News of the Muse

Seattle first US city to stage Rachel Corrie play.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF, AP
Seattle first US city to stage Corrie play The Seattle Repertory Theater announced last week that it would be the first American playhouse to stage My Name is Rachel Corrie, the London play which stirred controversy with its depiction of its real life title character, who was killed by an IDF bulldozer while trying to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian home in the Gaza Strip. The play, a one-woman show based largely on e-mails and journals written by the 23-year-old activist, will premiere on the Seattle stage March 15, 2007, a day before the fourth anniversary of Corrie's death. My Name is Rachel Corrie had previously been scheduled to make its US debut at the New York Theatre Workshop, but the company postponed the production due to concerns about its portrayal of Corrie and Israeli-Palestinian violence. Corrie, working on behalf of the International Solidarity Movement at the time of her death, grew up in Olympia, Washington, about 100 kilometers south of Seattle. - Nathan Burstein 9/11 film to open Tribeca Film Festival Nearly five years after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, United 93, about one of the doomed flights that day, will make its world premiere on opening night at New York's Tribeca Film Festival. The festival, which was created to help lower Manhattan recover economically from the attacks, begins April 25 and runs through May 7. United 93 chronicles in real time the hijacked United Airlines flight, which passengers tried to retake before it crashed into a field outside Shanksville, Pa. The victims' survivors, as well as members of other Sept. 11-related groups, will have a chance to see the film ahead of time at the premiere. - AP That's Sir Tom Jones to you Welsh singer Tom Jones is getting used to meeting Queen Elizabeth II , but Wednesday was something special as she dubbed him, "Sir Tom." The 65-year-old singer, a coal miner's son from the Welsh town of Pontypridd, received the honor from the queen at Buckingham Palace. Jones said he had met the British monarch "six or seven times, maybe more," starting with a royal charity performance in 1966. "I love seeing the queen and I have always been a royalist," Jones said after the investiture. "She is lovely and she still is lovely." The big-voiced belter, who was accompanied by his son, daughter and granddaughter, said receiving the knighthood was "just tremendous." Born Thomas Jones Woodward, Jones began his singing career at age 3. His string of hits started with "It's Not Unusual" in 1963. - AP Bank HaPoalim on a free cultural kick Over Hol HaMoed Pessah, Bank HaPoalim will be sponsoring a cultural event which will allow Israelis to visit a wide array of sites and museums across the country free of charge. This is the second year Poalim will be sponsoring the event, which will offer twice as many sites and museums as last year (37 in all). Poalim is spending NIS 5 million to sponsor the country-wide event. For details on sites, parks, and museums taking part, call Telemeser at 1212-33-25-85. - Miriam A. Shaviv