Broadway's COME FROM AWAY Cast, Creatives Set for Guggenheim Preview This Weekend

On Sunday, March 5, 2017 at 7:30pm, Works & Process at the Guggenheim presents a discussion with Canadian writing duo Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Tony-nominated choreographer Kelly Devine, and Tony-nominated director Christopher Ashley on the creative process behind the new musical Come From Away, which will open on Broadway on March 12. The discussion will be moderated by Michael Paulson, theatre reporter with The New York Times, and the cast will perform highlights from the show.

In a heartbeat, 38 planes and 6,579 passengers were forced to land in Gander, Newfoundland, doubling the population of one small town on the edge of the world. On September 11, 2001 the world stopped. On September 12, their stories moved us all.

Come From Away, now in previews on Broadway, will open on March 12, 2017 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre in New York City.

Following sold-out, record-breaking, critically acclaimed engagements at La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C. and Toronto's Royal Alexandra Theatre, Come From Away landed on the "Best Theater of the Year" lists in the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Seattle Times, San Diego Union Tribune, National Post, Globe & Mail, Toronto Star and Times of San Diego, and included in The New York Times' "Memorable Theatre of 2016."

Tickets are $40/$35 Guggenheim members and Friends of Works & Process. $10 Student Rush Tickets available one hour prior to each show if space allows (for students under 25 with valid ID). Contact the Box Office at (212) 423-3575, (M-F, 1-5pm) or online at worksandprocess.org. The event will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Theater, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY.

Irene Sankoff and David Hein (Book, Music, Lyrics) are a Canadian husband-and-wife writing team. Their first show, My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding (based on David's mother's true story) was the hit of the Toronto Fringe Festival, where it was picked up for a successful commercial run in Toronto by Mirvish Productions. It has now played and won awards across North America, with Sankoff and Hein performing in most productions. Come From Away was developed at the Canadian Music Theatre Project and Goodspeed Musicals' Festival of New Artists, showcased at the NAMT Festival of New Works and enjoyed a record-setting, multiple award-winning, critically acclaimed world premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse and Seattle Repertory - recently winning 'Outstanding New Musical' and 'Best Score' among other awards at the San Diego Critics Circle Craig Noel Awards and 'Excellence in Production of Musical' among other awards in Seattle's Gypsy Rose Lee awards. Their next musical, Mitzvah, was recently developed at the Finger Lakes Musical Theatre Festival, The Jewish Plays Project, the Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and most recently at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley. Sankoff and Hein are the recipients of a Bryden 'Ones-to-Watch' award, a Playwrights Guild of Canada award, and several ASCAP Plus awards.

Kelly Devine (Choreographer) Broadway: Rocky (Tony nom., Drama Desk nom., and Outer Critics nom.), Zhivago, Rock of Ages; International: Rocky (Germany), Zhivago (Australia), Rock of Ages (West End, UK tour, Toronto, Australia; Helpman/Green Room Award); Opera: Faust (Metropolitan Opera / London Coliseum), Wozzeck (San Diego Opera); Off-Broadway: Rock of Ages, Fat Camp, Frankenstein, Anne Wrecksick; Regional: Toxic Avenger, A Christmas Story, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Sneaux; La Jolla Playhouse: Come From Away, Peter and the Starcatcher, Zhivago, Private Fittings; Stratford Shakespeare Festival: Cabaret, Romeo & Juliet; Film/Television: 'Mozart in the Jungle,' Dear Dumb Diary, Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List, Happy Texas, Zombie Prom.

Christopher Ashley (Director) directed the Broadway productions of Memphis which won four 2010 Tony Awards including Best Musical, Xanadu (Drama Desk nomination), All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations), as well as the Kennedy Center Sondheim Celebration productions of Sweeney Todd and Merrily We Roll Along. Other New York credits include: Blown Sideways Through Life, Jeffrey (Lucille Lortel and Obie Awards), The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Valhalla, Regrets Only, Wonder of the World, Communicating Doors, Bunny Bunny, The Night Hank Williams Died and Fires in the Mirror (Lucille Lortel Award), among others. Mr. Ashley has served as La Jolla Playhouse's Artistic Director since October, 2007. During his tenure, he helmed the world premieres of Come From Away, Joe DiPietro's Hollywood, The Darrell Hammond Project, Arthur Kopit's A Dram of Drummhicit, Claudia Shear's Restoration, as well as His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the musicals Chasing the Song, Xanadu and Memphis. He also spearheaded The Playhouse's Without Walls (WoW) series and the Resident Theatre program. Mr. Ashley also directed the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, as well as the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS. Mr. Ashley is the recipient of the Princess Grace Award, the Drama League Director Fellowship and an NEA/TCG Director Fellowship.

Michael Paulson is the theater reporter at The New York Times, writing news and features about Broadway and beyond. He previously covered religion, at the Boston Globe and at the Times, and he was part of the team whose reporting on the sexual abuse crisis in the Catholic Church won the Boston Globe the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 2003. He has also covered politics for the San Antonio Light and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. You can follow him on Twitter at @MichaelPaulson.

For over 31 years and in over 400 productions, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Each performance takes place in the Guggenheim's intimate Frank Lloyd Wright-designed 285-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. Described by the New York Times as "an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process," Works & Process is produced by founder Mary Sharp Cronson. worksandprocess.org.

Photo Credit: Matthew Murphy