Most people over 30 years old can vividly recall how the events of September 11, 2001, changed their lives and perspectives about the country and the world.
A Beautiful Blue Morning Sky, a world premiere song cycle, is a concert performed at Keegan on the weekend of the 25th anniversary of 9/11. It’s described as “A chamber piece written to be an emotional re-telling of the day — no politics or conspiracies, just musical stories, vignettes, and personal moments in chronological order — it brings all the human dimensions of this shared event to bright life.”
Duane Richards II wrote the songs and lyrics to express how lives changed on what started out as just a regular, ordinary, beautiful day.
The opening song starts with a simple, sing-song kind of melody that would fit a children’s chorus. Actual newscaster audiotapes show how upbeat and jocular they are as they report on a quiet, uneventful morning while characters go about their usual routines. One fellow hustles to get to work on time because being late would be a catastrophe, the worst that can happen. That sense of innocent normalcy is a ping in the gut because you know what’s coming.
Then by 9 am, characters start to focus on televisions about a small plane that veered into one of the New York City Twin Towers. What a wretched accident, they exclaim. How could a pilot be so careless? Didn’t they check their radar?! Ping.
The events continue to unfold with the next plane hitting the other tower, then the Pentagon. Working in a federal office, I recall the bewilderment of what was happening in real time. A colleague with military connections whispered to us about a fourth plane that was unaccounted for before we saw on the news about Flight #93 that crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.
Characters share stories and vignettes about people trying to contact loved ones and how first responders and medics didn’t feel like heroes; they were just doing their jobs.
There’s no painful carnage depicted — that would be a different show. The closest to a strident, painful reflection comes in a gorgeous trio of voices, slowly and steadily increasing in volume, singing that “they are falling.” Their pained expressions could have referred to the towers or people jumping to their deaths from the towers — probably both. Ping.
A minister walks among the characters, trying to support and comfort them while wondering where God was in the midst of the horror. The song cycle is a soft, even tender sharing of hurt, no wailing or gut-wrenching depiction of the horrific events, just a quiet, simple recounting of feelings of loss, missing loved ones, trying to adjust to a new normal.
Does such a simple retelling do justice to the magnitude of pain and suffering of the attacks from 25 years ago? Probably not, but that’s not the cycle’s intent. This world premiere provides a distillation of the country’s dealing with the aftermath in a scaled-down glimpse of what was experienced, a kind of hologram filtered through the years to serve at least as a reminder of September 11, 2001. What it does best is place the event in an earlier, innocent time before TSA airport screenings and remind us how the country, the world, shifted and pivoted that day. The finale chorus loops back and repeats the opening refrain, recalling the gorgeous image of that beautiful blue morning sky — that started as a typical day.
Writer Duane Richards II said that he felt compelled to create something to remember and honor the experiences. The songs contain themes of appreciation for small moments and are filled with reminders of love. The cast members all have terrific voices, and they move beautifully around the stage, with strong direction from Autumn Tustin and musical direction from Jake Null. The finale is touchingly rendered by a talented young cast member who reminds us of the beauty of everyday moments, and through it all, they can smile. Keegan Theatre provided the incubator space to develop and craft the piece and present it so audiences could respond collectively and help heal. While the performance is less than 50 minutes, the program includes several speakers who share reflections on their experiences, and the audience is encouraged to continue conversations over light refreshments provided at the end.
A Beautiful Blue Morning Sky reminds us of theater’s power to depict and reflect all kinds of aspects of humanity, including resilience and the power of community. If we’re lucky, this kind of “celebration of life and humanity … on one of America’s most painful days” will become an annual event.
Running Time: 50 minutes plus guest speakers.
A Beautiful Blue Morning Sky performs two more times — Saturday, September 12, 2026, at 8 pm and Sunday, September 13, at 2 pm — at The Keegan Theatre, 1742 Church St NW, Washington, DC. All tickets are Pay What You Can and are available online.
Proceeds benefit Northern Virginia Family Services, a local organization that was responsible for managing the 9/11 Pentagon attack’s primary long-term response plan, providing trauma recovery services to survivors of the attack and offering general care to those affected in the DMV.
The cast and creative team are here.
A Beautiful Blue Morning Sky
By Duane Richards II
Directed by Autumn Tustin
CAST: Ingrid Bork, Ricky Drummond, Emily Levey, Duane Richards II, Jasmine Richardson-Rushin, Dylan Thomas, Hannah Verdi, Carl Williams
CREATIVE DESIGNERS
Music Director and Sound Designer: Jake Null
Orchestrator and Co-Arranger: Jacob Richter
Sound Engineer: Lorna Ryan
Technical Director: Josh Sticklin
Production Manager: Gabriele Busch
Stage Manager: Eileen Jones
MUSICIANS: Jason Wilson (Bass), Brad Emmett (Guitars), John “Guido” Vitullo (Drums)
