The Guys
play written by Anne Nelson
The Guys is a play by Anne Nelson about the aftereffects of the collapse of the World Trade Center. A film version of the play was released in 2002 and starred Sigourney Weaver and Anthony LaPaglia.
History
In the play, Joan, an editor, helps Nick, a New York Fire Department captain, prepare the eulogies for the eight firefighters who died under his command that day, out of a crew of twelve. The play debuted off-Broadway at The Flea Theater on December 4, 2001, directed by Jim Simpson and starring Sigourney Weaver and Bill Murray.
Since 2001, The Guys has been presented in 48 US states and in the Czech Republic, Argentina, Japan, Italy and Poland. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon presented it at the Edinburgh Festival. It enjoyed a commemorative rerun at the Flea Theater in 2006 on the 5th anniversary of 9/11. In parts of the theatrical run the two roles were played by Anthony LaPaglia and Sigourney Weaver. They also star in a 2002 film adaptation, for which Weaver was nominated for a Golden Satellite Award for best performance by an actress. The play was published by Dramatists Play Service and Random House in 2002.
The public source identifies “The Guys” as play written by Anne Nelson. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Guys, play and written.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Guys”, the useful work is to connect “play written by Anne Nelson” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7738564. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2002, 2001 and 2006.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
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The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Guys”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Guys primary sources, The Guys archive and Guys research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “The Guys” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.