Latest news with #AnnieLareau
The National
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Actress to share personal tragedy of Lockerbie bombing in Fringe play
Annie Lareau was studying theatre at Syracuse University in 1988 when she came over to London with her fellow students for a semester abroad. Her classmates were booked onto Pan Am 103 to travel home for Christmas. Lareau – who was booked onto a plane the following day – desperately tried to book herself onto the same flight, having wanted the comfort and company of her friends following a series of panic attacks and nightmares about flying. Having had an expensive weekend in Paris, she was unable to afford the flight change and so instead waved off her friends – of which there were eight including her best friend Theodora Cohen – for what turned out to be the last time. Thirty-five students from Syracuse University were on the flight in total. READ MORE: Edinburgh Fringe 2025 programme launches with 3350 shows across 265 venues More than 30 years on from the tragedy which saw Pan Am 103 explode over Lockerbie following a terrorist attack, Lareau is now bringing her play called Fuselage to the Edinburgh Fringe stage to tell her story. She said it meant a great deal to be able to debut the play in Scotland where she said she feels 'safe and understood'. 'The reason I was drawn to doing it in Edinburgh first is because Scotland is very embedded in this story,' she told the Sunday National. 'It is part of your history. It's in your bones as it is in mine. 'In my country [Pan Am 103] has been usurped by 9/11. People don't remember it. 'I feel like it's a great gift to do this show in Scotland first because I feel safe and understood. Annie Lareau and Theodora Cohen (Image: Supplied) 'I also think it's very important we don't forget because this remains the biggest terrorist attack on UK soil. It was the first time American civilians were targeted in the US. Many things were changed in how we deal with terrorism because of it in both countries.' The Lockerbie bombing – more commonly referred to in the US as Pan Am 103 – has come into sharp focus this year with two docudramas on Sky and the BBC telling the story of the ongoing search for the bomber. But since Lareau, now 57, began writing a memoir in 2019 following the 30th anniversary of the disaster, she has been keen to share her more personal story of losing people she loved so suddenly. It was in 2019 that she also visited Lockerbie for the first time, a place she says she now feels 'intricately connected to' after striking up friendships with people involved in the aftermath. 'It took 30 years to happen, but my story and their story are the same, even though we are across the pond. Our grief is similar in the fact that we are forever connected,' she said. While both the Sky docudrama Lockerbie: A Search for Truth and the BBC series The Bombing of Pan Am 103 both focused on the who bombed the plane and the geopolitics of the time, Lareau said she wanted to focus on the humans who were lost and the opportunities that were taken from them. READ MORE: Palestinian artists to take to the stage at Edinburgh Fringe Lareau said: 'For me it's such a personal story. I lost eight friends, I've lived through the aftermath, and I have to live it every time I see one of those documentaries. 'I was really motivated to write the memoir to tell the story of the people, the human lives we sometimes forget. We get desensitised in our world by the news, we just see a roll call of names. 'What I want people to remember is them [her friends] and our story and how it's all so relatable because we all lose people throughout our lives and mine just happened to be in the lens of an international tragedy. 'It's about trying to remind people of the vibrancy of the people we come into contact with in our lives and how precious and how fragile they are and how we should cherish them while we have them because you never know when they are going to disappear.' (Image: GIAO NGUYEN) It was a 'flicker of fate', as Lareau calls it, that had led to her not being on the flight herself. Incredibly, she had had premonitions of planes exploding prior to her own flight home and her best friend Theodora encouraged her to try and change her flight to be with them. In the aftermath she said she took a 'deep, dark dive' mentally as she battled with a huge sense of guilt. She had to face the agony of packing up her best friend and roommate Theo's belongings back at Syracuse, with the media banging on her door. She said while she will likely never find complete closure, she has healed gradually over the years and part of that has been making the most of the 'gift' she was given. 'When we got back to university and graduated, we wasted no time in trying to do what we wanted to do because we knew the gift we had been given,' she said. READ MORE: I'm a performer at the Fringe - here's why I'm having to CAMP in Edinburgh 'There was no being afraid of going to auditions or becoming Broadway producers – which two of them have become. They were just willing to take the risk because there was an understanding we were lucky and we had to do it not only for us but for them, who lost that opportunity to do what they wanted with their lives.' The show Fuselage brings Lareau's story together with the story of those in Lockerbie who watched as the plane wreckage crashed down on their town, killing 11 people on the ground alongside the 259 people on board. 'I take you back to 1986 and the start of university where you meet my friends,' she said. 'I take you through the process of meeting them and that becomes intertwined with the story of 2019 when I go to Lockerbie for the first time in 30 years and I meet Colin Dorrance and Josephine Donaldson who were both involved in the situation. 'It switches back and forth and how those stories meet. 'Then I take you through the aftermath, what happened in Lockerbie, what happened for me, and how my time in Lockerbie in the following years sort of healed us all.' Lareau added: 'I absolutely hope it will tour, and I can show it to other people across the UK and Europe and the US, and I hope someone will publish by memoir, but if none of those things happen, I will be okay with just performing in Scotland, because that is the most important thing to me.' Fuselage will be performed throughout August at Pleasance Courtyard. For tickets click here.
