The University of Northern Iowa’s Readers Theatre will present “The Guys,” a play about 9-11, tonight. U-N-I theatre professor Cynthia Goatley,says the play’s something she can give to the audience and to New York in memory of lives lost, no matter how corny it may sound. The play revolves around a New York fire captain who must write the funeral eulogies for his men who died in the attacks.The play’s main character has to write eight eulogies and he’s joined by the character Joan, a writer who invites Nick to her house to help him write the eulogies. Professor Goatley reads some lines from the part of “Joan” in the play.”When do we go back to normal? I asked someone that the other day. Will we go back to normal? He said yes, we’ll go back to normal, but ‘normal’ will be different. This IS the new normal.” The script will not be staged with costumes, sets and choreography, but simply a reader’s theatre, with Goatley and two other UNI theatre professors reading from the script.She says as a staged reading it’s already been done, with casts including Bill Murray and Sigourney Weaver and others. The reading at 7-30 tonight in the Communication Arts Center building on UNI’s campus will open the University’s answer to off-Broadway — the “Off-Hudson” play-reading series for this season.
