Play about slain pro Palestine activist returns to NY stage

(MENAFN- Arab News) NEW YORK: A play about American activist Rachel Corrie who was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza is winning quiet acceptance in New York where uproar postponed its debut a decade ago.
Her parents and the play's director say the dimming controversy reflects a shift in American attitudes toward Israel and the Palestinian conflict.
'I think the landscape really has changed' Rachel's mother Cindy Corrie told AFP of the 12 years since her daughter was killed in 2003. Witnesses said she died trying to stop a Palestinian home from being demolished.
In February the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that the state was not liable for Corrie's death because it was a military act committed in a war zone.
Cindy believes Rachel's story has helped shift that understanding in addition to Israel's wars and military operations in the region over the last decade.
'Just the numbers of people who are willing to move away from what I think has traditionally been almost unquestionable support for Israel' she said.
The award-winning 'My Name is Rachel Corrie' is a 90-minute one-woman play based on the late 23-year-old's writings edited by British actor Alan Rickman and Guardian editor elect Katharine Viner.
It made its debut in London in 2005 to rave reviews but a decision in 2006 to postpone the play in New York prompted charges of censorship from its British creators. The New York Theater Workshop eventually put on the production but attributed the delay to concerns that people would use the play as a platform to promote their agendas.
Bringing the play back to New York has not sparked serious protest.
The director Jonathan Kane and the founder of the group putting on the play told AFP they had received telephone complaints but that sales had been better than expected.
'The press in general has not jumped at it which has been surprising' Kane said. 'Maybe the world has changed in 10 years and people are much more understanding and it's not as controversial.'
On opening night a lone protester stood across the street from the theater alternating between unfurling and rolling up a banner proclaiming 'Rachel Corrie was a neo Nazi and a terrorist lover.'
Inside the Lynn Redgrave Theater actress Charlotte Hemmings brought Corrie to life to warm applause from a well-attended if not sold-out audience.
The play is based on Corrie's e-mails journals and letters. The focus is on her life. Neither anti-Semitic nor overtly political it portrays an articulate Salvador Dali-loving idealist from Olympia Washington.