Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, December 2006, pages 41, 45

Special Report

The Unforgettable American Premiere of “My Name is Rachel Corrie”

By Delinda C. Hanley

THE SOLD-OUT opening night performance of “My Name Is Rachel Corrie” on Oct. 15 at New York’s Greenwich Village Minetta Lane Theatre was a triumph. After experiencing the intense one-woman drama, performed by Megan Dodds, viewers who know about the young American heroine who died seeking justice for Palestinians felt tremendous relief. Thanks to this gripping Royal Court Theatre production, Rachel finally has told her story, in her own words, and her fellow Americans finally were allowed to hear them.

The audience gets to know Rachel as she packs up her messy room before leaving to join other foreign nationals volunteering with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) in Gaza on Jan. 25, 2003. Rachel’s journal entries bring her back to life. She’s the girl-next-door brimming with hope for the future, with the ability to express those dreams in writing.

The play’s mood shifts abruptly as she encounters life under Israeli occupation during her seven-week stay in Gaza, and her e-mail correspondence with her family captures viewers’ hearts and makes them dread the play’s conclusion.

Audience members—who didn’t look like traditional activists or Arab Americans who know the score—were subdued as they left the theater after the opening night performance. When asked why he had attended, one New Yorker explained, “I’m tired of the traditional Broadway productions. I was looking for something new. I sure did find it. How come I never heard about Rachel when this happened?”

Theatergoers now can see a perspective of the Arab-Israeli conflict not often available in the United States—and one not popular with Rachel’s countrymen. Even legendary filmmaker Michael Moore, who attended the opening night cast party, hasn’t dared to direct America’s attention to this sensitive issue—despite his promises to do so.

Washington Report readers may recall a rave review in the July 2005 issue of the Royal Court Theatre’s London production. While the ground-breaking playcaptured British audiences as well as prestigious awards, it nevertheless was still difficult to secure a U.S. theatre venue. In February 2006 the New York Theatre Workshop canceled its scheduled American debut as a result of pressure by unnamed Zionist groups. That shocking story was described in articles in the May/June 2006 Washington Report.

Rachel’s story and her blistering descriptions of Israeli use of U.S. taxpayers’ largess and sympathy are long overdue. The Minetta Lane Theatre production is a vital part of a public debate that finally is beginning to take place in the United States. Criticism of Israel and of U.S. support for its actions no longer is smothered in accusations of anti-Semitism thanks to John J. Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt’s paper and the controversy over the recent cancellation of New York University historian Tony Judt’s talk (see p. 22).

Attempts to still debate continue, however. One of the theater’s “Talkback” performances, on Oct. 17, included a panel discussion with Royal Court Theatre manager Diane Borger, Corrie’s parents, Cindy and Craig, her sister Sarah, (who gathered all Rachel’s scattered work and retyped them), and play director Alan Rickman and co-editor Katharine Viner. Outside the theater, playgoers were handed an inflammatory flyer describing Israelis named Rachel who were killed in suicide bombings.

The day after the opening, a standing-room-only crowd filled the nearby Judson Memorial Church to hear the Corries, ISM co-founders Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro, and Maria LaHood, an attorney working on the Center for Constitutional Rights’ case Corrie vs. Caterpillar.

“The only cure for grief is action,” Cindy Corrie told the audience, many of whom had not yet seen the play. “We prepared all of our lives for these challenging times.”

She went on to describe the painful steps her family has taken “to seek justice for Rachel” and learn all they can about the conflict. They’ve met the people Rachel came to know in Rafah, and have been “touched by people around the country who reached out to us.” The Corries showed film clips from Rachel’s last press conference, held in Rafah two days before she was killed by an Israeli bulldozer destroying Palestinian homes and greenhouses. “I feel like what I’m witnessing is a very systematic destruction of people’s ability to survive,” she told reporters.

Cindy Corrie told the audience of her family’s struggle for an investigation into their daughter’s death. The Corries worked hard to find 56 co-sponsors for H.Con.Res. 111, the Rachel Corrie Resolution, which sought U.S. and Israeli investigations into Rachel’s death. Without more brave members of Congress signing on, the bill never made it out of the House International Relations Committee.

Not surprisingly, an Israeli military police investigation of Rachel’s death found no wrongdoing and Israel closed the case—but refused to release the report. The few U.S. State Department employees allowed to read it found inconsistencies that raised more questions than answers. The official U.S. government position, however, is that there is nothing more the world’s only superpower can do: There will never be an independent investigation into Rachel’s murder.

But Rachel’s family isn’t taking no for an answer and has filed a court case in Israel and another against the Illinois-based Caterpillar company.

ISM cofounder Huwaida Arraf said she asks herself every day if it’s right to invite internationals to Gaza and the West Bank, where they put themselves in danger in order to bear witness to Israel’s actions. “ISM volunteers give a sense of hope to people who feel they’ve been abandoned,” she said, adding that the international community must not be prevented from seeing Israel’s occupation.

“Are we naive to believe we can change Israel’s policies?” Arraf asked. “If it’s naive to think that good people acting together can defend good people from the actions of a brutal regime, then I am happily naive.”

Adam Shapiro said he feels good about the debate he’s now hearing in the United States. “I see cracks appearing in the wall of silence.”

Rachel’s words are her legacy, and, thanks to this play, they will live on. “I really can’t believe that something like this can happen in the world without a bigger outcry about it,” Rachel tells New York audiences every night. “This has to stop. I think it is a good idea for us all to drop everything and devote our lives to making this stop.”

To paraphrase Rachel’s words: Drop everything and go to New York City to see this play. Due to its box office success, “My Name is Rachel Corrie” has extended its run at the Minetta Lane Theatre through Dec. 30. Tickets, ranging from $25 to $75, are on sale through Ticketmaster, <Ticketmaster.com> or by phone, (212) 307-4100, or through the Theatre’s box office at (212) 420-8000.

What happens next depends on the play’s fans. Will the Royal Court Theatre production come to a theatre near you?

Delinda C. Hanley is news editor of the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

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