Scotsman
01-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scotsman
New play 'Fuselage' explores the real life impact of the Lockerbie tragedy at Fringe
This year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe will host the worldwide premiere of Fuselage, a deeply personal and powerful new play written and performed by acclaimed American theatre artist Annie Lareau. Sign up to our daily newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to Edinburgh News, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... The play will run at the Pleasance Courtyard from July 30 to August 25 (excluding August 13 and 19), offering audiences a 70-minute journey into one of the most tragic moments in aviation history: the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing over Lockerbie. Rooted in Lareau's own extraordinary experience, Fuselage tells the story of how she narrowly missed boarding the doomed flight that claimed the lives of her best friend Theodora Cohen and 34 other Syracuse University students returning home from a study abroad program in London in December 1988. Unable to afford a last-minute ticket change, Lareau stayed behind while her classmates boarded the plane — a decision that would haunt her for years. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Through a blend of humor, compassion, and raw emotion, Fuselage explores the optimism and tight bonds of youth alongside the horror witnessed by Lockerbie locals, including Colin Dorrance, an 18-year-old newly appointed Constable who was among the first responders to the crash site. The play also reflects Lareau's personal battles with panic attacks, nightmares, survivor's guilt, and intense media scrutiny following the tragedy. (c) GIAO NGUYEN Presented by Lareau Creative and Suzanna Rosenthal Productions, the play features a dynamic three-person ensemble with direction by Makaela Milburn, known for her work championing inclusive and stylized theatre. The production also benefits from the multi-talented Peter Dylan O'Connor's scenic design and acting alongside Brenda Joyner. Lighting and projections are crafted by Ahren Buhmann, while sound design is by award-winning composer Rob Witmer. Annie Lareau brings more than three decades of experience in American theatre to the production, having served as Artistic Director of Seattle Public Theatre and performing widely across the US and internationally. Her theatrical background ranges from Shakespeare to new works, often blending classical technique with contemporary storytelling. Fuselage promises to be a poignant tribute to friendship, resilience, and the fragile beauty of life, reminding audiences of the enduring human spirit even in the face of unimaginable loss. 'Fuselage' makes its worldwide premiere at the Pleasance Courtyard Above for the entire fringe for tickets go to
Sunday Post
20-05-2025
- General
- Sunday Post
Lockerbie bombing: Annie Lareau's new play helps cope with survivor's guilt
Get a weekly round-up of stories from The Sunday Post: Thank you for signing up to our Sunday Post newsletter. Something went wrong - please try again later. Sign Up 'It sounds woo-woo, but this is how it happened for me and people can believe it or not,' Annie Lareau begins, taking a deep breath. On December 21, 1988, aged 19, Annie waved five of her classmates from Syracuse University off from the London apartment building they shared. They were flying home to the States for the Christmas holidays, with Annie following the next day. Hours later, the drama student turned on the television, hoping to distract herself from the latest of a series of debilitating panic attacks she had been suffering, and heard news that chilled her to the bone. 'The BBC came on and said a plane was missing, and I instantly knew it was my friends' flight,' she says. The reason Annie was so sure was because she had been suffering vivid nightmares about planes exploding or cracking in half for several months. They began before she travelled to London with her classmates and increased in regularity to the point where the frequent flyer was terrified to get on a plane. 'The nightmares got worse and worse, and they turned into panic attacks, where I could be walking along the street and I'd start to shake and couldn't breathe, convinced I was going to die. I was really embarrassed; I thought I was losing it.' Witnessing one of the panic attacks, Annie's best friend and roommate, Theodora Cohen, encouraged her to change her flight so they could fly home together. But the £75 charge to do so was more than Annie had. 'I couldn't afford it,' she says. 'That's the only reason I wasn't on the plane.' © Supplied Watching the bombing of Pan Am 103 and the loss of 270 people unfold on the TV screen, Annie felt 'a weird wave of relief that I finally understood the nightmares, and then a scream came out. The understanding of it and the realisation they were dead collided.' She ran down the street to a phone box and called the Syracuse University secretary in London, who came and collected Annie and took her to the Syracuse centre in Kensington. Inside, the phones were ringing with desperate parents calling to find out about their children. As the burning wreckage rained down on Lockerbie, Annie was handed a list of student names and told to check who was dead or alive. 'It was surreal,' she continues. 'A chaotic, panicked time. The press had surrounded the building and we couldn't get out. 'My 19-year-old brain was full of self-hatred and guilt for not understanding that the nightmares weren't about me. I told myself I was selfish and could have stopped them from boarding. I became very overwhelmed by that guilt.' The next day, Annie was taken to the airport for her flight home as scheduled. 