THE TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL THE WORLD CAN'T STOP TALKING ABOUT —LIVE IN COEUR D'ALENE FOR SEVEN PERFORMANCES ONLY
Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre Presents Come From Away | July 17–26, 2026 | Schuler Performing Arts Center

ON SEPTEMBER 11, 2001, THE WORLD STOPPED. ON SEPTEMBER 12, THEIR STORIES MOVED US ALL.

Most people know what happened on September 11, 2001. Fewer know what happened on September 12th in a small town on the northeastern tip of North America — a town called Gander, Newfoundland, population 9,000, where 38 planes carrying nearly 7,000 passengers from every corner of the world were forced to land when the United States closed its airspace.

In the span of a few hours, the people of Gander doubled their town's population. They opened their schools, their churches, their Legion halls, and their living rooms. They cooked meals, washed clothes, donated toiletries, and sat with strangers who spoke different languages, practiced different faiths, and came from places most Gander residents had never been. For five days, the "come from aways" — the Newfoundland term for anyone not born on the island — became neighbors. Some became lifelong friends. One couple met and eventually married.

Come From Away is the musical that tells their story. And this July, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre — Idaho's oldest live performing arts organization — brings it to the Schuler Performing Arts Center stage for seven performances only.
Audiences who have never heard of Come From Away will leave unable to stop thinking about it. Audiences who have already seen it on Broadway or on tour will find something here they haven't seen before. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is staging this production with a fresh and distinctive vision — one that honors the soul of the show while bringing something entirely its own to the stage.

A MUSICAL UNLIKE ANY OTHER

Come From Away is not a September 11th musical — at least, not in the way most people would expect. It does not dwell in the horror of that morning. It begins in the aftermath, in the disorientation and grief and uncertainty that followed, and it asks a different question entirely: what do people do when the world falls apart?

The answer, according to the real residents of Gander and the real passengers who landed there, is that they made sandwiches. They offered their beds. They poured drinks. They played music. They cried together and laughed together and, in the space of five impossible days, they reminded each other what it means to be human.

Written by Canadian husband-and-wife team Irene Sankoff and David Hein — who themselves were living in New York City on September 11th and traveled to Gander a decade later to interview the people at the heart of this story — Come From Away is a 100-minute, one-act musical performed by an ensemble of fourteen performers, each playing multiple characters, who transport an audience from the tarmac of Gander International Airport to a local bar, a school gymnasium, a firehouse, and back again.

The score blends traditional musical theatre with the Celtic and folk sounds of Newfoundland — fiddle, mandolin, accordion, whistle, bodhran — creating a sound that is both deeply rooted in place and utterly universal. By the time the final song lands, most audiences are on their feet before they've fully decided to stand.

Critics have called it "a miraculous masterpiece" (Time Out), "a triumph of ensemble storytelling" and "a moving, irresistible show that unapologetically champions kindness" (Financial Times), "a gem, a tonic, and a reminder of what matters" (Financial Times), and "theatre at its best" (Philadelphia Inquirer). The show won the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical, three Drama Desk Awards including Outstanding Musical, four Olivier Awards including Best New Musical in London's West End, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for its cast recording. It has moved audiences in New York, London, Toronto, and across North America on tour. It is one of the most celebrated musicals of the past decade.

And it is coming to Coeur d'Alene.

THE PRODUCTION

"This story is about what ordinary people do in an extraordinary moment — and I think audiences in North Idaho understand that instinctively," said Chuck Ethridge, Executive Artistic Director of Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre. "We chose Come From Away because it doesn't just move you. It reminds you who you want to be. That's worth putting on a stage."

"We raised the bar with Frozen this summer, and we have no intention of lowering it. Come From Away is a different kind of show — more intimate, more immediate, more human — and we're staging it in a way audiences won't have seen before. You don't need to have experienced 9/11 firsthand to feel everything this show asks you to feel."

Directing and choreographing the production is Antoinette DiPietropolo, whose connection to this material runs deeper than most. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre secured the rights to Come From Away and brought DiPietropolo on board knowing her relationship with the original Broadway creative team — the writers, directors, and producers who built this show from a workshop at a Canadian college into a global phenomenon. That direct line to the source shapes every decision made in rehearsal, and it will show on stage.

