"My Name is Rachel Corrie"

My Name is Rachel Corrie based on the writings of Rachel Corrie and adapted by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner will be presented at 243 Rosedale St. (New Life Presbyterian Church) beginning March 6th and running through March 22nd. Performances are on Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm. Single tickets range from $6-$12 and may be purchased in person at the Bread & Water Theatre box office or through BreadandWaterTheatre.org. For more information, call (585) 271-5523.

From Washington State to Gaza in
My Name is Rachel Corrie

Rachel Corrie, a twenty-two year old Washington native, has become a “positive symbol” of hope and peace in the Middle East. In 2003, she volunteered to work in Rafah with a nonviolent resistance organization, the International Solidarity Movement, in an attempt to stop the demolition of Palestinian homes and wells within the Gaza Strip. Her dedication to the Palestinians and her understanding of their daily lives is evident through her journal entries, e-mails, and videos, which helped to open the eyes of those in the western world as to the plight of the Palestinian people. The violent crisis that is known as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is over seventy years old and many people are largely unaware of the complexity of the issues involved. Rachel believes everyone sitting back and watching is making the situation worse, when it could be dramatically changed due to the intervention of others. Discouraged with the apathy around her, Rachel dedicated herself to help fight the fight that is overlooked in the Palestinian territories. On March 16th, 2003, a bulldozer assigned with the task of demolishing homes in the Gaza strip crushed and killed Rachel as she was attempting to stop the destruction of the home of Samir Nasrallah, a local pharmacist. Her journal writings as well as her messages to family and friends were used to posthumously create the play that now bears her name. Because of the continuing conflict in the Middle East, Bread & Water Theatre is proud to produce My Name is Rachel Corrie a play based on the words and writings of Rachel Corrie and adapted by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner.

A month before her death, Rachel wrote to her parents, “I look forward to seeing more and more people willing to resist the direction the world is moving in”. Rachel always had an optimistic outlook on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, although sometimes she knew the harsh reality of her hopes. Cindy Corrie says, “Her story and her words seem to motivate others to do something, not just sit and talk about the world’s situation in their living rooms and feel unhappy.” My Name is Rachel Corrie has the power to take the audience in by hearing Rachel’s inspirational words but also feeling as if you have met her for ninety minutes. On the fifth anniversary of Rachel’s death, parents Craig and Cindy Corrie traveled to Hafia, Israel to see the performance of their daughter’s story. “I can’t think of any more appropriate place to be, than with all of you”, Cindy told the mixed audience of Israeli and Palestinian people.

"My Name is Rachel Corrie" is living proof that Rachel’s words of peace can have an immediate impact on others. “Rachel’s thoughts and words convey something different, something very moving,” said an audience member after the Haifa performance. Living with Muslims in their environment, Rachel was able to experience the lives and hardships of their everyday routine. “These people are shot at everyday and continue to go about their business as best they can in the sights of machine guns and rocket launchers”. Rachel kept a daily journal and e-mailed messages to her friends and family leaving behind a kind of memoir that gave her family a better understanding of her thoughts, experiences and hopes. My Name is Rachel Corrie, which premiered in London’s West End is now being performed all over the world. The director of the premiere production of My Name is Rachel Corrie and editor of the play is well known actor Alan Rickman. Rickman previously starred in many movies including Die Hard, J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series, and more recently Tim Burton’s adaptation of the musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Mr. Rickman received the Theatre Goers' Choice Awards for best director for his work on My Name is Rachel Corrie.

The cast includes: Lindsay Klug (Rachel Corrie). Making her BWT debut, Ms. Klug is a performance artist, poet and educator residing in the Rochester area and holds a Masters Degree in Education from Nazareth College. The creative team includes: Gina Menzer-Kunz (Director). Ms. Menzer-Kunz previously appeared in BWT’s My Gay Family by Nancy Agabian, Black Sheep Theatre Coalition’s Roshomon as well as their production of David Mamet’s The Water Engine.

Founded in 2000, Bread & Water Theatre is committed to making the arts accessible and affordable to a broad-based audience and acting as a positive agent of change in its community. Under the artistic direction of J.R. Teeter, BWT develops theatre that speaks to our living, evolving, and dramatically changing world through new and rare works of drama, and aspires to be a major force in American theatre, providing audiences with challenging contemporary drama and innovative community outreach programs.

My Name is Rachel Corrie based on the writings of Rachel Corrie and adapted by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner will be presented at 243 Rosedale St. (New Life Presbyterian Church) beginning March 6th and running through March 22nd. Performances are on Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm and Sunday at 2:00pm. Single tickets range from $6-$12 and may be purchased in person at the Bread & Water Theatre box office or through BreadandWaterTheatre.org. For more information, call (585) 271-5523.