Like many Americans, I was left numb in the weeks following September 11th. Life, fantasy, and the joy we attain through popular culture seemed moot; the harsh realities of the attacks on America and everything our country stands for temporarily made it inconceivable to run off and see the newest Hollywood blockbuster, or to the theatre to see that play you've been dying to get to. How, in the wake of such harsh reality, could we enjoy such escapist entertainment?
     For a while, both movie houses and live theaters struggled to make ends meet as Americans stayed glued to the grim reality on their TV screens. The effect was local as well as national. The Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center, Lyceum Cinemas, and Upstate Films reported declines in the weeks immediately following the attacks. But eventually Americans returned to the world of film and theatre. "After about two weeks," says Lou Trapani, who runs the Rhinebeck Performing Arts Center, "We were back to full houses, averaging almost 600 people a night." Upstate Films, which shows documentaries and social commentaries more frequently has seen a resurgence, according to Didi Leiber as the fall season in upstate New York drew people out of the city, regardless of recent events.
     How will the effects of September 11th alter what will be run for us to see? The publicists for Arnold Schwarzenegger's new film, Collateral Damage, announced its indefinite postponement shortly after the attacks, citing its plot line of Arnold saving the world from terrorists as insensitive to the current American situation. Also, actor/ director Ben Stiller came under scrutiny for digitally removing a shot of the New York City skyline that contained the World Trade towers in his film Zoolander. He did so, he insists, because the shot was unnecessary for this escapist comedy.
     The attacks have also affected what was shown at Upstate Films, but because of transportation problems, not content. A slowdown in deliveries in and out of New York City prevented the theater from receiving some of its scheduled films. One postponed film that as of today is not expected to be received until January 2002 is called Kandahar. Made by Iranian filmmaker Mohsen Makhmalbaf, the film is a "fiction/ documentary hybrid" that tracks the plight of a woman searching through Afghanistan trying to find her sister. Leiber hopes the film "will help Americans understand the horrid conditions the majority of the Afghan people endure everyday."
     While Upstate Films is attempting to educate and inform Americans, in October the Rhinebeck P.A.C. hosted a fundraiser to help the victims of the tragedy. The three-day benefit was broadcast live on local television (Panda), and then re-run. During the show over sixty performers from the tri-state area, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, performed excerpts from the plays they were currently in, or other favorites. All performers worked voluntarily, and all money raised went directly to the Rhinebeck Fire Department, American Red Cross, and the New York State Local Hygiene Director. According to Trapani, nearly $5000 was raised in this effort.
     I was lucky enough to see a performance of Les Miserables on Broadway in mid-October, and am happy to say the auditorium was packed to capacity, a reassuring sign that New York City had bounced back. Indeed, Broadway tickets sales were again on the rise, as were movie box office sales nationwide.
     In October it was still impossible to get tickets for either The Lion King or The Producers while many other shows reported being back to normal after the attacks. At the movies fall is typically the slowest season of the year, but Kevin Spacey's new film K-PAX earned $17.5 million in its opening weekend, a very respectable number.
     When the attacks on America came in September, I didn't know where to go at first, or what to do. Then I realized that I wasn't just unhappy because of my anger at the heinous attacks; I was unhappy because I had stopped doing one of the things I most enjoy-going to the theater. So I went back to watching movies and plays, and found myself smiling again. For me, the theater was just what I needed.