Ma’an News Agency

“The crossing only took about 36 hours,” Craig Corrie, father of slain American activist Rachel Corrie said on entering the Gazan city of Rafah Wednesday afternoon, “that’s only one hour per mile.”

The delegation’s efforts to reach the Strip where they planned to attend the Rachel Corrie Memorial Ramadan Soccer Tournament were stymied Tuesday as Mr and Mrs Corrie, who had contacted both Egyptian and American officials in the Middle East and Washington, were told they would not be allowed into the area where their daughter was run down by an armored Israeli bulldozer in 2003.

Craig Corrie’s reaction, after “going through the layers of Egyptian bureaucracy” and gaining access to the Strip, was to note that what the delegation “managed to do with a bit of hassle should be a right for all those stranded in Gaza.” Managing to get into Gaza as a foreign delegation “is not much of a struggle when you look at what the people around you are going through,” he added.

Star Tribune

A detailed and wise performance helps explain the activist’s psychic underpinnings.

Actor Emily Gunyou Halaas in My Name is Rachel Corrie.

Media shorthand feeds the impulse to consider activists on political terms — regardless of what those politics are.

“My Name is Rachel Corrie” allows actor Emily Gunyou Halaas to reveal the deeper, universal nature of an activist. Politics is but an implement selected by a person so driven by passion, sensitivity and awareness that activism becomes its own destiny.

“I don’t believe in fate,” Corrie says early in the 100-minute play, which was crafted by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner from her writings. But whether Corrie believes in fate or not is immaterial. Her actions and reactions — not her ideology — determined her path in life.

Corrie, who grew up in Washington State, was 12 when her consciousness drove her to speak out against hunger. Perhaps jealous of her siblings’ conventional success, she followed her instincts into social-justice causes. At 23, she traveled to live with Palestinian refugees in the Gaza, as part of the International Solidarity Movement. Her efforts might have been remained those of a single person, but in 2003 Corrie was killed when she knelt in front of a bulldozer driven by an Israeli soldier. As happens with martyrs who leave a written legacy, her efforts assumed mythic proportions.

Ma’an News Agency

Egyptian Rafah – Ma’an – The parents of slain American activist Rachel Corrie were denied entry into the Gaza Strip Tuesday, following day-long efforts to secure their entry and cheer on teams at the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament.

The Corries and a delegation accompanying them continue to wait at the Rafah border at Egypt, but have thus far been denied entry. Egyptian crossing authorities have given various reasons for the delegation’s delay, despite the group having previously coordinated with Egyptian authorities, who said they informed crossings officials that the delegation had been cleared for passage.

“After weeks of coordination with the US State Department and through them to the US Embassy in Cairo and with the Egyptian Embassy in Washington and the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, I stand tonight at 7pm before the Rafah crossing,” Craig Corrie, Rachel’s father said.

Our mural project now has its own official website. To get updates and get involved, visit the Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project wesite.

“To call My Name Is Rachel Corrie anything but a tragedy would be a huge disservice to the inspiring young woman of the title,” writes Marcus Crowder of the Sacramento Bee. “Rachel Corrie was a real person, and the one-woman play about her recalls the Olympia, Wash., native’s brief life and horrendous death through her own words from journals and e-mails.”

Beyond the Proscenium Productions, along with Jewish Voice for Peace and the the Palestinian American Congress are presenting the performance in Sacramento, which runs until June 14th at the Threepenny Theatre in Midtown Sacramento. Tygar Hicks portrays Rachel.

Tickets are $18 general admission and $15 students, seniors, military and SARTA members. Show times are Friday and Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 2pm. Seating is extremely limited so reservations are required. Please email contact@beyond-pro.org or call 916-456-1600.

You can find out more about the play at the BPP Theatre News blog.