Rachel’s Words

Drama students students perform reading at Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest

By Karen Hartwell, ICPR member

On March 30, the Interfaith Community for Palestinian Rights (ICPR) in Austin, Texas, approached St. Edward’s University Drama Department to ask if their students would be interested in performing Rachel’s Words as part of a Palestinian film festival. The Artistic Director of the Mary Moody Northen Theatre and member of the drama faculty, made inquiries, and senior Dana Dixon was selected to direct four other students as readers. The practices were challenging for the students, who had little previous knowledge of the embattled Palestine or of Rachel Corrie.

Their performance followed a clip from the film “The Killing Zone” ending with Rachel Corrie’s death. The director did an excellent job of staging the performance. The readers, dressed in black shirts and jeans and wearing a green Rachel Corrie bracelet, moved toward and away from one another as they alternately read, creating a shared identity among them as Rachel. For the email from the IDF refuser, they stood soldier-like at attention. At the end of Rachel’s last email to her father, they came together, clasped hands as they quietly said in unison, “Rachel.” An audience of about 50 were quite touched, many with tears in their eyes. Two people later talked with the students about performing the readings again at their churches.

To contact the organizer of this event or get information on similar readings, write to us at info@rachelswords.org

On March 16, 2006, I decided to hold a reading of Rachel’s Words in my very small living room. I had invited over thirty people. Most could not make it or did not want to make it. Present were two dear friends with whom I have breakfast every Wednesday morning. Fran and Lucy are very open-minded, caring women, though not necessarily well-informed about the situation in Israel/Palestine. But over the past few years, we have been talking about it, particularly since my trip back from the Occupied Territories and 2004. Thus I knew that they would attend with interest. Also present were my good friends Stacey and her husband. Stacey had traveled with me and both she and her husband are well-informed in world affairs; my dear friend, Barbara, who has been educating herself about the I/P situation since it became so important to me was happy to come. My friend Norma also attended. She sits in the middle ideologically, seeing both the Israeli point of view and understanding the plight of the Palestinians. My husband was, of course in attendance. As I was about to begin the reading, the only guest who had not arrived was my Israeli neighbor, Ana.

Committee for Peace in Israel and Palestine, contact: tvvic@aol.com

On Sunday, October 15, 2006, the Committee for Peace in Israel and Palestine, a rather small group of activists (we number ten or so) in the area of East Hampton, on Long Island, New York, had a presentation of Rachel’s Words based on what had been put together at Riverside Church in March of that year, after a production of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie was forced from the stage at the New York Theatre Workshop. We had magnificent help and support from the people at Rachel’s Words, and the performance was a great success. We spent a considerable amount of money – about $5000 – but most of that was for ads and other publicity, which – in these parts – is very expensive.

Contact: Judith Simmons, pnsimmons@ct.metrocast.net

Our church, The First Congregational Church of Old Lyme Connecticut, presented a reading entitled Rachel Corrie – A Woman of Conscience, the first weekend in November, 2006. This program was written and produced as a direct result of the silencing of the play My Name is Rachel Corrie. Several of us had attended Rachel’s Words, and felt we had to do something. During the month of October, the church hosted three other programs on the subject of women of conscience. We hosted Israelis and Palestinians and learned about the work they do together to bring peace to the region, and the respect they show to each other.

To contact the organizer of this event or get information on campus readings, write to us at info@rachelswords.org

On the third anniversary of Rachel Corrie’s killing, on March 17, 2006, the Princeton Committee on Palestine, together with a group of graduate students from Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School of International & Public Affairs, organized readings from those of Rachel’s journal entries and writings that had been made public and were available through the Rachel’s Words initiative. We applied for permission from the University to set up a microphone and speaker system in a central part of the campus, in the plaza outside of Princeton University’s Firestone Library. We asked for a permit to do outdoor readings on the plaza at midday in the hopes of drawing an audience of students on their lunch hour. We advertised the readings through flyers and announcements and circulated materials through university listservs concerning the controversy over the cancellation of the New York staging of My Name Is Rachel Corrie that spring. We also issued an open call for students and members of the community who would like to join in doing readings. We received permission for the event from the University and rented the audio equipment that was necessary through the university.