Rachel’s Words

Volunteer worker killed in Gaza Strip inspires play

Controversial work based on Rachel Corrie’s writings will be staged at World Urban Festival
Kevin Griffin
Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A little more than three years ago, a young woman named Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while defending a Palestinian home from destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Corrie, a 23-year-old from Olympia, Wash., was a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led group dedicated to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land through non-violent direct action.

Her death could have been nothing more than a tragic but fleeting news story in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it became much more lasting and significant because of the powerful writing Corrie left behind, which has been turned into a controversial play being staged during Earth: The World Urban Festival, the cultural and artistic component to the UN’s World Urban Forum in Vancouver.

Called My Name is Rachel Corrie, the work will receive two staged readings at the festival by 10 non-professional actors. The cast includes two 11-year-olds, a Japanese-Canadian in his 60s, a former International Solidarity Movement activist and Canadians of Christian, Jewish and Muslim heritage.

By Andrew Gans and Robert Simonson
Originally published in Playbill

The acclaimed, and controversial, Royal Court Theatre production of My Name Is Rachel Corrie has finally found a New York home. It will begin performances at Off-Broadway’s Minetta Lane Theatre Oct. 15. The limited engagement will play 48 performances through Nov. 19.

The play, which is taken from the writings of the late American activist Rachel Corrie, will be directed by actor Alan Rickman, who, with journalist Katharine Viner, edited Corrie’s writings.

The play opened in April 2005 at London’s Royal Court Theatre and returned for an encore engagement in October 2005. It later played nine weeks at London’s Playhouse Theatre in spring 2006. The play was nominated for an Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement.

The work became the subject of a heated debate this past spring when it was scheduled and then postponed at Off-Broadway’s New York Theatre Workshop. Both NYTW and the Royal Court were thrust into a press-statement war immediately after the decision to delay the work; the London-based company and the play’s creators accusing the New York company of censorship while the New York troupe stating it merely sought to present the work in a climate suitable for the volatile work.

Volunteer worker killed in Gaza Strip inspires play

Controversial work based on Rachel Corrie’s writings will be staged at World Urban Festival
Kevin Griffin
Vancouver Sun

Wednesday, June 21, 2006
A little more than three years ago, a young woman named Rachel Corrie was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while defending a Palestinian home from destruction in the Gaza Strip.

Corrie, a 23-year-old from Olympia, Wash., was a volunteer with the International Solidarity Movement, a Palestinian-led group dedicated to resisting the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land through non-violent direct action.

Her death could have been nothing more than a tragic but fleeting news story in the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it became much more lasting and significant because of the powerful writing Corrie left behind, which has been turned into a controversial play being staged during Earth: The World Urban Festival, the cultural and artistic component to the UN’s World Urban Forum in Vancouver.

Called My Name is Rachel Corrie, the work will receive two staged readings at the festival by 10 non-professional actors. The cast includes two 11-year-olds, a Japanese-Canadian in his 60s, a former International Solidarity Movement activist and Canadians of Christian, Jewish and Muslim heritage.

New York Times
June 22, 2006
Play About Gaza Death to Reach New York

By Campbell Robertson
After an Off Broadway production was derailed, resulting in a theatrical uproar, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie,” the solo show about an American demonstrator for Palestinian rights who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, has found another New York theater.

Pam Pariseau and Dena Hammerstein, partners in James Hammerstein Productions, are bringing the play, critically acclaimed in London, to the Minetta Lane Theater in Greenwich Village. Previews are to begin on Oct. 5, with an opening scheduled for Oct. 15. The play is to run for 48 performances, closing on Nov. 19.

“We both saw the play and both responded to it very strongly,” Ms. Hammerstein said in a telephone interview yesterday. “We identified with the material in terms of being mothers and were struck by the production and the theatricality.”

Ms. Hammerstein, a daughter-in-law of Oscar Hammerstein II, is a longtime friend of the actor Alan Rickman, who created the play with Katharine Viner, an editor for The Guardian, the London newspaper. They put the play together from Ms. Corrie’s journal entries and e-mail messages before her death in March 2003. It ran for two seasons at the Royal Court Theater in London.

SUNDAY, JUNE 18: CHICAGOLAND PREMIER OF “THE VOICE OF RACHEL CORRIE”
An original staged performance of reading of her words.

EVANSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY
ORRINGTON & CHURCH STREET, EVANSTON

2 PM, Free Admission (donations gratefully accepted).

Following the 45 minute performance there will be speakers and a discussion period on the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

This free event is brought to you by: Evanston Neighbors for Peace, International Solidarity Movement-Chicago Chapter, Palestine Aid Society, Arab American Action Network, Northshore Coalition for Peace & Justice, Not In My Name.

For more information on Rachel Corrie and the International Solidarity Movement, please visit www.rachelswords.org, www.palsolidarity.org and www.rachelcorriefoundation.org.

The Chicago chapter of the International Solidarity Movement can be reached at: ISMinChicago@aol.com or 773-489-3505

The U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation will be presenting segments of Rachel’s Words at the Presbyterian Conference (USA) General Assembly.

Sunday June 18th, 4 -5:30 pm
First Presbyterian Church
2100 Fourth Ave, North
Birmingham, Al

E-mails from Israel/Palestine

Sat 6/17 at 8pm at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 320 Sawkill Road in Kingston, 845-331-2884.

Two actors will read e-mails from Rachel Corrie, the young woman killed by an Israeli bulldozer, and Paula Silbey, a Jewish Unitarian Universalist, both of whom went to Israel/Palestine to work for peace. Although Rachel was there in 2003 and Paula in 2006, the recountings of their experiences are remarkably similar. Be prepared for a moving presentation. An audience response and discussion will follow.

This event is free of charge. Call 331-2884, Linda Anderson, for further information.

By Catherine Foster, Globe Staff
Published by the Boston Globe

In March 2003, Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old peace activist from Olympia, Wash., was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer while trying to protect the home of a Palestinian doctor and his family from demolition. The International Solidarity Movement, for whom Corrie had volunteered, claimed she was run over intentionally. The Israeli Defense Forces said she was killed by falling debris.

“The Words of Rachel Corrie,” a play based on a series of e-mails she sent to her family, opens Tuesday at the Provincetown Fringe Festival. It comes after controversy about another play, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie,” a production of which the New York Theatre Workshop postponed because of political concerns.

Deborah Peabody, director and creator of “The Words of Rachel Corrie,” explained to the Globe recently via e-mail how the show came together.

What’s the back story of this play?

I heard about the death of Rachel Corrie at about the time it happened via Internet news. [Another] play, “My Name Is Rachel Corrie,” a compilation of journal entries and e-mails from Rachel, had two successful runs in London. I did not know of the play until it was scheduled to come to New York. A couple of friends told me about it, including Marj Conn, the producer of the Provincetown Fringe Festival, for whom I directed Eve Ensler’s “Necessary Targets” last year.

A group of people read Rachel’s emails in Grosvenor Square in London in front of the U.S. Embassy and in front of the British Parliament on March 16, 2006, the third anniversary of Rachel’s death.

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The Optative Theatrical Laboratories in Montreal, Canada, part of the Theaters Against War (THAW) network, performed dramatic readings of Rachel’s emails as well as writings about the controversy of the New York Theater Workshops cancellation of the play.

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