March 7 - 29, 2008 at the Main Street Cabaret
 MY NAME IS RACHEL
CORRIE
Edited by Katherine Viner and
Alan Rickman
produced in collaboration with the Buffalo United Artists' Theatre
"The play shrewdly does not show Corrie
dying; it shows her living... Her words bear witness to the deracinating
madness of war, a hysteria that infects not only those doing the fighting but
also those ambitious to do the saving."
--New Yorker Magazine
"Here is a play where the real dialogue
begins when the curtain comes down. MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE is theater
that not only stirs our hearts but sticks in our heads."
--Newsweek
"You feel you have not just had a night
at the theatre: You have encountered an extraordinary woman…theatre can't
change the world. But what it can do, when it's as good as this, is to send
us out enriched by other people's passionate concern."
--Guardian (London)
For our second show of 2008, Subversive Theatre
was proud to team up with the
Buffalo United Artists' Theatre to present the play that has brought
controversy on two Continents!
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE is a one-woman play
compiled entirely from the actual journal entries and e-mails of Rachel
Corrie, the 23-year-old peace activist from Olympia, Washington who died after
being run over by an Israeli Bulldozer while defending a Palestinian home in
the Gaza Strip on March 16, 2003. Edited by British journalist Katherine
Viner and actor Alan Rickman (who directed the play's London debut), this
one-act play
beautifully depicts Rachel Corrie's breathtaking transformation from a young
idealist into the determined activist who chose to risk everything for her
beliefs.
MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE was at the center
of a storm of controversy in 2006 when it's American debut was suddenly
cancelled by the New York Theatre Workshop after the theatre's largely Jewish
subscriber base objected to the play's pro-Palestinian content. This
incident brought forward whirlwind of progressive-minded theatre artists --
including Harold Pinter, Vanessa Redgrave, and Alan Rickman -- to speak out
against this frightening case of censorship.
The play was eventually performed at a different
theatre in New York (the Minetta Lane Theatre, Oct 2006). But subsequent
productions in Miami and Toronto have also been cancelled under similar
circumstances. When the Contemporary American Theatre Festival performed
the play last Summer, the Festival's main sponsor cut off $100,000 in funding!
All this is a sobering reminder that those with money
and influence still think they can dictate what is and is not allowed on the
American Stage. Subversive Theatre was proud to stand up against this
atmosphere of intimidation and censorship and bring Buffalo a play that many
theatres would not have the courage to touch.
Our production of MY NAME IS RACHEL CORRIE was
presented at the Main Street Cabaret under the direction of Tim Klein and
enjoyed a tour-de-force performance by Subversive troupe member Katie White* as Rachel
Corrie -- a role that would ultimately earn Katie a nomination for "Outstanding
Actress in a Play" at the 2008 Artie Awards.
Here's a more detailed list of who did what:  THE
CAST
Rachel Corrie . . . . . . Katie White*
THE CREW
Director . . . . . . . . . Timothy Klein
Stage Manager . . Caitlin Coleman
Sound Designer . . . John Shotwell
Poster Design . . . . . . . Ben Seigel
Web Design . Kurt Schneiderman*
HOUSE MANAGEMENT
Jeanette Schneiderman*
Kurt Schneiderman*
Special thanks for technical equipment
and assistance with this
production goes out to Dave Pape, Chester Popiolkowski, and the Ujima Theatre
Company.
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