Academy Award-winner, Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years A Slave”) joins Public Theater’s production of ECLIPSED. Making her New York stage debut, Nyong’o will be portraying the character “The Girl”.
Written by Obie Award-winning playwright, Danai Guriria, ECLIPSED seeks to promote empowerment through telling the true story of African women in the midst of struggle— the Liberian civil war.
Along with Nyong’o, Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah, and Saycon Sengbloh star in the brutally honest portrayal of displacement, rejection, and abuse. While we may not understand civil war from first hand experience, we all experience turbulence and turmoil on a daily basis. The message is in how we react. How we cope.
ECLIPSED communicates how these women embody resilience as they endure sexual abuse. How they reclaim their dignity as they are subjected to being held captivate by a rebel leader.
The humanization of a political reality.
The show’s direction is credited to the capable hands of Liesl Tommy, the woman behind the staging of the show’s world premiere in 2009. In a interview with the Public Theatre, Tommy remarks:
I feel deeply compelled to explore any story that attacks and banishes some of the western stereotypes that I feel like I’m often confronted with.
Experience the power of women exposed. Experience the joy within a struggle. Experience the reality that war is real and desperately needs to be stopped. Theatre, after all is an experience— a realization and understanding we reach, after the communal exchange of emotions between actors to audience members.
Previews started Tuesday, September 29. Although the production was originally slated to close Nov. 8, it will now have nine-week run, with a final performance on Nov.29. The show officially opens Wednesday, October 14.
For tickets visit HERE.
All Photos by Joan Marcus
