Miami school cancels 8th grade Rachel Corrie play
Posted on Sat, Sep. 30, 2006
http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15646200.htm
MIAMI-DADE SCHOOLS
Middle-school principal yanks play dubbed too mature for students
Eighth-grade drama students were set to perform a controversial play, but the school pulled the plug on the performance.
BY YUDY PINEIRO
Principal yanks play dubbed too mature
It was supposed to be opening night for the eighth-grade drama magnet students of Southwood Middle.
But instead of performing the politically charged play My Name is Rachel Corrie on Friday night, the students were told to recite their choice of monologues.
School officials called off the play, saying the subject — about a young American activist who died in 2003 under the wheels of an Israeli bulldozer as she fought for Palestinian rights — was too mature for middle school-age children.
”Because of the nature of the subject and the possibility that it could offend many people, the principal decided to take it off,” said John Schuster, spokesman for Miami-Dade County Public Schools.
Lenita O’Rourke, whose 13-year-old daughter Shelley O’Rourke was supposed to perform the monologue from the play, does not agree with the school’s decision.
”They’re in a drama program,” said O’Rourke. “They need to be open to anything.”
Earlier this year, My Name is Rachel Corrie — which won critical acclaim during the two years it played in London theaters — also caused an upheaval when it was suspended from an Off-Broadway theater showing in New York.
The play tells about Rachel, an American activist who traveled to Gaza as part of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), an organization set up to support Palestinian nonviolent resistance to Israel’s military occupation.
She was killed on March 16, 2003, by a Caterpillar D-9 that was bulldozing a Palestinian home. To many Palestinians, she instantly became a martyr. Some Americans labeled her a traitor. Much of Israel dismissed the story.
”This is not just a Southwood Middle School thing,” Schuster said, adding “It’s very advanced material and even though many of our kids there are very advanced, the principal didn’t find it appropriate at the time.”
While many of the eighth-grade drama students admitted feeling defeated, they said they were hopeful about the school’s promise to revisit the issues with the play at a later time.
”When they explained to us that now is not a good time, I think we understood,” said Shelley O’Rourke. “Maybe when things are different in the world.”
October 5th, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Ms Shelley O’Rouke– Pesumptively age 13(eighth grade), misses the point when she asserts - “now is not a good time, I think we understood”-”maybe when things are different in the world.” At the age of 10, Rachel entertained the possibility of changing the world. If not now,when? Please Ms. O’Rourke, as a minimum, read and reread Rachel’s words, listen to John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ and think of all that you may do to change the world.
October 5th, 2006 at 4:00 pm
I was part of the 8th grade class that was doing the Rachel Corrie play at our school. I was,of course,deeply dissapointed by the descion to pull the play because we all have learned the true heart and soul of the play. Our prodution was under debate by the school employees since the idea of the play first came up. The 8th grade drama class learned that there where other things outside of the american dream that could be a whole lot more rewarding. When the news of the cancelation of the play was told to us we all were very sad. Some student cried because we were all so touched by the play. We all were very proud of our mature work and was exited for the show but we knew that there was nothing we could do.I personally was inspired to do more than normal in my life time and fight for what i believe in.i think the play would have opened many eyes in the way it opened my eyes. Even though it was canceled i think the impact of Rachel Corrie was defenently left in our class.
October 15th, 2006 at 10:49 pm
I saw this marvelous play in New York on Oct. 8. Everlasting shame to the Miami school that cancelled the play. “Too mature?” Israeli murder of an American who sought to prevent the daily bulldozing of a Palestinian home by the Zionist occupiers–too much for 14-year-olds to grasp?
An investigation - just for the sake of truth - should be made to uncover the pressure put on the school board by the Jewish Lobby, be it AIPAC, ADL or whichever ham-handed lackey of the Israeli occupiers and ethnic cleansers.
For the record, this is a Jew writing.
Larry Hochman
Michigan