New York Times – June 22, 2006
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.

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This is the New York premiere of My Name is Rachel Corrie, which became a bit of a cause celebre earlier this year when the planned production at New York Theatre Workshop was canceled. This is the Royal Court production from London. Compiled from writings left behind in the diaries, letters, and e-mails of American activist Rachel Corrie, a 23-year-old protester who was killed by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, the play chronicles the human, social, and political evolution in the life and controversial death of a young woman. The play traces the life of Rachel from her early days in Washington State through her experiences as an activist seeking to learn more about the community within Gaza.

This is one of the speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference.

Dr. Mustafa Kamel Barghouthi is a member of the Palestinian parliament; 2005 presidential candidate; physician; social, political, human rights and peace activist; one of the most active grassroots leader in Palestine; campaigner for the development of Palestinian civil society and grassroots democracy; outspoken advocate of internal reform; international spokesperson for the Palestinian cause; leading figure in the non-violent, peaceful struggle against the Occupation; and organizer of international solidarity presence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, Mustafa Barghouthi has made an extraordinary contribution to initiatives to peacefully challenge the ongoing Israeli Occupation of Palestine and bring it to end, as well as efforts to build the institutional framework of Palestinian civil society and promote the principles of internal democracy and good governance. He writes extensively for local and international audiences on civil society, democracy issues and the political situation in Palestine, as well as on health development policy in Palestine.

This is one of speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference. Go Here To see the main Peace Works Conference page.

Arun Gandhi is the fifth grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, a social-political activist, and founder of the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Non-Violence in Memphis, Tennessee.Born in 1934 in Durban, South Africa, Arun is the fifth grandson of India’s legendary leader, Mohandas K. “Mahatma” Gandhi. Growing up under the discriminatory apartheid laws of South Africa, he was beaten by “white” South Africans for being too black and “black” South Africans for being too white; so, Arun sought eye-for-an-eye justice. However, he learned from his parents and grandparents that justice does not mean revenge, it means transforming the opponent through love and suffering.

Grandfather taught Arun to understand nonviolence through understanding violence. “If we know how much passive violence we perpetrate against one another we will understand why there is so much physical violence plaguing societies and the world,” Gandhi said. Through daily lessons, Arun says, he learned about violence and about anger.

This is one of the speakers at The Rachel Corrie Foundation’s 2006 Peace Works Conference. Go Here To see the main Peace Works Conference page.

Amira Hass is an Israeli author and journalist for the Israeli daily newspaper Ha’aretz who has lived in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. She was born in Jerusalem in 1956, the daughter of Yugoslavian-Jewish refugees. A journalist for the Hebrew daily Ha’aretz, she covers Gaza and the West Bank. She received the UPI’s International Award and the Sokolow Prize, Israel’s highest honor for journalists. For her work in Gaza, Hass was been nominated for the Robert F. Kennedy Award.

From 1993 to 1997, Amira Hass lived in Gaza and was the first Israeli journalist to stay the enclave so feared and despised by most Israelis that, in the Israeli idiom, “Go to Gaza” is another way to say “Go to hell.”