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Israeli Supreme Court to Hear Rachel Corrie Appeal on May 21

Posted on May 12, 2014

CORRIE FAMILY TO ATTEND JERUSALEM HEARING

Nine years after filing a civil suit against the State of Israel for the wrongful death of American peace activist Rachel Corrie, her family will have their appeal heard before the Israeli Supreme Court on May 21 at 11:30 a.m. in Jerusalem. The appeal, which will be argued by attorney Hussein Abu Hussein, challenges the Haifa District Court’s August 2012 ruling which concluded that the Israeli military was not responsible for Rachel’s death and that it conducted a credible investigation.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: News and Updates, Trial, Trial Press Releases Tagged With: appeal, civil trial, Craig and Cindy Corrie, Craig Corrie, Haifa, Hussein Abu Hussein, investigation, Israel, Israeli Supreme Court, Jerusalem, Judge Oded Gershon, lawsuit, Legal Case, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Rachel Corrie, supreme court, trial, verdict

Great reviews for My Name Is Rachel Corrie at the Citizens Theatre

Posted on March 8, 2010

Glasgow’s Citizens Theatre is running My Name Is Rachel Corrie through March 20. Both the production and the staring actress, Mairi Phillips, are receiving excellent reviews.

Joyce McMillan writes in The Scotsman:

The up-close exuberance of these early scenes makes it all the more difficult to watch the disappointment and despair which begin to overtake Rachel in Gaza, and in the end tears are hard to avoid. But so, too, are the fierce questions Rachel was asking in her last days: about why we tolerate such terrible and unnecessary suffering in our world, every day, and what we are prepared to do about it.

And in The Guardian, Mark Fisher says:

Mairi Phillips’s exemplary performance brings to mind the recent research that suggests a link between political activism and happiness. Her youthful fervour is earnest but never foolish and she displays the ironic humour Americans are supposed to lack. Her expertly modulated performance goes from brazen to righteous to distressed, evoking Corrie’s spirit with tremendous honesty.

Tickets may be purchased online here.

Ros Phillips, who directed this production, talks about her perspective on Rachel’s story.

Mairi Phillips discusses playing Rachel.

Here are rehearsal and production photos.

Filed Under: News and Updates Tagged With: Citizens Theatre, Glasgow, My Name is Rachel Corrie

My Name Is Rachel Corrie receiving excellent reviews in New Zealand

Posted on March 5, 2010

Channel 9 Online

A play currently running at The Allen Hall Theatre is receiving excellent reviews, and the cast can pat themselves, or to be more specific, herself on the back.

My Name is Rachel Corrie, is a portrait of a young American Peace Activist killed in the Gaza Strip seven years ago, and the play is performed by a single actress who speaks Corrie’s words.

Filed Under: News and Updates Tagged With: My Name is Rachel Corrie, New Zealand

Robert Naiman: In Defense of Rachel Corrie

Posted on October 15, 2009

A theatre near me is putting on a production of the play, “My Name is Rachel Corrie.” As elsewhere, the local production has drawn vigorous hassle from those who dedicate themselves to trying to punish any criticism in the U.S. of human rights abuses committed by the Israeli government.

Tonight there is a “talkback” after the performance. Some people are bringing handouts, and I was asked to write something.

In 1996, I was a volunteer for Christian Peacemaker Teams in the Palestinian city of Hebron. Shortly after I arrived in Hebron, 2 of us were arrested and threatened with deportation when members of the CPT sat on the roof of a Palestinian home that the Israeli army intended to demolish. In addition, friends of mine teach at Evergreen and had Rachel as a student. So when I was asked to write something, of course I said yes. Rachel’s story is close to my heart, not just as a symbol of human rights abuses carried out by the Israeli government with the acquiescence of the United States, but as a symbol of Americans putting themselves on the line for international solidarity. John Reed is buried in Red Square; veterans of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade have been granted Spanish citizenship. When the Palestinians regain sovereignty over Al-Aqsa, I hope they do something there for Rachel.

Read more

Filed Under: News and Updates Tagged With: Huffington Post, My Name is Rachel Corrie, Robert Naiman

Star Tribune: Inside the mind of an activist

Posted on September 15, 2009

Star Tribune

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

Actor Emily Gunyou Halaas in My Name is Rachel Corrie.

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.

As directed by Emigrant Theater’s Jessica Finney, Gunyou Halaas gives us a heroine who is proud, sometimes precious in her wishes for the world, but never smug. Indeed, her self-deprecating precocity has the effect of refreshing a sense of youthful freedom, that time before we learned the wise but stifling discipline of compromise.

In Gunyou Halaas’s hands, Corrie is honest enough to be inspired by naïve idealism — not a silliness but a belief in the basic decency of humanity. When she ultimately questions that assumption, the actor expresses a moment that goes way beyond self-doubt and becomes a question of life’s purpose.

Gunyou Halaas is such a good technical actor. She builds her character from within, certainly, but she has the knack to translate that instinct into gesture, expression, uninhibited movement. It’s a guttural, visceral performance — acting that is felt in the belly — yet simultaneously very heady.

That is why we learn something about the human impulse. You may disagree with Rachel Corrie’s politics, but this play is about an activism that goes deeper than politics.

Filed Under: News and Updates Tagged With: My Name is Rachel Corrie, Press Clippings, Star Tribune, theater

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The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice
203 East Fourth Ave., Suite 402
Olympia, WA 98501

Phone: 360-754-3998
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MENU
  • RACHEL CORRIE
    • Rachel’s Emails from Palestine
    • Rachel’s Words in Print
    • Rachel Corrie Memorial Archive
    • The Rachel Corrie Court Trial
  • ABOUT RCF
    • Mission & Guiding Principles
    • Board of Directors & Staff
    • Employment Opportunities
    • Internship & Volunteer Opportunities
    • Contact Us
  • PROJECTS
    • A Tale of Two Cities: Olympia-Rafah Solidarity Mural Project
    • Gaza Projects
      • RCF Gaza Resource Page
      • Rachel Corrie Gaza Sport Initiative
      • Palestinian Cultural Palace – Youth Performances
    • Olympia Arab Festival
      • Shuruq 4.5 Olympia Arab Festival 2020
    • Peace Works
    • RCF Educational Scholarships
      • Birzeit University Women’s Scholarship
      • Rachel Corrie Memorial Scholarship
  • BDS
    • Palestinian Call for Boycott, Divestment & Sanctions
    • Protect Your Right to Boycott! Fight Back Against Anti-BDS Legislation
    • Get Involved!
  • EVENTS
  • WAYS TO GIVE