Play about activist Rachel Corrie coming to Spokane

The award-winning play “My Name is Rachel Corrie,” which tells the true story of a young woman from Olympia who died beneath a bulldozer in 2003 while defending a Palestinian home from demolition, is coming to Spokane on March 2.

Corrie was a peace activist and as a student at The Evergreen State College, proposed an independent-study program and went to the Gaza Strip, Palestine, to create a Rafah-Olympia Sister City relationship. There she protected Palestinian homes from demolition, according to a press release.

Following her death in 2003, Corrie’s emails from Palestine received global attention.  In 2005, her emails and earlier writings were presented as the play “My Name is Rachel Corrie.”  The award-winning play, edited by Alan Rickman and journalist Katharine Viner was initially shown at the Royal Court Theatre in London, and despite attempts at censorship, protests and controversy, has travelled the world.  The play has been shown in cities including Dublin, Dallas, Jerusalem and New York City; now produced for the first time in Spokane, according to a press release.

The play can be seen in Spokane at 7 p.m. on March 2 at Magnuson Theater, on the campus of Gonzaga University at 502 E. Boone Ave.

Corrie’s parents, Craig and Cindy, will be present for a talk-back with the actor and director following the play.

This play is brought to the Gonzaga campus through a collaboration between Gonzaga student Forrest Potter and the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane’s Palestine-Israel Human Rights Committee.