My Name is Rachel Corrie at Live Theater Workshop in Tucson

Posted by Michael Bryan

Tucsonans are getting the chance to see a very well-done production of the play too controversial for the New York stage. My Name is Rachel Corrie, staged by Tucson's Live Theater Workshop's late-night Etcetera series, gives a semi-biographical account of the young life of international peace observer Rachel Corrie and her time in the Occupied Territories which ended with her death under an IDF bulldozer.

I saw the play this Saturday and was very impressed with both the very intimate portrayal of Rachel's formative years and her growing conviction that the cause of the Palestinian people was worth her life. The play makes clear that from a young age human rights and the plight of the poor was a keen concern of Corrie. Her earnest distress as she witnesses the lives of the Palestinian families she encountered is moving and honest.

Clearly, her experiences in Palestine affected her deeply and moved her to a simple and touching admiration and sympathy. When she loses her life during peaceful protest against the occupation practices of the Israeli state it almost seems a natural, if tragic, result of her passionate convictions.

That political controversy would attach to the play seems inevitable. The play is clearly a single viewpoint, obviously heart-felt and one-sided, on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

It is not favorable to Israeli policy. In fact, it casts the actions of the Israeli state and some Israelis as downright evil. In America, anyone who dares voice sympathy for Palestinians, or criticism of Israel, is nearly automatically labeled as an anti-Semite or terrorist sympathizer.

The propaganda and lobbying of Israel dominates American opinion and media so thoroughly that a viewpoint like Corrie's is seldom heard. Which is all the more reason why this play is a such an amazing opportunity for Tucsonans to hear an alternative voice on the matter. You may not like what you hear, but you can't help but be affected by its sincerity.

I strongly suggest a viewing. Given that on the opening weekend there were only half a dozen or so people in the theater, more Tucsonans should give Rachel a hearing.