The Best of Humanity: COME FROM AWAY Returns to Koorliny Arts Centre
Twenty-five years after the events of September 11, Koorliny Arts Centre’s award-winning company is returning to Gander, bringing together more than 84 characters, an exhilarating live band and a deeply personal understanding of a musical built upon compassion, community and hope.
COME FROM AWAY begins with a day remembered for unimaginable tragedy, but it directs our attention towards another story that emerged from it.
When North American airspace was closed on September 11, 2001, 38 aircraft carrying approximately 7,000 passengers were diverted to the small town of Gander in Newfoundland. The sudden arrivals almost doubled the local population. Confronted by frightened, exhausted and displaced strangers from around the world, the people of Gander responded with food, shelter, music, generosity and open doors.
That extraordinary act of collective kindness became the foundation of the musical by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, a work that has earned international acclaim for finding warmth, humour and human connection within one of the darkest moments in recent history. It now returns to Koorliny Arts Centre for a special encore season from 11 to 19 September 2026, marking 25 years since the events that inspired it.
The return follows Koorliny’s acclaimed 2024 Western Australian amateur premiere, which received the Robert Finley Award for Best Musical Production. For the company, however, the encore season represents more than an opportunity to revisit an award-winning success. It is a chance to return to a story that has continued to grow in personal meaning.
The 2026 company features Gillian Binks, Bailey Bridgman-Peters, Maree Cole, Lucy Eyre, Paul Hayward, Matilda Jenkins, Tadhg Lawrence, Mahali, Jason Nettle, Shannon Payette Seip, Rea Selepe, Phoebe Tempra and Neil Young. Together, the 13 performers portray more than 84 people, moving rapidly between residents of Newfoundland, airline passengers, flight crew, journalists, officials and others caught within the events of those remarkable days.
Returning to a story that continues to deepen
For Gillian Binks, who plays Diane and others, the opportunity to return carries considerable emotional weight.
“It means the world to me,” Binks says. “My knowledge of the lives of the people it portrays has grown, making a return to the show an even more meaningful experience. This has been my favourite theatre experience ever.”
Not every member of the 2026 company is returning. Paul Hayward, playing Nick and others, joins an ensemble already bound together by its experience of the original Koorliny season.
“As the ‘new guy’ in this established cast, I can’t really answer this one from the perspective of returning,” Hayward says. “But what I can say is how fantastic it has been to join a cast that is clearly so excited to be staging this production again.”
He describes the company’s enthusiasm as infectious, adding that the cast welcomed him “with open arms, in true Gander spirit”.
That spirit appears to be central to the production’s identity. COME FROM AWAY is not built around a conventional leading role supported by a chorus. Its storytelling depends upon every performer, often with the full company remaining visible and active as the story moves from one location, character and emotional register to another.
The show’s themes of shared responsibility and mutual care must therefore exist not only within the script, but within the rehearsal room.
Lucy Eyre, who plays Beulah and others, describes the company as a “no diva zone”.
“It’s the most trusting theatre experience I’ve had, where I truly feel part of an ensemble,” she says. “We help each other and come prepared to do our best, which filters through the entire production.”
For Rea Selepe, who plays Bob and others, rehearsals feel like a family reunion.
“With myself being the baby of the family, with the way everyone has coached me and taken me under their wings, I’ve felt so loved,” Selepe says, while offering a special acknowledgement to directors Katherine Freind and Allen Blachford, the company’s “proverbial parents”.
Creating more than 84 lives
The closeness of the ensemble is essential because the technical and dramatic demands placed upon it are considerable. The performers must make dozens of characters immediately recognisable, sometimes with little more than a change in posture, voice, accent or facial expression.
Hayward says the smallest details can define a person.
“Every character has their quirks and nuances, and it’s the little things that can define a character,” he explains. “Small changes in posture, facial expressions and the way they interact with those around them.”
