Download la jolla playhouse presents lynn nottage`s pulitzer prize

2910 La Jolla Village Drive La Jolla, CA 92037
lajollaplayhouse.org
For Immediate Release: October 12, 2010
Contact: Becky Biegelsen: [email protected] / (858) 228-3092
Deanna Chew: [email protected] / (858) 228-3093
LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS LYNN NOTTAGE’S
PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING RUINED
CAST AND CREATIVE TEAM ANNOUNCED FOR ACCLAIMED PLAY OFFERING
POWERFUL PORTRAYAL OF HOPE AND HUMANITY IN WAR-TORN CONGO
LA JOLLA, CA — La Jolla Playhouse presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, by Lynn
Nottage (Intimate Apparel, Crumbs from the Table of Joy), directed by South Africa native Liesl
Tommy, in the Mandell Weiss Theatre November 16 – December 19 (media night: Sunday,
November 21 at 7:00 pm). Ruined is a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the
Huntington Theatre Company.
The cast features Oberon K.A. Adjepong as “Christian,” Pascale Armand (Playhouse’s The
Love of Three Oranges) as “Salima,” Jason Bowen as “Fortune,” Carla Duren as “Sophie,”
Wendell Franklin as “Jerome,” Zainab Jah as “Josephine,” Joseph Kamal (Playhouse’s
Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell) as “Mr. Harari,” Adesoji Odukogbe as “Musician 2,” Kola
Ogundiran as “Laurent,” Okieriete Onaodowan as “Simon,” Tonye Patano as “Mama Nadi,”
Adrian Roberts as “Commander Osembenga” and Alvin Terry as “Musician 1.”
The creative team includes: Liesl Tommy, Director; Clint Ramos (Playhouse’s Most Wanted),
Set Design; Kathleen Geldard, Costume Design; Lap Chi Chu, Lighting Design; Broken
Chord Collective, Original Music, Sound Design and Musical Direction.
In a small town in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Mama Nadi runs a cozy brothel
where a soldier can put down his weapon and spend the evening in the company of beautiful
women – for a price. Mama Nadi both protects and profits from the young women who work for
her, and she is determined to keep the war at bay and the money flowing at any cost. But it’s
the hope of these courageous women that ultimately prevails. Expertly navigating relationships
and politics, Ruined is rich with humor and music, celebrating the triumph of the human spirit.
Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ruined was extended multiple times off-Broadway
and has earned numerous awards, including the Obie Award for Best New American Play and
the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Variety wrote that Nottage “has crafted a work that
speaks eloquently of the monstrous acts bred by war, and of the courage and compromises
required to survive them,” while The Chicago Tribune raved, “Sincere, passionate, courageous
and acutely argued, Ruined is a remarkable theatrical accomplishment.” And according to the
Wall Street Journal, “Ruined, in which [Nottage] shows us what things have come to in the
bloody, brutal land that dares to call itself the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaves no doubt
that the author…is one of the best playwrights that we have.”
Tickets for Ruined are $31 - $66 and are available at the Playhouse Box Office: (858) 550-1010
or online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org. Ruined is sponsored by Deutsche Bank and Bozeman
Group, LLC.
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Lynn Nottage won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Ruined, as well as the Obie and Drama Desk
Awards for Best New Play. She is also the author of Intimate Apparel, which received the 2004
New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Best Play Award,
the John Gassner Award, the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg 2004 New Play Award and the
2004 Francesca Primus Award. Her next play, Fabulation (Obie Award), was first produced by
Playwrights Horizons and recently received a highly acclaimed production at the Tricycle
Theatre in London. Her other plays, including Crumbs from the Table of Joy, Mud, River, Stone
and Las Meninas, have been produced at theaters throughout the country, including South
Coast Rep, Alliance Theatre, Second Stage, Vineyard Theatre, Crossroads Theatre Company,
Intiman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Yale Rep and
the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, among many others. She is the recipient of numerous
awards, including the prestigious 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for literary excellence and the
MacArthur “Genius” Award, as well as fellowships from Manhattan Theatre Club, New
Dramatists and the New York Foundation for the Arts, where she is a member of the Artists
Advisory Board. Ms. Nottage is an alumna of New Dramatists and a graduate of Brown
University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer.
