My Name is Rachel Corrie
based on the diaries and emails of Rachel Corrie
edited by Alan Rickman
and Journalist Katharine Viner
directed by Jonathan Kane
at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre @ 45 Bleecker, NYC
presented by The Culture Project
with Charlotte Hemmings
The compelling and controversial play tells the story of Rachel Corrie, who left her home and school in Olympia, Washington, to work as an activist in the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On March 16, 2003, she was killed in Gaza trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home. The piece has been surrounded by both controversy and impassioned proponents, and has raised an unprecedented call to support political work and the difficult discourse it creates.
The details of the events surrounding Corrie’s death, as she stood between an Israeli bulldozer and a Palestinian home, which allegedly contained a tunnel used for smuggling weapons from Egypt , are disputed. While an Israeli military investigation ruled the death to be an accident, the ISM maintains that Corrie was run over deliberately. In 2012 The Haifa District Court ruled in a lawsuit filed by Corrie’s parents that her death was an accident, and rejected the claim that Israel was at fault over the death.
Originally staged in 2005 at London’s Royal Court Theatre, this one-woman show is composed from Rachel’s own journals, letters and emails. This is an incredibly powerful piece of theatre — acted with a touching ferocity by Charlotte Hemmings. It was made even moreso, where a talkbalk was led by Rachel’s parents, Craig and Cindy Corrie, after the April 10th performance — which was Rachel’s birthday..