby Kindle (Bob/Others) together with Artistic Director Curt Dale Clark and BWW moderator Carla Maria Verdino-Süllwold share their thoughts on the moving phenomenon that is COME FROM AWAY.

The conversation focused on the uniqueness of the musical by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, its genesis and journey to becoming a global phenomenon, the staging and ensemble structure of the show, and its lasting messages of kindness, community and coming together.

Here are a few of the most eloquent and inspired comments from the panel:

Curt Dale Clark

• About ten years ago Stephanie Dupal and I saw a workshop presentation at NAMT (National Alliance for Musical Theatre) by these completely unknown Canadian authors. I have never seen the room explode the way it did after that forty-five minute preview presentation. What we saw was stunning, unique! COME FROM AWAY had more bids than any other show NAMT has produced. I knew right away that the minute MSMT could get the rights, we would program this work.
• The staging for COME FROM AWAY is different from many of the shows produced at MSMT. We paid a slightly higher royalty to be able to reference the original staging. But we don’t have their turntable, and they didn’t have our video wall, so in the end we were creating something of our own vision. We did want to keep it simple, just focusing on the amazing actors, each taking his/her turn.
• The piece is so universal.  All of us who were alive during 9/11 can relive those feelings. There is a moment in the show when the plane people stare at the television screens stunned, and there is a flash of light - obviously one of the planes hitting the Towers – and Tyler Hanes says, ‘We couldn’t watch it anymore,’ and he breaks down every single night.  All of us lived through this experience; the show puts us back in those moments and gives us a way to recall those emotions, a catharsis, and turn those feelings into a kind of joy.

Carolyn Anne Miller

• This show highlights community and coming together; it’s about how each of us as an individual shows up in a crisis and handles an emergency. What is important [in those situations] is taking care of each other; whether we know those we are helping or not, we show up for them anyway.
• For Bonnie, taking care of the animals is important. Of course, humanity is important, but so are other living beings. Bonnie’s story showcases how, in a tragedy, it is important to remember that even those who cannot speak to us deserve our attention.
• I find it so touching that ten years after 9/11, even now twenty-five years later, another country [Canada] remembers the tragedy in a respectful way as we do.  Gander, Newfoundland is the only place outside of the U.S. that has a shard of steel from the World Trade Center.

Stephane Duret

• Kevin J starts as a quippy, sassy gay man, but by the end of the play when he leaves L.A., it is to go home to his family, to a space where he knows who he is and whom he is with. He has experienced that sobering moment when he realizes tomorrow is not promised.
• The other character who touches me the most is Beulah. She has such warmth, nurturing, mothering. It is so touching the way Charis [Leos] plays her; she is nothing but love, support, and hope.
• I think the audience take away from COME FROM AWAY is [a lesson about] humanity – about what we can do if we open our hearts to those in need.

Kolby Kindle

• This is a show where we all support one another.  No one outshines the other. It is all about community.
• As a New Yorker, I understand Bob’s being jaded – his lack of trust, how he wonders what the ulterior motives [of the Newfoundlanders] might be.  He starts out nervous and scared, and he transitions to [a belief in] hope and humanity. He realizes there actually are people out there who do good.
• As an actor at the end of the show, I feel a sense of gratitude. There are very few works that have such an impact on the audience.  People hold doors for each other.  There is a look in their eyes. You can see and feel it. 

In closing, the panelists are asked to share their personal recollections of 9/11. The revelations demonstrate how indelible the experience remains for everyone. Carolyn Anne Miller was an eight-year-old schoolgirl who was watching television in a hospital room where she was being treated for an asthma attack. She recalls the “chaos and stress” of that day as well as her being chosen to sing “Proud To Be an American” on the one-year anniversary.

Stephane Duret recalls the intensity of emotions he and his high school classmates at a performing arts school felt and how they made hand-drawn American flags and taped them to their shirts for days afterwards.  He also remembers the fear about what might be next. But his lasting memory is of “an artist community getting together to support one another.”

Kolby Kindle recollects the family anxiety for his uncle who worked at the Pentagon –“fortunately, he had not gone to work that day” – and the trauma it conjured up for his mother, a survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing. “So many emotions – fear, anger, worry, but these eventually became feelings of loving my country, coming together, and looking after one another.”

Curt Dale Clark recalls how he and his partner were in Lancaster, PA, performing RAGS at the Fulton Theatre, and were sleeping in after a late evening when Artistic Director Michael Mitchell pounded on the door, telling them to turn on the television.  Mitchell’s ominous words echo with him to this day: “Our world is changed forever.”

 

Photo courtesy of MSMT, Dane Whitlock, photographer

PEEK BEHIND THE CURTAIN was held on August 12, 2026, at Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick. The program is offered free of charge.  The series will continue next season. For more information www.msmt.org  Series sponsored by Wilcox Wellness & Fitness

 

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