My Name is Rachel Corrie cancelled by New York theater


The play My Name is Rachel Corrie was supposed to open at the New York Theater Workshop tonight, until the theater cancelled the opening because of concern over the political context.

A letter from Gillian Slovo, Harold Pinter and Stephen Fry in today's New York Times questions the action of the theater. They wrote, "The various reasons given by the workshop [...] make no sense in the context of this play and the crucial issues it raises about Israeli military activity in the occupied territories. Rachel Corrie gave her life standing up against injustice. A theater with such a fine history should have had the courage to give New York theatergoers the chance to experience her story for themselves."

In a Guardian interview published a week ago, Harold Pinter said in response to the cancellation in New York of My Name is Rachel Corrie, "[the withdrawal of the play] is, I think, typical of what is happening more and more in Britain and America: suppression of dissent and the truth."

James Nicola and Lynn Moffat appeared on today's Democracy Now! to explain their decision to, as they say, "postpone" the play. They claim they needed more time to "contextualize" the play.

Vanessa Redgrave spoke with Democracy Now! and said, "To cancel a play, and it wasn't really a play, to cancel a voice, because it was her voice, is an act of such catastrophic cowardice."

Posted: Wednesday - March 22, 2006 at 10:21 AM          

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