My Name is Rachel Corrie written by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner
Directed by Jeff Zinn
My Name is Rachel Corrie is based on the diary and emails of the young American Activist Rachel Corrie. Rachel decided to put her body in jeopardy by travelling to the West Bank in Israel to stand in front of bulldozers attempting to raise a Palestinian neighborhood in order to build illegal ‘settlements’ for Israelis. She was run over by a bulldozer operated by an Israeli Defense Forces soldier and killed. My Name Is Rachel Corrie is the story of one American who stood up for her values and for the rights of a people for whom she had no connection other than the connection of being human.
My Name is Rachel Corrie premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre under the direction of playwright and actor Alan Rickman. It transferred to the West End and was scheduled to transfer to the New York Theatre Workshop, but the playwrights withdrew the play after NYTW said they were postponing the production “indefinitely” because of input from some of their supporters. A year later a commercial production of the play ran at the Off-Broadway Minetta Lane Theatre in 2006. Burning Coal presented the play as part of its Second Stage series in May 2011 under the direction of Tea Alagic.