The rapidity of the transformations does not mean they are treated casually. Hayward has rehearsed individual lines and brief interactions hundreds of times, working to ensure that every sentence arrives with purpose and gives the audience something to recognise, even when a character appears only fleetingly.
Eyre similarly relies upon voice and physicality. Beulah is presented as more relaxed and steady, while another of her characters, Delores, is more restless and speaks with a Yorkshire accent.
Those distinctions are critical. COME FROM AWAY asks audiences to follow a large community of people without relying upon elaborate costume changes or lengthy introductions. The performers must sketch lives quickly, but never reduce those lives to caricatures.
The production’s visual language also depends heavily upon chairs, which are continually rearranged to establish new places and environments.
For co-director and choreographer Allen Blachford, this “chairography” has been one of the production’s greatest challenges and rewards.
“It has given me the opportunity to learn how to create places and environments using just chairs,” he says.
The apparent simplicity requires tremendous precision. A chair must become more than furniture. In the hands of the company, it helps the audience move between aircraft, community spaces, buses and moments of private reflection, all while the story maintains its remarkable momentum.
Finding laughter without forgetting the tragedy
One of the musical’s defining achievements is its capacity to make audiences laugh without losing sight of the circumstances that brought these characters together.
For Phoebe Tempra, who plays Janice and others, that balance begins by recognising that the story is not only about catastrophe.
“As much as it is a story born out of unspeakable tragedy, it’s also very much a story that highlights the best of humanity, generosity, kindness and love,” Tempra says.
By concentrating on that humanity, she can remain connected to the reality of the events without becoming consumed by their darkness.
Selepe sees humour as something people need when circumstances become difficult.
“I view humour as God’s gift to mankind when times are tough,” he says. “I always remind myself of the gravity of the story we’re telling, but the writers have tactfully sprinkled in those much-needed releases of laughter so well that all I feel I need to do is execute them.”
The humour does not diminish the tragedy. Instead, it reveals how people survive it. The laughter is often generated by cultural misunderstandings, local eccentricities and the practical complications of suddenly housing thousands of strangers. It allows audiences to see the people of Gander and their unexpected guests as complex human beings rather than distant historical figures.
That complexity is one reason the company believes the musical remains important 25 years later.
Eyre points to its depiction of the many cultures, ethnicities and backgrounds affected by September 11.
“We must remain vigilant in combatting intolerance and bigotry,” she says. “COME FROM AWAY shows the best of humanity and the variety of cultures and ethnicities that were affected that day.”
Jason Nettle, playing Oz and others, believes the Gander story must be kept alive alongside the broader memory of September 11.
“September 11 will never be forgotten, but this story is important to keep alive as a shining beacon of hope amongst the tragedy,” he says.
Shannon Payette Seip’s personal connection
The production carries an especially personal resonance for American performer Shannon Payette Seip, who plays Beverley and others.
Payette Seip was working as a television news anchor when the September 11 attacks occurred. She reported on their immediate impact and interviewed people whose lives had been affected in different ways.
“September 11 was an unforgettable day at the news station,” she recalls. “Every single person I interviewed was affected by the tragedy, whether because they had family in NYC, they were on an airplane that was grounded, or because the country was full of fear.”
Yet even within that fear, she witnessed people searching for ways to help.
“There were bright spots, kids selling lemonade to support fire departments, people donating blood, whatever they could do,” she says.
Those memories inform the way she approaches the musical’s many interactions across cultural and personal boundaries.
“The human experience was especially complex during that time, and I try to tap into that when playing and interacting with characters from every background.”
Her principal character, Beverley Bass, was the first female captain for American Airlines and one of the pilots diverted to Gander. Payette Seip feels a considerable responsibility when portraying her.
“I feel a massive obligation to the real Beverley Bass to portray her as the strong, passionate, global inspiration that she is,” she says.
Her lived experience gives Koorliny’s production a rare connection to the history it dramatises. It also reinforces one of the musical’s central ideas, that major events are experienced not as a single, uniform narrative, but through thousands of individual lives.
