All: below is the letter Rachels parents sent to tonights audience. What an honor to read these words, and know what this play means to them. Thank you all for coming and bringing this tragic yet inspiring story to light. Be well & find good. -Stephanie From the Corries: Hello to all who have come to the UpStage this evening for the reading of My Name is Rachel Corrie. We are across the country in Olympia, Washington, where Rachel grew up and spent most of her lifetime, and where we continue to live. Because of a job change, Charlotte was our home from 2001-2003. We loved Carolina barbecue, the magnificent spring in bloom, and our weekend get-aways to hikes and B&Bs in the mountains. Rachel made a single visit to Charlotte, immediately after 9-11. She flew in as soon as airports reopened and as we all were trying to make sense of the events. She loved art and the outdoors. We wandered together through the Mint museum, visited a nearby South Carolina antique shop where she purchased the metal lunchbox that would become one of her unique “purses,” and wandered through a stretch of the Blue Ridge on a foggy afternoon. We are so glad that among her life experiences was this brief taste of North Carolina. It was at a time when we knew our world had changed, yet we were unsure of the trajectory. As the U.S. moved toward war, Rachel and we (a continent apart) looked for alternatives. She found hers through college and community groups in Olympia. We were thrilled to spot a notice in The Charlotte Observer about a peace group meeting downtown on Saturday mornings. We joined the gatherings, made friends, and stood in sidewalk vigils opposing the impending Iraq war. On March 15, 2003, the day before Rachel was killed, we joined friends at an annual peace and justice conference at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte. The next day, March 16, 2003, at noon, the unthinkable news came by telephone – that Rachel had been killed in Gaza. Then, and always after, we were supported by our Charlotte friends and community. You will always have a very special place in our hearts and memories, for the care you provided at the most challenging time in our lives. Rachel was a writer. The play My Name is Rachel Corrie is a gift for us, crafted from her words and from our communications with her. Edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner, it has been translated into more languages than we can count and has been performed throughout the world – on every continent except Antarctica! We have been blessed to see it in English throughout the U.S. and in London – but also performed in Arabic by a Palestinian actress in Haifa and Nazareth; in French in Brussels; in Icelandic in Reykjavik; in Turkish in Istanbul, and more. We were thrilled to learn that this past year, the play was translated into Hebrew and performed in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. It is a great source of comfort to us that Rachels message and her words continue to reach people and to inspire. There is still so much work that remains for all of us to do for Palestine/Israel – but, also, for the many other social justice and human rights issues that captured Rachels attention and drove her desire to make some difference. We thank all who have had a part in bringing My Name is Rachel Corrie to OnStage this evening – especially producers Stephanie Gardner and Sarah Provencal and the three readers – Karina Roberts-Caporino, Carmen Bartlett, and Brenda Giraldo. From experience, we know how much you each invest in bringing Rachel to others, and we are so grateful. Thank you, too, for choosing to support the Rachel Corrie Foundation with the proceeds from this performance. We are full-time volunteers with the foundation, a small nonprofit based in Olympia that strives to continue the work that Rachel began. We encourage all of you to visit our website at rachelcorriefoundation.org for information. Rachel brought us, her family, to the issue of Israel/Palestine. The situation there demands our attention more than ever. We believe Rachels message is that each one of us can make a difference. The work that we do is cumulative. We echo her words when she said, “This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop...” We hope this evening inspires more learning and much constructive action. We send love, encouragement, and appreciation, and hope very much that our paths will cross one day again in Charlotte. Cindy and Craig March 9, 2014
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 04:17:57 +0000
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