RUINED

Lynn Nottage
2007

ECLIPSED
Danai Gurira
2009

LYNN NOTTAGE

Nottages imaginative exploration of history, her

ability to find resonance in unexpected moments
in the past, and her sensitive evocation of social
concerns have made her a powerful voice in
theater.
MacArthur Foundation

Born in Brooklyn in November 1964

Education

B.A. from Brown University (1986)

MFA from Yale School of Drama (1989)

Accolades

MacArthur Fellowship (2007)

Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ruined (2009)
Obie Award for Best New American Play,
Ruined (2009)

Today

Associate professor at Columbia and

visiting lecturer at Yale School of Drama
Sweat (2015) about Pennsylvania steel
workers

RUINED

[P]eople who might ordinarily look away from

horror stories of distant wars may well find
themselves bound in empathy to the unthinkably
abused women that Ms. Nottagehere [has]
shaped with such care and warmth.
Ben Brantley, The New York Times

Commissioned by the Goodman Theatre

Won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2009
Over Becky Shaw and In the Heights
Based on personal research
In 2004, Nottage travelled to East
Africa to interview Congolese women
fleeing the armed conflict in the
Democratic Republic of Congo
I found my play Ruined in their
painful narratives, in the gentle
cadences and the monumental space
between their gasps and sighs.

SECOND CONGO WAR

We must fight to sustain the complexity.

Anonymous Rwandan
(Nottage and Whoriskeys mantra in creating
Ruined)

Also known as the Great War of Africa, or

the African World War
August 2, 1998 July 18, 2003
Nottage was 33 years old at the
outbreak
350,000+ violent deaths, 1998-2001
2.7-5.4 million excess deaths, 1998-2008
Three conflicts, according to Nottage:
1) Fight for natural resources
2) Ethnic war (residue of the Rwandan
genocide)
3) War on the countrys women

RUINED

DANAI GURIRA

Shes a powerhouse Shes got a really

significant acting career and a really significant
playwriting career. How many theatre artists can
we say that about today? Who knows what else
Danai can do? I dont. She could probably run a
major NGO or be a successful politician.
James Bundy, Yale School of Drama

Background

Born in Grinnel, Iowa in February 1978

Family moved to Zimbabwe in 1983 after
country gained independence

Education

B.A. in Psychology from Macalaster

University
MFA in Acting from Tisch NYU

Accolades

Tony Award for Best Play, Eclipsed (2016)

Fun Fact

Popularly known for playing Michonne on

AMCs The Walking Dead

ECLIPSED

A surprisingly vivacious portrait of helplessness,

of the entirely human impulse to adapt
The Washington Post

Inspiration

Eclipsed had its first roots in a NYT photo

of the Liberian woman rebel fighter Black
Diamond and her corps

Based on personal research

Gurira travelled to Liberia to conduct

interviews with women, among them
some significant Peace Women
The names of the characters in the play
Helena, Maima, Rita, and Bessieare the
real names of women she met and got to
know

ECLIPSED

A surprisingly vivacious portrait of helplessness,

of the entirely human impulse to adapt
The Washington Post

Eclipsed
had its first roots in a NYT photo
Inspiration
of the
Liberianhad
woman
fighter
Eclipsed
its firstrebel
roots in
a NYT Black
photo
of the
Liberian
womanThey
rebel fighter
Diamond
and
her corps:
stoodBlack
and her to
corps
there, Diamond
berets cocked
one side, in jeans
and fashionable slinky tops and permed
Based on personal research
hair,
with AK-47s slung menacingly over
Gurira travelled to Liberia to conduct
one shoulder.
stare and
in each
interviewsThe
withsteely
both [wives]
Peace
pair ofWomen
eyes told a million stories and
The
pierced
the
camera
lens.
I honestly
names
of the
characters
in thehad
play
Maima,
andinBessieare
never Helena,
seen such
an Rita,
image
my life: the
real names
of women
she met and got to
feminine,
glamorous,
intimidating,
know
powerful,
belligerent and African. I
became completely enthralled. What
stories rested behind those eyes? I knew

ECLIPSED

A surprisingly vivacious portrait of helplessness,

of the entirely human impulse to adapt
The Washington Post

Inspiration

Eclipsed had its first roots in a NYT photo

of the Liberian woman rebel fighter Black
Diamond and her corps

Based on personal research

Gurira travelled to Liberia to conduct

interviews with women, among them
some significant Peace Women
The names of the characters in the play
Helena, Maima, Rita, and Bessieare the
real names of women she met and got to
know

SECOND LIBERIAN
CIVIL WAR

We always hear about African War, but we never

really hear about women and how they navigate
and survive a war terrain.
-Danai Gurira

1999-2003

Gurira was 24 years old at the time of

outbreak

Belligerents:
Liberian Armed Forces under Charles
Taylors government
Rebel groups
LURD: Liberians United for
Reconciliation and Democracy
Movement for Democracy in
Liberia
150,000-300,000 deaths

ECLIPSED

QUESTIONS
Book Covers

Real-life
Adaptation

Female Objects,
Female Agency

Birds in Ruined

Names in
Eclipsed

Men, Husbands

Book Covers
How do these covers inform the
expectations of a first-time
reader? How do they reflect (or
not reflect) the tone and content
of the plays?

Real Life
Adaptation
How does knowing Ruined and
Eclipsed are both adapted from
real peoples stories affect our
experience of the plays? Are they
a call to action?
Q

Female Objects,
Female Agency
The titles of both plays are past
participles, lending to the idea of
women as objects of others
actions. How do the plays deal
with womens agency within the
framework of war?

Birds in Ruined
Nottage uses bird
imagery
throughout her
play. How can we
read this motif?

A rare bird on a limb

sings a song heard by a few.
A few patient and distant
listeners.
Hear, its sweet call,
a sound that haunts the forest
A cry that tells a story,
harmonious, but time forgotten.
To be seen, is to be doomed
It must evade capture,
And yet the bird
Still cries out to be heard.
And yet the bird
Still cries out to be heard.

Names in
Eclipsed
Names play a major role amongst the

women in
Eclipsed. The wives are Number One, Number
Two, etc. Maima has a war name (Disgruntled)
and belligerently refuses to divulge her birth name.
The Girl is nameless, save for Modas Blessing, an
epithet she both rejects and embraces.

What does it mean to be

nameless? What does it mean to
Q

Men, Husbands
Nottage: I was fueled by my desire to tell the story of war,
but through the eyes of women, who as we know rarely start
conflicts, but inevitably find themselves right smack in the
middle of them.

How do men fail women in Ruined?

In Eclipsed, consider the mans incorporeal presence on stage.

How does depriving him of a body

subordinate and elevate his
relationship relative to the women?