Rachel Corrie Update

Okay, so I haven't been updating on my senior project nearly as much as I should be.

Mostly, it's going well!

Partly because of senioritis, I think (which I mentioned in my previous post), I have not been nearly as proactive with Rachel Corrie stuff this semester as I was last semester.

We have, however, had a couple of rehearsals. My fabulous stage manager and I had a pick-up rehearsal a couple/few weeks after classes started again in which we just ran lines. After having not worked on it really at all for several weeks, I was worried I would have lost a lot of it. But I didn't struggle too much. It's still there!

Then, a couple weeks ago, we actually got the first 1/3 of the play back up on its feet with props (no costume though). And my director and I have been working pieces as well--changing some things here and there. I'm excited I get to do it again. A couple of the things we're re-working in the play will be the "February 7" section, or the part where Rachel talks about us all being kids, and the poem in which she talks about the mental health clients. We're hoping to make them clearer, easier to follow, and more visually striking. I think it's safe to say that we won't be changing the majority of the staging, however.

A couple of weeks ago, some people from the intercultural student services department held an evening lecture in the Century Dining Room entitled something like "God, Peace, and the Middle East," so naturally I went. It was pretty good, and I'm glad I was there. I even met someone who had seen Rachel Corrie first semester who talked with me about it for a while. Unfortunately, I didn't get to talk to everyone I wanted to, and I left without meeting an Armenian professor I didn't know who has a unique, personal perspective on happenings in the Middle East. I did get to sit down with him and have coffee last week, however, and we had a great conversation. I think we both left feeling encouraged by each other, and I had a little bit of a broader view of some happenings in countries other than Israel and Palestine.

Also, one of the professors who had her classes see Rachel Corrie last semester gave me written responses from some of her students. They were fascinating, enlightening, and encouraging for various reasons, and I was thrilled to get feedback in that way. I've never experienced that before. Things like:

“I liked how [the Sojourn review] mentioned Emmett’s fight for performing this play at IWU. It reminded me of... Rachel Corrie’s struggle to make a difference... I really enjoyed this performance.”

© Greg Fiebig 2012

I'm also very excited to get to perform this play in the Black Box this semester--I think the atmosphere will be very conducive to this particular play.

I still have some reading I would like to do, and there are still details to iron out, but we'll get there.

I have a feeling April 4 and 5 will be here before I know it.