Madison-Rafah Journal

Samara Kalk Derby, The Capital Times, February 28, 2008

"My Name Is Rachel Corrie," a play about the 23-year-old college student and human rights activist who was killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in Gaza while defending a Palestinian home from demolition five years ago, has been staged in so many places around the world that her parents can't keep track.

It debuted at the Royal Court Theatre in London in April 2005. Since then, it's been staged in Peru, Sweden, Norway, Italy, Greece and Canada. Soon it will be seen in Argentina, Africa, Spain, France and Australia.

"There are plans for it on all the continents with the exception of Antarctica," Rachel's father, Craig Corrie, said in a phone conversation from the family's hometown of Olympia, Wash., Tuesday.

Rachel left behind e-mails and a number of journals dating back to when she was 10, which were crafted into a one-woman show by London journalist Katharine Viner and actor Alan Rickman.

"It's pretty interesting that a young girl's writing will strike a chord like that," her father said.

Craig Corrie and his wife, Cindy, will be in Madison on March 7 for the play's Madison premiere at the Orpheum Theatre. On March 16 — five years to the day since Rachel was killed — the Corries plan to be in Haifa, Israel, where it will be performed in Arabic. There's a large Arabic-speaking community in Haifa, Craig Corrie said.

The Madison production is not being done by a local theater company, but anonymously by the actress and producer under the name Vital Links, according to Barbara Olson of the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project, one of the play's sponsors.

The play's premiere in New York was initially canceled because of fear that it would offend Jewish groups. It eventually did run there for about two months in the fall of 2006.

Steve Morrison, executive director of the Madison Jewish Community Center, said he wasn't aware that the play was coming to Madison, but didn't object to it. "People want to go see it, they go see it," he said.

Morrison was outspoken in his opposition to the 2004 proposal to form a sister city relationship between Madison and Rafah, charging that the city is a hotbed of terrorist activity against Israel. Rachel Corrie was killed in Rafah, a Palestinian refugee community located on the Gaza Strip.

Half of the play centers around Rachel's activities in Olympia, where she worked on environmental issues and connected with marginalized people, including the homeless and the mentally ill.

"The play does a good job touching on all of those sorts of things. It clearly reaches out to young people. But, I think, to all of us," Craig Corrie said.

Like any young person trying to define her values and find herself, Rachel challenges people to take charge and do something, her father said.

"Rachel says once you find your values, they are something you have to really act on. I think that demand for action is what most people take away from the play," he said. "It doesn't necessarily have to be Israel and Palestine. It could be someplace else."

Rachel's mother said that by the time the play opened in London in 2005, her family had been connected to the Israeli/Palestinian issue for a couple of years.

"So we were somewhat familiar with the landscape in this country around it and how really difficult the issue is for a lot of people. A lot of people are just really unwilling to look at it and address it head on," said Cindy Corrie.

She said she and her husband anticipated that there would be people who would not be pleased about the play, but what was difficult and even shocking was the number of people who made judgments about the play before they had seen it or read it.

"When people go to see the play and hear what Rachel has to say, a lot of it is not controversial at all. Part of it certainly addresses the Israeli/Palestinian issue and her view of what she was seeing. It addresses her passionate feelings about it and the responsibility she felt she had and that we as Americans had for what was happening there," Cindy Corrie said.

It's also very much the story of a young woman finding her way in life, finding her voice, her mother said.

Rachel's interest in the plight of the Palestinians came as a result of Sept. 11, when she was a college student at Evergreen State College, her mother said. "She was very, very troubled by that, like all of us," Cindy Corrie said.

Her quest for information about why the U.S. had been attacked ultimately led her to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict and drew her to the burgeoning peace community in Olympia, Cindy Corrie said.

"All of a sudden, the world that she had been living in was shattered. She just had a lot of questions and went looking for answers," her mother said.

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"My Name Is Rachel Corrie" will open March 7 at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum Theatre, 216 State St. Admission is $5.

Before the play, there will be a fundraising dinner at 5:30 p.m. in the Orpheum Lobby Restaurant with Rachel Corrie's parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie. All proceeds will go toward emergency relief in Gaza.

The play will also be performed on March 8 at 7:30 p.m. at the Orpheum.

The play will move to the Overture Center, 201 State St., for performances March 14-15. Both shows will begin at 7:30 p.m. A donation is requested for admission.

For more information on the Madison production, call 906-3207 or e-mail rafahsistercity@yahoo.com.

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