'I couldn't move my body – I was in shock and still hadn't cried. They put me in a wheelchair to get me on the plane. At that point, it didn't matter in my mind if I lived or died.' A stewardess approached Annie and another Syracuse student and asked them to move to the front row of first class. 'The pilot came out, kneeled and took our hands, and he said: 'The pilot was one of my friends and I'm godfather to his children. I promise you I'll get you home safely.' It was extraordinary. We must have flown over a still burning Lockerbie that day. How he did it I don't know, but he was so kind and wanted us both moved to where he could check on us.' Back in Syracuse, Annie struggled to cope. 'I had to pack up Theo's belongings. I was 19, the same age as my daughter is now. This was before there were any guidelines for the US media to be dealing with this sort of thing, so I had them knocking on my door at 6am and following us around campus. We were on display and it was very intrusive. I was barely holding on.' It didn't help that the psychologist appointed to her at Syracuse told Annie she was making up the premonitions – which had stopped immediately after the bombing. 'That made me think I was really crazy, so I didn't get the help I needed and I spiralled in those last 18 months at university,' she admits. 'Self-punishment, pursued by the press, grief always on display. 'One of the reasons I moved to Seattle, where I still live now, was to get away from the east coast where people might know about Lockerbie if I mentioned Syracuse. I restarted my life here, finally found a therapist who believed me, and it took years to not only heal and realise there was nothing I could've done to help my friends, but to let people in again. 'I had been in that period of my life at university where you're creating a new family of friends. To have that instantly taken away meant a long time passed before I would let anyone else in. I thought I was poisonous. If I loved anyone, I thought they would die, and that was something I had to work through.' © Supplied It wasn't until 2019 that Annie visited Lockerbie. It was a life-changing experience. 'I just couldn't do it emotionally before then. I had built it up in my mind to be a town on fire, my friends' bodies scattered across the landscape. Instead, I came face-to-face with what Lockerbie really is – a beautiful, bucolic place with incredible people. It was very healing.' Annie has been back to the Dumfriesshire town several times since and has made connections and friendships with people like Colin Dorrance, who attended the disaster as an 18-year-old police constable, and Josephine Donaldson, who found in her garden a handbag belonging to Nicole Boulanger, one of Annie's friends on the flight. 'I have a whole new community that I'm blessed to know and who understand the repercussions of that time more than anywhere else,' Annie explains. 'To be welcomed into people's homes, for them to show me who they are as a town, rather than just show us the scenes, has been very healing. 'Lockerbie is still a major event in Scotland and people haven't forgotten about it there. 9/11 sort of wiped it from memory in the States. It's comforting to go to a place where it's still remembered.' © Supplied Inspired by her positive trips to the town, Annie has written a memoir about her lost friends and her connection to the people of Lockerbie. While she hopes to get the book published, she has, as a theatre-maker and performer, adapted her story for stage, which she will perform for the first time at the Edinburgh Fringe this summer. 'My husband has performed at the festival for the past three years and I've accompanied him. Last summer, conversations started about turning it into a show and it felt like if I was going to do it, it should be done in Scotland,' she says. 'It's not just telling my story, and those of my eight friends and 35 classmates, but also Colin's story and Josephine's story, and other people in Lockerbie who are intertwined in it.' Fuselage is a play written by and starring Annie, alongside two other actors – Peter Dylan O'Connor and Brenda Joyner. It jumps around timelines – from Annie's first meeting with her new friends in 1986 to her first visit to Lockerbie 33 years later. Importantly to Annie, it gives an insight into her fallen friends in happier times. 'I want you to know these people. Unlike the big TV shows that are happening right now, which are about the politics or the trial or who did it, I want audiences to walk away knowing what my friends were like,' she explains. 'Theo and I met on the first day of class. We sat next to each other in orientation and instantly became friends. We were joined at the hip – one of those amazing college friendships that was instant. 'In the play, we celebrate the fun we had in the beginning. I hope to capture who these people were, to breathe life into them, so that you think about the person. I want to show the humour and joy of being in college in the '80s, so that the audience can feel what we all lost. 'I know I'll be exhausted by the end of each performance, but reliving the fun times we had together is healing.' Annie adds: 'People ask if it's a healing experience for me and of course it is, to speak their names and remember the good times as well as the bad. 'But it's hard when talking about grief that comes from an international tragedy like this, because you never know what's round the corner – like a new TV series popping up on your screen. 'These days, I think of grief as a lake: the depth of it is always the same, but I can cross it faster than before.' Fuselage is at the Pleasance Courtyard – Above, Edinburgh, from July 30 to August 25 (except 13 and 19)