Liesl Tommy’s projects include Stick Fly at Contemporary American Theatre Festival, Eclipsed
at McCarter Theatre, The Good Negro at the Public Theatre and Sundance Institute, Charlayne
Woodard’s Flight at City Theatre, A Christmas Carol at Trinity Rep, Angela’s Mixtape at
Synchronicity Theatre, Small Tragedy and The Medea Project at NYU Tisch/Strasberg Institute,
Camino Real at Trinity Rep Conservatory, Isaac and Ishmael at Chautauqua Theatre Institute,
Uncle Vanya and Our Lady of 121st Street at Juilliard, Split Ends at La MAMA, Hydriotaphia at
Trinity Rep/Brown Consortium; Misterioso 119 at Berkshire Theatre Festival and Act French
Festival/Lark Theatre, and Lynn Nottage’s A Stone’s Throw at Women’s Project. Ms. Tommy
has taught directing at the Graduate Directing program at Brown University/Trinity Rep and
acting at NYU Tisch. She was awarded a NEA/TCG Directors Grant and the New York Theatre
Workshop Casting/Directing Fellowship. She is a member of the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab
and the Lincoln Centre Director’s Lab.
The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of
creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was
founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of
the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions
have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who’s Tommy, Thoroughly Modern Millie,
How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Billy Crystal’s 700
Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention,
33 Variations and Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made
up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum
Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-art theatre
complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by
Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.
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Fact Sheet: Ruined
WHAT:
Ruined
By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Liesl Tommy
Co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the Huntington Theatre Company
WHEN:
November 16 – December 19 (media night: Sunday, Nov. 21 at 7:00 pm)
Performances Tue/Wed at 7:30 pm; Thu/Fri/Sat at 8:00 pm; Sun at 7:00 pm
Matinees: Sat/Sun at 2:00 pm (except Sunday, November 21)
No performance Thanksgiving: Thursday, November 25
WHERE:
Mandell Weiss Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse
WHO:
Director: Liesl Tommy
Scenic Design: Clint Ramos
Lighting Design: Lap Chi Chu
Costume Design: Kathleen Geldard
Sound Design: Broken Chord Collective
Original Music: Broken Chord Collective
Dramaturg: Shirley Fishman
Stage Manager: Anjee Nero
Cast:
Christian
Salima
Fortune
Sophie
Jerome
Josephine
Mr. Harari
Musician 2
Laurent
Simon
Mama Nadi
Commander Osembenga
Musician 1
Oberon K.A. Adjepong
Pascale Armand
Jason Bowen
Carla Duren
Wendell Franklin
Zainab Jah
Joseph Kamal
Adesoji Odukogbe
Kola Ogundiran
Okieriete Onaodowan
Tonye Patano
Adrian Roberts
Alvin Terry
BACKGROUND
In a small town in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Mama Nadi runs a cozy brothel where a
soldier can put down his weapon and spend the evening in the company of beautiful women – for a price.
Mama Nadi both protects and profits from the young women who work for her, and she is determined to
keep the war at bay and the money flowing at any cost. But it’s the hope of these courageous women that
ultimately prevails. Expertly navigating relationships and politics, Ruined is rich with humor and music,
celebrating the triumph of the human spirit. Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ruined was
extended multiple times off-Broadway and has earned numerous awards, including the Obie Award for
Best New American Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.
TICKETS: $31 - $66
BOX OFFICE: (858) 550-1010; LaJollaPlayhouse.org
SPONSOR: Deutsche Bank and Bozeman Group, LLC
Photos available in the La Jolla Playhouse Media Room:
www.lajollaplayhouse.org/media-room
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