Come From Away presents one of the most distinctive vocal and physical demands of any musical currently in production: the Newfoundland dialect. It is warm, musical, and immediately recognizable — but it is also precise, and getting it wrong pulls an audience out of the story. To ensure the cast masters it authentically, the production engaged David Janoviak as Dialect Coach. Janoviak is a professional actor, director, and longtime professor of theatre and Head of Acting at Western Oregon University, with performance credits spanning the Dallas Shakespeare Festival, Theatre Hebertot in Paris, and seven seasons with the Utah Shakespeare Festival, among dozens of other regional and professional stages. His presence is one reason the accents in this production will hold up all the way to the back row.

Music direction and conducting is by David Brewster and the design team includes Scenic Designer Gregory Heathcock, who also serves as Technical Director and Scenic Artist; Costume Designer Erin Lee McSwain; Lighting Designer Alana Shepherd; Sound Designer Jeremy Wissing, with Music Supervision and Sound Consultation by Nick Thorpe; and Props Designer Maddy Arana. Production Management is by Mike Chapman. Stage Management is led by Jamie Sciarrio, with Assistant Stage Manager Sarah Taylor.

THE ENSEMBLE

Come From Away is, above all, an ensemble show. There are no stars in the traditional sense — there is only a company of fourteen performers who each inhabit multiple characters across a single, uninterrupted 100-minute performance, moving in and out of roles with the precision of a clock and the warmth of people who genuinely love what they're doing. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre has assembled exactly that kind of company for this production.

The cast includes Dawn Simmons as Diane and Others; Tammie Harris as Hannah and Others; Melody Munitz as Janice and Others; Chelsea DuVall as Beulah and Others; Amy D'Orazi as Bonnie and Others; Krista Kubicek as Annette, Beverley, and Others; Neil Devlin as Oz and Others; David Eldridge as Garth, Kevin T., and Others; Justin Milner as Kevin J., Ali, and Others; Nathan Nonhof as Bob and Others; Michael Hynes as Claude and Others; and Jay Srygley as Doug, Nick, and Others. Rounding out the company are Liberty Rose (Ensemble, Female Track Swing) and Ethan Williams (Ensemble, Male Track Swing).

This cast comes from New York City, Seattle, Spokane, Coeur d'Alene, and points beyond — professionals who have trained, toured, and performed at theatres across the country, brought together for a concentrated few weeks of work to deliver something exceptional. This is how Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre operates: a nationally recruited company of working professionals, assembled for the summer, giving everything they have to a community that has been coming back to this stage for nearly six decades.

Audience members who saw Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre's production of Disney's Frozen earlier this summer — which drew standing ovations and responses from longtime patrons calling it the finest production they had ever seen on this stage — will find that the same standard applies here, translated into something altogether different. Frozen was spectacle. Come From Away is intimacy. Both are what professional theatre at its best looks like.

THE BAND

Come From Away's score is not background music — it is the pulse of the show. The live eight-piece orchestra for this production features David Brewster on piano and conducting; Rebecca Stamm on fiddle; Tim Zilar on mandolin; Slava Morokhovets on guitar; Dave Turner on bass; Kit Lane on whistle; Sam Wollenhaupt on percussion; and Jon Williams on drums. This is the sound of Newfoundland, played live, just a few feet from the audience.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE & TICKETS

Come From Away runs July 17–26, 2026 at Schuler Performing Arts Center, Boswell Hall, on the North Idaho College campus, 880 W. Garden Ave., Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.

Performance schedule:
Friday, July 17 — 7:30 PM
Saturday, July 18 — 2:00 PM
Sunday, July 19 — 2:00 PM (ASL Interpreted Performance)
Thursday, July 23 — 7:30 PM
Friday, July 24 — 7:30 PM
Saturday, July 25 — 2:00 PM
Sunday, July 26 — 2:00 PM

Tickets range from $50 to $192 and are available at cstidaho.com/tickets/comefromaway or by calling the box office at 208-254-0504. The box office is located at Schuler Performing Arts Center, 880 W. Garden Ave., and is open Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 1:00–4:00 PM, as well as 90 minutes before each performance.

Come From Away runs approximately 100 minutes with no intermission.

ABOUT COEUR D'ALENE SUMMER THEATRE

​​​​​​​Founded in 1967, Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is Idaho's oldest live performing arts organization. Each summer, the theatre produces three full-scale Broadway musicals at Schuler Performing Arts Center on the North Idaho College campus, drawing professional talent from across the country to deliver productions at the highest regional theatre standard. Coeur d'Alene Summer Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization.

Come From Away is presented through special arrangement with Music Theatre International (MTI). All authorized performance materials are also supplied by MTI. www.mtishows.com