Raising the standard without chasing the award
The success of the 2024 production inevitably creates expectations for the encore season, but the company’s responses suggest that the award has become motivation rather than a burden.
Tempra admits to feeling that the returning company must “level up again”.
Neil Young, who plays Claude and others, takes a different but complementary view.
“There was always an intent to produce excellent theatre,” Young says. “Anything over and above this is a bonus.”
For him, the value of returning lies in the opportunity to apply everything the company learned during the first season and strengthen the areas that can still be improved.
That process is supported by a live band led by musical director and keyboard player Kate McIntosh, with Ben Clapton on fiddle, Talitha Broughton on whistles and flutes, Emily Ranford on guitar, Christian Ingram on bass guitar, and Nikki Gray on drums and percussion.
For Binks, performing with live musicians is fundamental to the production’s vitality.
“Live music is everything,” she says. “In an age when recorded tracks are increasingly being used in musical theatre performances, it is such a joy to see, hear and feel the music being created with us.”
The folk and rock-inspired score does more than accompany the story. It drives its movement, reflects Newfoundland’s cultural identity and allows the audience to experience the energy of a community responding collectively to an extraordinary situation.
Connections that continue beyond the stage
The impact of the original Koorliny production has extended far beyond its awards and audience response.
Matilda Jenkins and Bailey Bridgman-Peters first met while appearing in the 2024 production. Their relationship continued after the season, and they have since welcomed their son, Wesley.
For a musical about the unexpected relationships formed when strangers are brought together, their story feels particularly fitting. The company affectionately regards Wesley as its own “little COME FROM AWAY baby”.
It is a charming story, but it also reflects something larger about this company. The production’s values have not remained confined to the stage. They can be found in the way returning performers have welcomed new company members, in the trust required to sustain the ensemble, and in the relationships that have continued between seasons.
The story has also affected the way its performers think about their own communities.
Tempra says it has reminded her that we can never fully know what another person is experiencing.
“It’s the little acts of kindness that can make such a tremendous difference to someone,” she says. “It’s also a reminder of how quickly life can change, so always let people know how much you love them.”
Hayward says the story has reinforced his belief that people are fundamentally good.
“The response of the people of Newfoundland demonstrates the kindness, empathy and generosity that exist in communities everywhere,” he says. “It shows how ordinary people can make extraordinary choices when others need them most.”
That may be the most compelling reason to experience COME FROM AWAY in 2026. The production does not ask audiences to forget the horror from which its story emerged. It asks them to remember that tragedy was not the only thing that happened.
People opened schools, halls and homes. They prepared meals, found blankets, cared for animals, offered telephones and listened to frightened strangers. Their actions did not undo what had occurred, but they made the world more bearable for the people placed in their care.
When asked what they hope audiences carry away from the production, the company’s answers are simple and direct.
Hayward hopes they leave smiling.
“A smile says it all,” he says. “Everyone will have their own interpretation and reflection after seeing this. But I think the people of Gander would all agree, we just want to see people smiling.”
Payette Seip hopes audiences remember “that there is always room for kindness, even in the smallest form”.
For Mahali, who plays Hannah and others, the message is one of resilience.
“There is still a lot of good in this world,” she says. “Do not ever lose hope.”
Twenty-five years after the world changed, COME FROM AWAY remains a necessary reminder that history is shaped not only by terrible events, but also by the choices people make in response to them. At Koorliny Arts Centre, an award-winning company is returning to share that lesson through music, laughter and an extraordinary act of ensemble storytelling.
COME FROM AWAY plays in Theatre 1 at Koorliny Arts Centre, Kwinana, from 11 to 19 September 2026. Performances are presented at 2.00pm and 7.30pm. Tickets are priced from $32 to $37, with bookings available through Koorliny Arts Centre at koorliny.com.au or by calling 9467 7118.
Book now HERE.
