At 5 feet 5 inches tall, Matt Schatz is only about 1,362 feet shorter than his subject matter.
It?s the World Trade Center, which at one time was ?The Tallest Building in the World.? That?s also the title of Schatz?s new play at Luna Stage Company in West Orange.
?This is not a 9/11 play,? says Schatz. ?It takes place solely in the ?60s, when there were a lot of people for and against the building of what became the Twin Towers.?
So in this corner are the architect, engineer and project manager who want to end the Empire State Building?s reign as New York?s tallest. In the opposing corner are the parties who don?t want the Twin Towers anywhere in Manhattan.
?The area downtown was called ?Radio Row,? because that?s where the small businesses were, where people went to buy their TVs and radios,? says Schatz. ?The owners of those little businesses certainly didn?t want to be displaced.?
Those with a vested interest in the Empire State Building aren?t in favor of a new World Trade Center, either. ?The idea of being eclipsed as the tallest building in New York was certainly a reason why,? says Schatz. ?The argument they gave, though, was that the building would interfere with TV reception.?
Schatz became interested in the World Trade Center when he was taken there by his parents when he was 6 years old. ?So even after a school field trip when we went to the top of the Empire State Building, I was still more in love with the World Trade Center,? he says.
?Years later, when I saw a poster of King Kong, I wasn?t even sure for a second if he was on top the Empire State or the Chrysler Building. I always knew what the Twin Towers were, though. And when I saw Ric Burns? ?New York: A Documentary Film? in 1999, I was even more impressed with the buildings.?
Pre-9/11, Schatz was surprised New Yorkers didn?t share his enthusiasm for the World Trade Center.
?I know that it wasn?t a beloved Manhattan landmark and that people didn?t embrace the architecture,? he says. ?That it was in a part of town where not many people walked around didn?t help its reputation. It?s often been said that the ?King Kong? remake that had him on top of the World Trade Center didn?t really work because no one could picture anyone standing in the promenade below ? so few people would promenade there.?
Needless to say, Schatz was devastated on 9/11. He was at home with his parents in Cherry Hill, preparing to go to his job at a pharmacy in Philadelphia, when he heard the news. So in 2006, after he was graduated from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh with a degree in playwriting, he began work on a play about the towers.
In the work, Schatz also examines the need that architects and engineers have to eclipse the world?s reigning tallest building. ?I believe that there are people who will always be intent on building the tallest buildings they possibly can. It?s just human nature.?
Schatz also deals with the revolutionary construction technique the architects used. ?People who aren?t familiar with just how this got built will be very surprised to see what an engineering marvel it was. In many ways, it was just as impressive as our getting to the moon.?
The hardest part of writing the play was the element of suspense. After all, there is no doubt the World Trade Center was built.
?But what I really hope,? says Schatz, ?is that audiences get so interested in how the Twin Towers got built that for a little while they?ll forget how it got destroyed.?
The Tallest Building in the World
Where: Luna Stage Company, 555 Valley Road, West Orange
When: Through May 15. Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m., Sundays at 2 p.m.
How much: $20 on Thursdays, $25 on Fridays and Sundays, $30 on Saturdays. Call (973) 395-5551 or visit lunastage.org.
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