Just Some FYI

March 6, 2006 – Censorship of the worst kind. by Vanessa Redgrave : "This is censorship of the worst kind. More awful even than that. It is black-listing a dead girl and her diaries. A very brave and exceptional girl who all citizens, whatever their faith or nationality, should be proud and grateful for her existence. They couldn't silence her voice while she lived, so she was killed. Her voice began to speak again as Alan Rickman read her diaries, and Megan Dodds became Rachel Corrie. Now the New York Theatre Workshop have silenced that dear voice."

March 14, 2006 response from NY Theater Workshop : "I have heard from many of you in the past few weeks about the Workshop’s decision to request a postponement in producing My Name is Rachel Corrie. In researching My Name is Rachel Corrie, we found many distorted accounts of the actual circumstances of Rachel’s death that had resulted in a highly charged, vituperative, and passionate controversy. While our commitment to the play did not waver, our responsibility was not just to produce it, but to produce it in such a way as to prevent false and tangential back-and-forth arguments from interfering with Rachel’s voice. We spoke to friends and colleagues in the artistic community and to religious leaders as well as to representatives of the Jewish community, because the play involved Israeli action. It was this piece of our research that has attracted attention and led some of you to conclude that we sought to postpone the production based solely on their response. This was not the case. No outside group has ever or will ever participate in the artistic decision-making process at NYTW.

As we listened to various opinions and read thousands of entries on websites and blogs, we realized we needed to find ways to let Rachel’s words rise above the polemics. We regret that requesting more time to achieve that goal was interpreted as failing to fulfill a commitment and, worse, as censorship. If we have erred, it was on the side of trying to be sensitive to all communities, in order to keep a public dialogue open and civil.

I also regret any pain or confusion we have caused in trying to fulfill our responsibility to the art itself and to the community we serve. I can only say we were trying to do whatever we could to help Rachel’s voice be heard."

James C. Nicola, Artistic Director
New York Theatre Workshop

So, is it postponement or censorship or both or what.