1. 1 August 2002
Debut of original documentary offers
remembrance and renewal through the
images and words flooding public spaces
after 9/11
The days and weeks following 9/11 saw a vast outpouring of images and words into the streets
and parks of New York City and nearby communities. Missing posters, artwork by people of all
ages and abilities, patriotic symbolism, and handwritten notes expressed the anger, grief,
astonishment, renewal, love and compassion that we all experienced. They blanketed the streets
in an unprecedented and profound creative phenomenon. Our public places saw an unscripted,
hands-on spiritual triage performed by - and for - a devastated community.
Yet most people never experienced this phenomenon. As we struggled to find ways to return to a
sense of normalcy in the weeks that followed the tragedy, we watched endless news of rescue
workers seeking to recover broken bodies. Very few of us got a personal sense of the efforts
made by people seeking to recover our broken hearts. Until now.
After 9/11: Remembrance & Renewal
WHAT: Debut of a new documentary about healing art and expression after 9/11
WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 7, 2002, 8 p.m. (Doors open at 7:30 p.m.)
2. WHERE: DeBaun Auditorium, Edwin A. Stevens Hall, Stevens Institute of Technology, 5th and
Hudson Streets, Hoboken, New Jersey
TICKETS: $100 reserved, $20 general admission, $15 seniors, $10 students. Advance
reservations are highly advised since space is limited.
BENEFITS: All proceeds benefit a new Stevens scholarship for 9/11 victims' children.
Tickets may be reserved by calling the DeBaun Auditorium Box Office, (201) 216-8937
On Saturday, Sept. 7, 2002, at 8 p.m., Stevens Institute of Technology will debut a new, original
45-minute documentary about this outpouring of human expression - a work produced by
Stevens with live musical accompaniment - titled "After 9/11: Remembrance & Renewal."
Proceeds from this one-time-only event, to be held in Stevens' historic DeBaun Auditorium, will
benefit a new Stevens scholarship for children of 9/11 victims. (See the end of this release for
ticket and event details.)
Artwork and photography for the documentary were created by hundreds of people, both known
and unknown, and painstakingly compiled by Hoboken, N.J., writer and designer Jeff Faria.
Hoboken animation director Randolph Hoppe put these images into a compelling documentary
format with voice-overs for DeBaun Auditorium's high-tech projection and sound system.
Images in the documentary range from the touching drawings of children to the polished,
professional work of the Magnum Photographers.
Live music for the event will be provided by New Jersey's own Don Slepian, an electronic
musician and composer par excellence whom Rolling Stone Magazine called "one of the genre's
major talents." The featured singer will be Shara, a rising star and New York City phenomenon
in her own right, whose remarkable operatically trained voice has a deeply American and
contemporary resonance. In addition, members of Stevens own Glee Club and Music Department
will lend their voices.
Voice-overs used in the documentary's soundtrack include 9/11 survivors, teachers, and other
Stevens and area community members. The soundtrack showcases poignant original poetry and
remembrances of the 9/11 tragedy.
Besides the documentary, the Sept. 7 event program will include remarks by guest dignitaries (to
be announced) and Stevens officials, and the awarding of the first-ever Stevens Jerome Lohez '95
Memorial Award. An alumnus of Stevens, the late Mr. Lohez was a victim of the World Trade
Center disaster.
The public will also have its first opportunity to view, in one place, a special display about the
technologies Stevens has developed to counteract terrorism, such as its unique and effective land
mine detection technology, an innovative cold plasma technology for cleaning lethal biological
agents (such as anthrax) from surfaces and the air, an academic program in computer security
designed to produce the world's most sophisticated methods to safeguard information, and more.