The Guys - by Anne Nelson (Paperback)

About the Book

The sold-out play, soon to be a movie starring Sigourney Weaver and Anthony LaPaglia--is about a woman who volunteers to help a fire captain write tributes to the men he lost in the World Trade Center disaster--ordinary human beings who became heroes.

Book Synopsis

First performed in a hit off-off-Broadway production, and soon to be a film starring Sigourney Weaver and Anthony LaPaglia, The Guys is a timeless drama about the surprising truths people can discover in ordinary lives, and the connections we make with others and ourselves in times of tragedy.

Paralyzed by grief and unable to put his thoughts into words, Nick, a fire captain, seeks out the help of a writer to compose eulogies for the colleagues and friends he lost in the catastrophic events of September 11, 2001. As Joan, an editor by trade, draws Nick out about "the guys," powerful profiles emerge, revealing vivid personalities and the substance and meaning that lie beneath the surface of seemingly unremarkable people. As the individual talents and enthusiasms of the people within the small firehouse community are realized, we come to understand the uniqueness and value of what each person has to contribute. And Nick and Joan, two people who under normal circumstances never would have met, jump the well-defined tracks of their own lives, and so learn about themselves, about life, and about the healing power of human connection, through talking about the guys.

Review Quotes

"The Guys cannot but hit home."
--New York magazine

"A stark and simple, potent and poignant play, brimming with edgy humanity."
--New York Post

"The Guys is not an ordinary night in the theater....What comes through is that humanity can be exalted by expression as well as the other way around."
--The New York Times

"New York's most cathartic theater event."
--Entertainment Weekly

"[The Guys] goes beyond theater. It's not just entertainment. It [is] a real, moving document." --Robert Altman

About the Author

Anne Nelson is an author and a playwright, and teaches at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. She has been the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a 2005 Guggenheim Fellowship and the 1989 Livingston Award for international reporting. Her books and articles have been published widely, and her play The Guys has been staged throughout the world. As a war correspondent in El Salvador and Guatemala from 1980 to 1983, Nelson published reports and photography in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and many other publications. She is a graduate of Yale University and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.