My Name is Rachel Corrie

My Name is Rachel Corrie” was presented by John DiDonna and Seth Kubersky and was an Empty Spaces Theater production. The play is part of The Dangerous Play Series. When I made my way inside Studio B of the Shakespeare Theater, I found Rebekah Lane, the star of the show, seated in the front row seat checking her iPhone. This was the first time I had seen her since rehearsals for “Project F.” The assistant director Alex Richmond was lying across the bed and I included her in the sketch thinking she must play a small roll in the play. I was wrong. Before the house was opened, Rebekah crawled under the covers and pulled the sheet up over her head as she sprawled out with hands and feet dangling awkwardly over the edges of the mattress. The room was a mess with books and clutter everywhere. The walls are covered with pictures of Rachel Corrie’s childhood idols like Picasso and Spiderman. Cinder blocks, sand and construction wire was haphazardly piled up against the back wall.

From the moment she woke up, the show was a non-stop high energy monologue. All the thoughts, reflections, silly girlish banter and growing mature convictions were taken directly from the writings and journals of Rachel Corrie. The opening act presents Rachel’s fun playful side as she talked of silly matters like going to clubs in slutty boots. She was a beautiful idyllic 22 year old who was a dreamer. Thanks to the International Solidarity Movement she ended up going to Palestine where she hoped she could make a difference by helping children in the region. Living in a Palestinian home she discovered a growing conviction that she had to help the people suffering around her. Change can happen in life suddenly.

In the end a bulldozer operated by an Israeli threatened to demolish the home of a pharmacist named Doctor Shamir. Rachel spoke of the Doctor often in her journal entries. This was a personal battle for her. Just as in Tienanmen Square she hoped to stop the demolition by acting as a human shield. The exact details of what followed varied depending on eye witness accounts. The bulldozer did not stop. She climbed up on the mound of dirt that was forced up in front of her and then she was sucked down under the bulldozer and rolled over. She died shortly after in a Palestinian Hospital.

I was impressed with Rebekah Lanes performance. Being able to internalize, memorize and perform the whole show alone was an amazing accomplishment. It took three directors to help find the humanity and reasoning behind everything Rachel did. She often had to balance conflicting directors notes to find her character. Director, Emily Killan had performed in 9 Parts of Desire which was another play that dealt with women who had to live in a violent world. She used the experiences and depth of those characters to help shape Rachel Corrie’s actions in this show.

The talk back, conducted by John DiDonna, following the play was just as enlightening as the play itself. Some people consider Rachel a martyr while others demonize her. Her memory was used by both sides in a violent struggle. The play tried to present her humanity. Anytime someone takes a stand with honesty and integrity, they open up a dialogue. One member of the audience felt the directors were tarnishing Rachel’s memory since they would not acknowledge her death as a murder. John countered that the case is still being tried and the only person who truly knows the truth is the bulldozer driver.

Another audience member felt that we are loosing intimacy in this world, yet we still have the need to gather together in a dark room and listen to controversial stories which force us to think. The only danger is when people no longer feel the need to have an open debate. We had listened to one girl’s view of a very complicated issue for an hour and a half. You might not agree with her convictions, but as long as people are willing to try and understand both sides of an issue then there is hope. Amy Richmond, the assistant director, admitted that because of her involvement in this production she went to a demonstration for the first time in her life. This play reminds us that we all have to find our strength and passion and use it for good. Do that with every single ounce of energy you have and you may awaken that passion in other people. Childhood ideals should never be ignored. This is an amazing lesson to learn from a quiet evening of theater.

Oscar Party

Matt McGrath put out an invite on Facebook for his annual Oscar Party and my wife Terry wanted to go. Matt is the producer of Project F which is a theater production that I pan to follow closely. I had attended Holi Fest earlier in the day and I was covered with brightly colored chalks. I didn’t have time to go home and change, so I just shook out my jacket, and wiped as much color off from my face and neck as I could. I went to the Viet Garden for dinner just before going to Matt’s and I had my favorite dish Pad Tai and a beer.
When I parked outsides his place I could see that he was rushing around the living room cleaning up. I realized I was probably the first to arrive. The walkway up to the front door was decorated with a red carpet of sorts. It was held in place however with gray duck tape which kind of threw off any hint elegance. A strobe light kept blinking which Matt later explained simulated flash bulbs going off. The door had a large silhouette of a golden statue.
I was indeed the first to arrive, but Matt was gracious and offered me a beer and I sat at his bar in the back patio. Later a friend referred to the space as “Matt’s Man Patio.” Besides the bar with it’s fully functional tap of Guinness, there was a stripper pole and a pair of animating breasts on a plaque. He also had one of those bar trivia games and I tried playing a game where you had to find 5 differences between two photos. I lost every time. There were four red sheets covering some of the screened windows and each had a golden statue in the center. Bright gold streamers divided the window decorations. All of the food for the party was named after Oscar nominated films, the most obvious being a stack of 7 UP cans for the movie UP.
Slowly Matt’s friends arrived and surrounded the bar. We all started filling out our pics for the winning categories. I started feeling sure of myself, but halfway through the list, I was filling out answers by guessing, since I hadn’t seen enough of the films to make an educated guess. Most of the people at the party were actors and actresses and there was plenty of catty remarks about the gowns being worn in Hollywood that night. A few people came to Matt’s party dressed to the nines as well. I was dressed in my Sunday best but I had been covered with chalks at Holi fest that morning and I didn’t get all the chalk off. Louise Bova had a friend visiting her from Brooklyn and she called me on my cell and asked if I knew of any good Oscar parties. I talked to Matt and we invited her and her friend over. My wife dressed up as Nora Desmond with an antique hat she had just bought at the Mount Dora Antiques fair. She had long black gloves and plenty of sequins. If there had been a prize for best costume she would have won.
I was drinking Guinness all night, but I still got cold outside and eventually moved into the living room. In the living room my ears started getting warm perhaps from the drink so I bounced back outside. Matt’s big screen TV outside had the ability to freeze and even rewind. When I went out there I saw the same category being awarded that I had just witnessed in the living room. I debated about shouting out the winner, but held my tongue.
At the end of the night as we tabulated the results of everyone’s Oscar ballots, I discovered that I only got 6 out of 47 categories right. This was a sad showing indeed. Next year I plan to study up. The winner got 13 categories right and left with a gift bag of trinkets. As he said, “Its not what you win that matters, it the winning that counts.” He was sitting right next to me when we filled out out forms, I should have cheated.