Carrie Mannino has been recognized for an impressive piece of documentary theater. It Couldn’t Happen Here: Squirrel Hill in the Aftermath is an artful dissection of a still-raw recent act of anti-Semitic terrorism, one that has personal resonance for its author. Carrie is a resident of the Squirrel Hill neighborhood of Pittsburgh and a member of the congregation of the Tree of Life synagogue, the target of the horrendous act that took place in October 2018.
Through a rigorous process that combined scholarship, dramaturgy, and journalism, Carrie sought to pay tribute to her community while trying to make sense of the inexplicable and, in doing so, hoped to create an accessible, moving, and important work of art. That she has succeeded to the degree to which this draft amply demonstrates is a marvelous achievement by a writer of any age, let alone a college senior.