By Rachel Corrie
Director's Notes, 2008
One of the most beautiful, yet sometimes heartbreaking ironies of life is the fact that the young have no idea that they’re young. “My Name is Rachel Corrie” is a perfect example of all that it means to be idealistic, impulsive, devoted, naïve, arrogant, magical, and, of course, young. It was this facet of the play more than anything else that truly touched me. It was this facet of the play more than anything else that I wanted to illuminate. Rachel Corrie wore her politics so passionately on her sleeve she has in many ways become a one-dimensional badge for anyone who cares to wear her. I find this sad. Whatever one might think of her choices, she was, in my opinion, using her youth the way it should be used; Shout form the rooftops what side you’re on and don’t take no for an answer. Life is nothing if not complex, confusing, mysterious, obscure and completely impossible to understand, which is why the one certainty it offers us is a chance to stand up and be counted, and that, regardless of the choice you make, is an affirmation of all that it is to be alive.
-michael french