'My Name is Rachel Corrie' cancelled in Miami

[rachelhinda]

Why did they choose to try and get the play cancelled instead of critiquing its message? Hmm..for the same reason they called up the Polish Embassy to get anti-Zionist Jewish professor Tony Judt's speech cancelled. For the same reason  they tried to sabotage the publication of Norman Finkelstein's book. Draw your own conclusions. In any event, this doesn't reflect terribly well on Miami. This play was created by Alan Rickman (Severus Snape from Harry Potter, for those of you who aren't culture buffs) and Guardian columnist Katharine Viner. It played to sold out houses at London's Royal Court Theatre, it ran Off-Broadway and has been produced in several regional theatres across the U.S. and Canada. Please subvert this act of censorship by learning more about Rachel Corrie www.rachelswords.org.

THEATER

Theater won't stage controversial drama

A South Florida theater dropped a controversial play about an American activist killed in the Gaza Strip.

BY CHRISTINE DOLEN

cdo...@MiamiHerald.com

My Name Is Rachel Corrie, the controversial play about a young American activist who died after she was run over by an Israeli-operated bulldozer in the Gaza Strip, has been pulled from the lineup at Plantation's Mosaic Theatre after protests from some of the theater's subscribers and outside individuals.

Mosaic, a professional company that presents its shows in a black-box theater space at the private American Heritage School, had planned to offer the one-woman Rachel Corrie in repertory with Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire, a solo show about Iraqi women.

But Mosaic's board of directors agreed to drop the play after phone calls, e-mails and comments on a special Rachel Corrie blog -- which has now been removed from the company's website -- made it clear that an impassioned, vocal minority strongly objected to the play. There have been no such complaints about Raffo's play, which actress Pilar Uribe will perform April 18 through May 13.

Artistic director Richard Jay Simon, who declined a request for comment, wrote in a release Monday announcing the cancellation, ``Exploring critical issues to inspire healthy dialogue is and always will continue to be our mission at Mosaic Theatre. I believe strongly in the piece and, while I respect the board's decision, I am obviously disappointed.''

A more telling sentence in the release notes that ``numerous conflicts have arisen, and the associated risks appear too great for our community and our angel sponsor, American Heritage School.''

Efforts Monday to contact theater board members were unsuccessful.

Except for its 2005 premiere production at London's Royal Court Theatre, My Name Is Rachel Corrie has stirred such conflict wherever it has been produced -- or, in several cases, not produced.

Both the New York Theatre Workshop and a Toronto theater company dropped it altogether. Other producers finally brought it to Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theater last October, where it got mixed reviews.

A current, glowingly reviewed production at the Seattle Repertory Theatre is so successful that its run has already been extended; however, three Jewish groups took out ads in the play's program denouncing the play, and protesters have been handing anti-Rachel Corrie leaflets to arriving theatergoers at each performance.

''We weren't inclined to censor the ads. We thought carefully and came to the conclusion that it was best to allow expression of their points of view,'' said Benjamin Moore, Seattle Rep's managing director.

``I think it's thrilling for there to be this conversation about something people don't feel comfortable talking about. So far, it's a civic discourse vs. a shouting match.''

The script, shaped by actor Alan Rickman and journalist Katharine Viner from Corrie's letters, e-mails and journals, offers a 90-minute glimpse into the life, dreams and premature death of the 23-year-old activist from Olympia, Wash.

When she died March 16, 2003, Corrie was in Gaza working with the International Solidarity Movement to protest the Israeli razing of Palestinian homes; Israel, however, said it was destroying tunnels used to smuggle weapons.

Standing in front of a bulldozer headed toward a house, Corrie fell and was crushed. An Israeli investigation determined her death was accidental. Her fellow activists maintained the bulldozer's driver saw her and kept going.

There is little agreement on the facts of the Corrie case ( rachelcorriefacts.org argues that she was a misguided, ill-informed idealist and anything but a martyr), and those most vehemently opposed to the play paint her as an anti-Israeli apologist for Palestinian terrorism.

Efforts to reach the Jewish federations of Broward and Miami-Dade and the South Florida chapters of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee for comment on the play were unsuccessful Monday due to the start of Passover.

After Mosaic's Simon, who is Jewish, announced he planned to present My Name Is Rachel Corrie, he posted an open letter on the company's website, outlining his reasons for doing the play and soliciting comments on a blog.

Although the majority of the entries expressed support (some for the exercise of free speech and artistic freedom, if not for the play itself), others expressed outrage.

One woman suggested doing the play might mean the end of Mosaic. Another said she wouldn't see My Name Is Rachel Corrie, any more than she would see a play titled My Name Is Yasser Arafat or one called My Name Is Osama bin Laden.

Actress Mindy Woodhead, who was to have portrayed Corrie at Mosaic, is grieving both the loss of a powerful role and the opportunity for connection with audiences.

''It was very shocking; it feels like the death of a creative child . . . It makes me sad that fear of the unknown is such a motivating factor,'' said Woodhead who, like Corrie, is trying to make a difference in the world via two years of Peace Corps service in Morocco starting in September. ``It demonstrated to me how little I knew about the political implications of a production in southeast Florida.''

Just after the local controversy began to heat up, Simon said that comments were running 85 percent for doing the play, 15 percent against, adding, ``I've been astonished at the attacks on me as a Jew.''

Now the blog has vanished. And so, for the foreseeable future in South Florida, has My Name Is Rachel Corrie.

Christine Dolen is The Miami Herald's theater critic.

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