Ruined (play)
Ruined is a play by Lynn Nottage. The play won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.[1][2] The play involves the plight of women in the civil war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo.
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[edit] Production history
Ruined was commissioned by the Goodman Theatre (Chicago, Illinois) and is a co-production with the Manhattan Theatre Club. Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey traveled to Uganda to interview women as background for the play, which first was performed in 2007 in the Goodman Theatre New Stages Series.[3] The play premiered in November 2008 at the Goodman Theatre and ran through December 7. It opened off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club, New York City Center – Stage I in previews on January 21, 2009, and officially on February 10, 2009. The production closed on September 6, 2009 after receiving nine extensions.[4]
Both productions were directed by Kate Whoriskey, with a cast that included Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Cherise Boothe, Condola Rashad, Chiké Johnson, Kevin Mambo, William Jackson Harper, Chris Chalk, Russell G. Jones, Tom Mardirosian, Ron McBee, Simon Shabantu Kashama and Saidah Arrika Ekulona (Mama Nadi) who left the production in May 2009 and was replaced by Portia. Scenic design was by Derek McLane, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Peter Kaczorowski, sound design by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen, and original music by Dominic Kanza with lyrics by Lynn Nottage.[5]
The European premiere of Ruined, directed by Indhu Rubasingham, opened for previews on April 15, 2010 with press night on April 22, 2010 at The Almeida Theatre in London. It closed on June 5, 2010. The cast included Jenny Jules, Lucian Msamati, Pippa Bennett-Warner, Michelle Asante, Kehinde Fadipe, Okezie Morro, Silas Carson, David Ajala, Joel Kangudi, Steve Toussaint and Damola Adelaja. Jenny Jules won the 2010 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress for her performance in this production.
Ruined ran during the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010.
It ran at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts through April 30, 2011.
[edit] Critical response
Ben Brantley in his The New York Times review, wrote: "Ms. Nottage, the wide-ranging and increasingly confident author of Intimate Apparel and Fabulation or, the Re-Education of Undine, hooks her audience with promises of a conventionally structured, purposefully plotted play, stocked with sympathetic characters and informative topical detail. She delivers on those promises. Yet a raw and genuine agony pulses within and finally bursts through this sturdy framework, giving Ruined an impact that lingers beyond its well-shaped, sentimental ending. . . . Ms. Nottage has endowed the frail-looking Sophie, as well as the formidable Mama, with a strength that transforms this tale of ruin into a clear-eyed celebration of endurance."[6]
[edit] Awards and nominations
- Pulitzer Prize for Drama - Winner
- Outstanding Play – Winner
- Outstanding Actress in a Play, Saidah Arrika Ekulona – (nomination)
- Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play, Condola Rashad – (nomination)
- Outstanding Director of a Play, Kate Whoriskey – (nomination)
- Outstanding Music in a Play, Dominic Kanza - Winner
- Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play – Winner
- Outstanding Lighting Design (Play or Musical) – Peter Kaczorowski (nomination)
- Outstanding Actress in a Play – Saidah Arrika Ekulona (nomination)
- Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play – Condola Rashad (nomination)
- Distinguished Production of a Play (nomination)
- Distinguished Performance Award, Saidah Arrika Ekulona (nomination)
- Outstanding Play (Manhattan Theatre Club and Goodman Theatre, Producer; Lynn Nottage, Playwright) – Winner
- Outstanding Director (nomination)
- Outstanding Lead Actress – Saidah Arrika Ekulona Winner
- Best New American Play Winner
- Performance
- Quincy Tyler Bernstine Winner
- Saidah Arrika Ekulona Winner
- Russell Gebert Jones Winner
[edit] In print
Theatre Communications Group has published the script. Ruined began stocking in stores November 1, 2009.
[edit] See also
Sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
[edit] References
- ^ Gans, Andrew and Jones, Kenneth."Lynn Nottage's Ruined Wins Pulitzer Prize for Drama", playbill.com, April 20, 2009
- ^ "Lynn Nottage Earns the 2009 Pulitzer Prize in Drama for Ruined", goodmantheatre.org, accessed May 13, 2009
- ^ News Release, RuinedGoodman Theatre, October 16, 2008
- ^ Jones, Kenneth.Pulitzer Winner Ruined Gets Six Extra Weeks at MTC", playbill.com, April 30, 2009
- ^ Jones, Kenneth.After a Raft of Raves, Ruined Gets Two-Week Extension in NYC", playbill.com, February 11, 2009
- ^ Brantley, Ben."Theatre Review: War’s Terrors, Through a Brothel Window",The New York Times, February 11, 2009
- ^ "The Pulitzer Prizes| Drama" pulitzer.org, October 25, 2011
- ^ Gans, Andrew."Ruined and Billy Elliot Win Top Honors at Drama Desk Awards" playbill.com, May 17, 2009
- ^ Gans, Andrew."Billy Elliot, Carnage, Ruined and Avenger Are Outer Critics Circle Award Winners", May 11, 2009
- ^ Gans, Andrew."Billy, Carnage, Hair, Blithe and Rush Win Drama League Awards" playbill.com, May 15, 2009
- ^ Gans, Andrew.Ruined, Fela!, Our Town and Humor Abuse Among Lucille Lortel Award Winners", playbill.com, May 3, 2009
- ^ Jones, Kenneth."Groff, Nottage, Sondheim, Cromer, Pisoni, Korins Among 2009 OBIE Award Winners" playbill.com, May 18, 2009
[edit] External links
- Internet Off-Broadway Database listing
- Sommer, Elyse. "Review, Ruined", Curtain Up, February 5, 2009
- Charlie Rose interview about production of Ruined, July 14, 2009, 12 minute video
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