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Three Viterbo University sophomores — Kerri Peters, Jessica Severance and Joann Oudekerk — sit on a stool or chair on a rug and become the voices of Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old peace activist who was killed in the Gaza Strip by an Israeli Army bulldozer in March 2003.
Corrie’s diaries and e-mails spoke clearly and loudly during the opening night Thursday of the dramatic reading “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” in Viterbo’s La Croix Black Box Theatre. Corrie, a student at Evergreen State College in her hometown of Olympia, Wash., was a member of the International Solidarity Movement trying to protect the lives and homes of Palestinian families.
The dramatic reading opens with film from Corrie’s speech as a fifth-grader about taking action against poverty. The three Viterbo actors captured well the emotion and power of Corrie’s words and her passionate desire to be part of positive change in the world.
One cannot dismiss this production as simply a dramatic reading with no consequences. The oral history of a true peace activist is engaging and moving. Corrie’s wisdom and wit makes you laugh, think, ponder and wonder.
Corrie’s aunt was there on opening night and said a few words at a talk-back session. She said Corrie’s friends had read international newspaper accounts of her death on the Internet before her family found out.
In this reading, we learn Corrie was an ordinary and extraordinary young woman who believed in the goodness of humankind and the power of people to stand up against poverty, violence, war and injustice. Her words are uplifting and inspiring, and force you to ask yourself: “What are we doing about it?”
“My Name is Rachel Corrie” continues today and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $10.
Terry Rindfleisch can be reached at trindfleisch@lacrossetribune.com.
