Behind the Scenes of "The Eternal Space," A Play About Penn Station's Demolition
This Thanksgiving, our Chief Experience Officer reflects on his gratitude for the play that changed his life!
The Eternal Space, my play about the demolition of Old Penn Station, is celebrating its 10-year off-Broadway anniversary with a special staged reading event on December 10th & 11th, in partnership with Village Preservation. To express my gratitude, I’d like to give you a behind-the-scenes look at how the show came to be.
The Eternal Space - 10th Anniversary Staged Reading
Weds. Dec. 10th & Thurs. Dec. 11th at 7:30 pm: Playwright and Untapped New York's Chief Experience Officer Justin Rivers presents a special reading of his play about the demolition of the old Penn Station, accompanied by Norman McGrath's photos of the demolition.
⭐ Insider tier members and higher, and Village Preservation Members get $25 off!
My adult life in New York City started on September 9, 2001, with a new teaching job on the Lower East Side. By January 2002, I had settled into something of a routine, newly living in Brooklyn and commuting daily to a primary school aptly called Our Lady of Sorrows on Pitt Street.
Road closures, constant subway disruptions, and security checkpoints on river crossings made my new start more post-apocalyptic than fresh. The smell of jet fuel creeping out of the sewer on the corner of Pitt and Stanton is something hard to forget. But the most acute memory was my morning commute on the F when the train went elevated between 4th Avenue and Smith 9th Street. Before 9/11, I looked forward to that view. It was lower Manhattan at its best. I felt lucky to have it greet me every morning. Afterward, I couldn’t look anymore. It broke my heart.
I missed the Twin Towers.
It felt ridiculous to miss buildings, but I did. In one day, they were ripped from the skyline, and all I saw now out that train window was their absence.
Two weeks later, in the basement of a Barnes and Noble, I came across a book called The Destruction of Penn Station, a photo collection by Peter Moore. He died in the 90s, but his wife, Barbara, had published the collection posthumously. It whipped me back to my first discovery that there was a grander Penn Station. It was my first trip to Penn Station four years prior, where I discovered a large-print photograph of the 1910 concourse on the current subterranean concourse. A contrast which is still hard to fathom.
Eric Nash’s essay in the front of Moore’s collection felt like water seeking its own level: “Moore’s images are permeated with a sense of time and loss. There is a rhythm and flow to them as they unfold, from the arrested, classical quality of the still intact station to the crescendo of the Dresden-like ruins.”
(Left) Photo by Norman McGrath (Right) Rivers' Quote in The New York Historical's 2024 Exhibit "Lost New York"
Did New Yorkers miss Penn Station the same way I missed the Towers? Can architecture elicit a longing in people on par with grief?
I bought the book, littered it with Post-its, and immediately wrote a scene I hazardously titled Pennsylvania Station. It centered on a husband and wife sitting in the Penn Station Savarin coffee shop on the eve of the station’s destruction in 1963. Patty and Paul! Patty, grappling with the idea of losing a building she found a central part of her daily life, and Paul, a photographer of modern art, not caring because it was old and dirty. A few months later, the scene morphed into the first draft of The Eternal Space. We lost Patty, and Paul became the focal point of a larger work that wrestled with the idea of loss amidst a debate about the value of old and new.
After countless drafts, abandonments, and developmental readings, The Eternal Space had an off-Broadway run 10 years ago.
It changed my life completely.
Without The Eternal Space, I would not have sent that infamous tweet to Untapped Cities founder Michelle Young, asking if she was interested in partnering on a tour of Penn Station. A ludicrous guerrilla marketing tactic we hoped might see 60 people attend. To my mother’s continued shock, the tour has welcomed thousands over 10 years and still runs today.
Without The Eternal Space, I would not have landed my role as Chief Experience Officer for Untapped New York, where I have the privilege to create and lead amazing experiences while having the honor of working with the finest guide team in New York City.
Without The Eternal Space, I would not have met Norman McGrath, an architectural photographer whose exhaustive collection of Penn demolition photos brought not only the production to life but my full understanding of the demolition process itself. His collection is almost as exhaustive as his generosity.
Demolition Photographs by Norman McGrath
Now, with the encouragement of supportive friends and a new talented cast and crew, The Eternal Space will mark its 10-year anniversary with a two-night limited staged reading in partnership with Village Preservation.
What makes this event even more special is that after 20 years of being locked away in a cabinet, Patty will find her way to the stage for the first time. And to keep it in the family, Patty will be read by one of our own amazing guides, Laura Walter, while the reading will be directed by Untapped New York's own Customer Service Manager, Michael Joseph Ormond. A dear friend and trusted colleague whose directorial talents are second to none. It was he who convinced me it was time to bring Patty out of the filing cabinet and onto the stage. And I am so thankful that Norman will be on hand both nights to show some unseen photos from his Penn collection and to speak to the audience about his work.
I cannot express my gratitude adequately in words alone, but I’ll say that sharing this work again after 10 years is meant to honor all that it and the people I’ve worked with have done for me. I hope you will join us.
Thank you!
- Justin Rivers
The Eternal Space - 10th Anniversary Staged Reading
Weds. Dec. 10th & Thurs. Dec. 11th at 7:30 pm: Playwright and Untapped New York's Chief Experience Officer Justin Rivers presents a special reading of his play about the demolition of the old Penn Station, accompanied by Norman McGrath's photos of the demolition.
⭐ Insider tier members and higher, and Village Preservation Members get $25 off!
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