Jamaican actress Dianne Dixon was at work in Brooklyn, New York, on September 11, 2001 when planes flown by terrorists crashed into the World Trade Center in Manhattan, killing over 2,000 people including several Jamaicans.

The scenes that followed were unnerving.

“I thought it was a movie at first. When I found out it was real we all started crying as it was played over and over again..I knew people who worked there and immediately checked on them. One of them replied that something told him to call in sick that day. Someone else told me she saw people jumping out the windows with their bodies on fire. She was permanently traumatised afterwards,” Dixon recalled.

Interestingly, Dixon has the lead role in Echoes of A Lost Son, a YouTube movie based on the award-winning play of the same name.

She plays Ruth whose son was at the World Trade Center that tragic day. His body was never found and she endures an uncertainty other relatives faced in the aftermath of 9/11.

Dixon, who is from Constant Spring in St Andrew, was recommended for the role by David Heron, the Jamaican actor/playwright who is also her manager.

He sent tapes of her work to producers of Echoes of A Lost Son. They were so impressed she did not have to audition for the part.

Having lost two brothers (to health-related and murder), Dixon was on common ground with Ruth.

“I just had to reflect on the heartbreaking memories and tap into those emotions,” she said.

Dixon has been an actress for 20 years. She has appeared in plays such as Jamaica — The Musical and the Emmy-winning television series We Are New York.

Natalie Blessing as Keya, Sophia Gutchinov as Jenny and Claudio Venancio as a police officer at the World Trade Center site, complete the cast of Echoes of A Lost Son.