Creators of October 7 play call fire alarm disruption at Northwestern a 'cowardly' attempt at intimidation
Fire Alarm Disrupts “OCTOBER 7” Performance at Northwestern University
On Tuesday night, a sudden fire alarm in Cahn Auditorium at Northwestern University interrupted a staged collection of testimonies about the 2023 Hamas attacks in Israel. The play, titled OCTOBER 7 and co‑written by Ann McElhinney and her husband, playwright Phelim McAleer, had begun at 8:00 p.m. and was scheduled to finish at 9:45 p.m. The alarm went off at about 8:12 p.m., prompting an immediate evacuation of the 600‑seat venue.
The audience had been listening to the story of the attacks when a series of sirens sounded. “Initially, they thought it was part of the play because they heard these sirens going off,” McElhinney told reporters. “They were like ‘Oh, this is part of the play,’ until they realized it wasn’t.” The sound of the alarm startled many theatergoers, and most left the auditorium when security and police officials called for an evacuation. A few attendees, however, stayed inside, describing their decision as a refusal to be “terrified” by the disruption.
The police and building crew confirmed that the alarm had been triggered, but that the building was safe after a quick investigation. “Upon a fire and police investigation, the building was determined safe, and guests invited back in,” a Northwestern Media Relations spokesperson said. The performance resumed once the auditorium was cleared and continued to its planned conclusion at 9:45 p.m., ending with a standing ovation for the cast and crew.
McAleer reflected on the aftermath of the interruption: “The standing ovation was for the actors, the director, the stories. But it's also… people were giving themselves a standing ovation that someone had tried to intimidate them.” He added that the incident seemed deliberate. “We believe someone deliberately activated the fire alarm after sitting through much of the performance,” he said. “It was something very insidious… the sneaky, cowardly, insidious, nasty thing of setting off a fire alarm.”
No protesters were on campus at the time of the show. The McAleers said that while outside the auditorium, “people are perfectly entitled to protest,” the act of setting off the alarm inside was “more insidious” than an open demonstration.
The play itself is a compilation of testimonies collected by McElhinney and McAleer during a trip to Israel in the days following the October 7 attacks. “We realized that if we didn’t go and tell the story… it looks very much like nobody else was going to do that,” McElhinney said. The couple traveled to Israel— a country they had never visited before— and spoke to roughly twenty people, of whom fifteen shared their stories in the final production. The show has been staged in several venues, including New York City, Princeton, UCLA, Bowdoin College and the Kennedy Center, often requiring daily security presence, especially during its New York run.
McAleer highlighted the need for security when noting that the play had a “daily NYPD presence” in New York City. “That tells you something about free speech in New York City,” he said. He also linked the incident to a broader climate of fear on American campuses. “American campuses are deeply strange, dangerous places at the moment for a Jewish person,” he said. “You can’t mourn your dead, you can’t mark anniversaries, you can’t walk the campus without fear of being attacked or having your event disrupted.” He added that while “you can have an event without massive and expensive security,” the reality of the situation casts doubt on the promise of freedom of speech and free thought on campus.
McAleer and McElhinney have said they intend to file a police report over the incident. “We hope that whoever did this feels a full force of the law because this cannot be allowed to stand,” he said.
The fire alarm incident has raised questions about the safety of theatrical productions dealing with politically sensitive subjects. While the university has confirmed that the auditorium is secure, the event has highlighted the fragility of free expression in environments where external pressures can manifest as disruptions to the artistic process. The play’s creators remain resolute in their mission to preserve the voices of those impacted by the October 7 attacks, even as they confront the realities of modern campus life.