YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Like the slew of planes that landed at Gander International Airport on 9/11, productions of “Come From Away” will arrive en masse at community theaters this season.

The first production in the Mahoning Valley will open – most appropriately – on Sept. 11 at Top Hat Productions. The date is the 25th anniversary of the infamous terror attack.

“Come From Away” tells the story of what happened in Gander, Newfoundland, that day.

All flights in the air were ordered to land at the nearest airport, and 38 planes did so at Gander.

As a result, the town of 12,000 people found itself suddenly having to care for roughly 7,000 overnight guests.

The warm story told in “Come From Away” shows how the townies came together during this difficult time, to help their offshore visitors – known as “come from aways,” in Newfoundland parlance.

“Come From Away” opened on Broadway in 2017. It received seven Tony Award nominations, including Best Musical.

Performance rights for the show became available in late 2025. Many theaters grabbed it and put it on their 2026-27 season.

Melanie Lucas is directing Top Hat’s production. 

“We were not sure when the rights were going to be released, but knew that we wanted to do it,” she recalled. “I just happened to see it on my news feed one day, and I messaged [Brian Palumbo, president of Top Hat] the second that I saw it. He secured the rights by the next day.”

The musical, she said, tells a beautiful story in a beautiful way. “It is unique, and the music is challenging,” she said. “We’re excited to be the first in the area to present it, and to open on the 25th anniversary of 9/11 is pretty cool.”

Top Hat has a reputation for grabbing high-demand titles as soon as they are made available. In recent years, it produced “Six,” “Hadestown,” “The Prince of Egypt,” “Kinky Boots” and “Amazing Grace.”

The theater waits as long as possible before finalizing its season lineup so it can get the shows it wants.

“We grab up new shows when they’re released, as opposed to having the season set sometimes two years in advance,” Lucas said. “It’s nice to be able to jump on new opportunities.”

ENSEMBLE CAST

Top Hat’s cast for “Come From Away” includes 17 actors, each playing multiple roles.

“It’s an ensemble cast,” Lucas said. “There is no lead. And there are dozens of characters in the show, so the actors are constantly switching accents, locations and emotions. Everyone is basically on stage almost the entire show, and that’s been kind of a challenge… Right now, you’re this character, but in 30 seconds you’re going to be somebody else. How can you quickly change the way you look, the way you talk, the way you move? That’s a unique challenge – to differentiate between the people of Newfoundland versus the ‘come from aways’.”

Lucas sent her cast members videos that demonstrate a multitude of accents so they could do them correctly.

“There are people from all over the world in the show, and most of the characters are based on actual people,” she said. “The show shares their true stories.”

Although some of the characters are composites of several people, others are the real deal.

“Most of them are still living,” Lucas said. “The actors can read about them or watch a video of the actual person they’re portraying.”

The action moves quickly through a variety of locations. To rapidly set each scene, Top Hat’s production uses a group of chairs, rearranging as necessary.

“We use them to form [the seating area of] a plane or a bus or a town hall,” Lucas said. “We are just constantly moving chairs. When you see it, you might think, ‘oh, that happened so fast, it looks easy.’ It is not easy. It is so complicated.”

The chairs are hung all over the set, with actors grabbing them off the walls when they need to create a new scene.

“It’s kind of a cool way to use the space,” Lucas said.

Music director of Top Hat’s production is  Dalton Stoops, and choreographer is Keith Stepanic.

The cast includes Amy Burd, Connie Cassidy, Kai Green, Sarah Kinser, Renee Johntony, Michelle Jones, Connie Leathers, Jessica Ludovici, Alex MacDuff, Diane Marie, Sarah Martz, Marissa McKenzie, Al McKinnon, Patience Miles, Brian Palumbo, Dan Pappalardo and Julie Palumbo Villa

“Come From Away” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 11-12 and 18-19, and 2:30 p.m. Sept. 13 and 20. The theater is at 4220 Youngstown Poland Road.

For tickets, click here.

Pictured at top: The cast of Top Hat’s production of “Come from Away” is (front) Kai Green, Amy Burd, Jessica Ludovici, Diane Marie, Marissa McKenzie, Al McKinnon, Renee Johntony, Connie Leathers, Sarah Kinser, Michelle Jones, Dan Pappalardo and Alex MacDuff; and (rear) Sarah Martz, Patience Miles, Connie Cassidy, Brian Palumbo and Julie Palumbo Villa.