The sold-out Off-Broadway premiere of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed – with a Nov. 29 wrap after being extended twice at The Public Theater – has featured audiences clamoring to see Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o shine in the ensemble drama about five captive women banding together during the Liberian Civil War to discover their own means of survival.
Some notable reviews are:
“Mesmerizing and unmissable.”– New York Magazine
“Scorching and powerful.” – The Guardian
“A riveting, superbly acted production. Lupita Nyoug’o’s tremendously accomplished performance cuts to the bone. Under Liesl Tommy’s sensitive direction, Danai Gurira’s moving play flickers with light, humanity and hope.” – The New York Times
“Eclipsed pulls us into and holds us captive in a vivid world whose stark horrors are rendered with unflinching honesty and delicate poignancy….” – The Hollywood Reporter
And patrons have repeatedly chimed in:
Powerful, well-acted, and heartbreaking work. Every member of the cast and crew should be proud. #Eclipsed #EclipsedPlay
— hellresidentNY 🖤 (@hellresidentNY) November 6, 2015
Congrats @aleostar on the successful opening of #Eclipsed !! You always bring out the legends!!Brava!🌹 pic.twitter.com/OuWvyGXno4
— Deborah Cox (@Deborah_Cox) October 15, 2015
I just saw the most gut-wrenchingly beautiful/painful/important play I've ever had the privilege to witness. #eclipsed @PublicTheaterNY
— Stephanie Beatriz (@iamstephbeatz) October 20, 2015
Watched #Eclipsed play and it's a must see. Great performances all around from #pascalearmand… https://t.co/oxvnvg1ga9
— Ama K Abebrese (@Ama_K_Abebrese) October 28, 2015
Gurira, Zimbabwean-American playwright and star of AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” introduced the play at Yale Repertory Theatre in Fall 2009, during which Nyong’o had an understudy role and Liesl Tommy served as director. In a New York Times interview spotlighting the trio, Tommy stated: “I think with this play what we’re teaching folks is that there are plenty of interesting stories that happen on the vast continent of Africa, and that you can relate to them without seeing yourself, your race, or a version of yourself in it.”
With critics and audiences stunned, the production – written, directed and performed entirely by female artists – heads to Broadway early next year for a limited engagement at John Golden Theater.Nyong’o, who took home an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 2013 film “12 Years A Slave,” will make her Broadway debut continuing her portrayal of the newest wife, simply known as “The Girl,” of an unseen rebel tyrant.
Gurira debuted on Broadway in 2009 for August Wilson‘s Joe Turner’s Come and Gone. She followed it up with In the Continuum, which earned her Obie and Outer Critic Circles awards. Her work Familiar will open at Playwrights Horizons in the spring.
Eclipsed – the only new play by a woman on Broadway this season – will open March 6, with previews beginning Feb. 23. Set to run through June 19, it is produced by Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey of Front Row Productions.
Public Theater art director Oskar Eustis is quoted as saying: “Broadway will be better for having Eclipsed on it, and I hope it will break a barrier that will stay broken, if it proves that shows like this can make it on Broadway.”
Eclipsed has won an NAACP Award, the Helen Hayes Award (Best New Play) and Connecticut Critics Circle Award (Outstanding Production of a Play). The cast currently includes Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah and Saycon Sengbloh.
Tickets for the Broadway run are on sale HERE.
