Xavier University’s The Guys offers a bittersweet reflection of America post-crisis, 25 years after September 11, 2001.
Originally premiering shortly after 9/11, Anne Nelson’s The Guys takes on new meaning in Xavier University Theatre’s toughly poignant production. This show marks the opening of Xavier’s 2026-27 season, complementing their future closer of Come From Away. Both shows deal with the indomitable courage and passion shared among the most unlikely of people in the aftermath of one of the greatest tragedies in American history.
The Guys finds the footing to convey the emotional devastation of 9/11/01 through a conversation between two New Yorkers. One, an NYC fire department captain named Nick, is tasked with creating eulogies for eight deceased men under his command. The other, former journalist turned editor, Joan, volunteers to help him find the words. The show runs at a tight 65-minutes, but each second is used to the fullest to convey a grief shared by people whose paths, sans tragedy, might have never crossed.
The Performers
Two-handers are notoriously challenging, even for the most experienced of actors. The concentration, connection and contrast between performers must be absolute—they have nothing to depend on but each other. Sarah Malarney as Joan and Sean Moss as Nick sell this connection with grace and believability. When Joan and Nick first meet, their apprehension about their collaboration is clear in both actors’ body language, especially Moss’. He starts the show turned-out, tense and twitchy while Joan maintains her cool, direct composure.
However, as the show continues, Nick and Joan find that they have more in common then their class divided backgrounds would suggest, culminating in a touching moment where they connect hands in a miniature dance lesson. Moss completely sells the tough, straight-laced captain alongside the revelation of his softer, dance hobbyist side. Similarly, Malarney does an excellent job of letting Joan’s professional exterior fall away to reveal a person wracked by grief and a helpless frustration most intellectuals would not care to admit they possess. The performances remind us of what the play tells us at the start: that these are ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances remembering their shared humanity.
Set with Subtlety
The set consists of a simple table, rug and pair of chairs, while a riser stacked with candles makes up the backdrop. The division between foreground and background serves as a reminder that even as the present unfolds in a fleeting conversation, the weight of what we have lost will sit quietly in the background long after we have left the room.
I also think it worth mentioning that the house lights were up the entire time. In this way, director Kelsey Schwarber invites the audience to feel like they’re an active part of the conversation rather than passive viewers. This is an uncomfortable but effective way to remind us that 25 years later, we still feel the effects of this tragedy.
Final Reflections
Before the show Stephen Skiles, Xavier’s theater department chair, came out to convey his hope that time will make this play a work of history rather than an active trauma. Since the play was written so soon after 9/11, it is fraught with some of the reactionary complications of this trauma. Along with grief, there are also moments of fear and anger—feelings that still sit with us today. Feelings that are even sometimes levied against us and used to fear monger and direct hatred outwards.
During the play, Joan, in her helplessness, wonders what the place is of artists in the midst of this ongoing tragedy. The show concludes that it is to make sense of trauma—give it the light of vulnerability instead of letting it fester in repression. I myself was not alive during 9/11, and the performers and director of this piece were themselves very young. Yet they still have the courage to continue giving voice to the work of those who bore witness to the horrors that we did not. This transmission, this passing down of tragedy in stories about our shared humanity, is a difficult and painful one. But it must continue to remind us what we have endured and what we can do with clarity of purpose and unity.
So to answer Joan’s question—what can the intellectuals do? They can continue down the path to peace that is well trekked, yet far from completion in the hearts and minds of our nation.
Ticket to The Guys
The Guys runs September 10–12, 2026 at Edgecliff Hall, Long Recital Hall, on Xavier University’s campus. Get tickets HERE.
Remaining Performances are:
- Friday, Sept 11 at 7:30 pm
- Saturday, Sept 12 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm
Em Ivanov is a local writer, performer, and educator with a passion for film, theatre, and history. They have taught master classes at Cincinnati Actors’ Studio & Academy since 2020, and have recently started teaching with the Cincinnati Shakespeare Company, helping to facilitate lessons in acting techniques, text analysis, and getting kids excited about Shakespeare.
