When Tim Tuttle picked up his guitar on the night of September 11, 2001, he wasn’t an artist—he was an energy broker trying to make sense of the unthinkable. He had just witnessed the attacks on the Twin Towers, losing more than thirty friends, neighbors, and co-workers. What began as one man’s attempt to process grief through music has, more than two decades later, evolved into 44 Lights, a powerful new musical about friendship, memory, and the enduring human spirit.
Tim Tuttle is playwright/composer of “44 Lights,” a new musical theater work for eleven actors and four musicians, in which a man processes his pain and loss over the 9/11 attacks through music and the support of the circle of his friends. Photo by Robin Richardson.
In the weeks following 9/11, Tuttle—who had never written a song before—found himself compelled to translate pain into melody. What started as a single song became an annual memorial concert called “Music from Ground Zero,” performed for more than twenty years at venues across the city. The project produced three albums, twenty concerts, and even a documentary about healing after tragedy.
Now, those songs and memories have been distilled into 44 Lights, a fully staged musical with a live band. It tells the story of Nick, a Wall Street trader who narrowly survives the attacks and struggles to balance grief, guilt, and survival. Through music—and the support of friends and loved ones—Nick learns to transform loss into art, and despair into something resembling hope.
44 Lights explores how art can emerge from devastation, how remembrance becomes resilience, and how shared creativity can bring light to even the darkest corners of memory. The title refers to the 44 beams of light that shine skyward each year to honor the victims of 9/11—symbols of both remembrance and renewal. The show’s folk-rock score evokes the emotional landscape of the early 2000s, with echoes of Fleetwood Mac, Dylan, and the raw honesty of the singer-songwriter era. Its minimalist staging and ensemble performances keep the focus on the music, emotion, and the power of storytelling itself.
For Tuttle, 44 Lights is more than a musical—it’s a message. “I decided to start doing something that fed my soul and put something good into the universe,” he writes. “I needed to honor the friends I lost. Music became my messenger.” As the city prepares to mark nearly a quarter century since that tragic day, 44 Lights offers audiences a moving reflection on loss, love, and the resilience that defines New Yorkers.
The production will run November 5–15, 2025, at Chain Theatre (312 West 36th Street). Tickets are $25 (seniors and students $15), with free admission for Equity members, FDNY, NYPD, and actors pending availability. Performances take place Tuesday through Saturday at 7:00 p.m., with a Sunday matinee on November 9 at 2:00 p.m. (no show Monday, November 10). Learn more and get tickets at 44lights.com.
