Alliance Theatre Lab: My Name is Rachel Corrie (1 review)

The Alliance Theatre Lab opened the controversial My Name Is Rachel Corrie on June 18th, 2009. The play, based on the diaries of a pro-Palestinian activist and edited by Alan Rickman and Katherine Viner, instigates a slew of hate mail and threats wherever it plays, and this time was no different. In many cases, including an Off-Broadway production, and one by South Florida's Mosaic Theatre, the producers pulled play in the face of the protests.

But artistic director Adalberto Acevedo and actor Kim Ehly stood firm.

Christine Dolen reviewed for the Miami Herald:

My Name Is Rachel Corrie is a play that has caused the blood to boil of too many people who have neither seen it nor read it. If you actually see the new production by the Alliance Theatre Lab in Miami Lakes, you'll soon realize that although Corrie's pro-Palestinian point of view is clearly and unapologetically presented, the protests and censorship efforts aimed at the play have made it far more famous than its artistic quality would merit.

Neither Ehly, who seems unable to dig beneath the surface of Corrie's passions, nor director Adalberto J. Acevedo is able to camouflage the script's limitations to make My Name Is Rachel Corrie anything close to emotionally shattering theater.

That My Name Is Rachel Corrie can be seen and then debated, embraced or reviled is a good thing. But you wish the play and production were more deserving of all the attention.

The Alliance Theatre Lab presents My Name is Rachel Corrie at the Main Street Playhouse in Miami Lakes through July 5th, 2009.