A realistic showing of the endless sexual violence against women and children in a war struck society

Feminism fist that is bloody to represent the female fight against small hearted men

Historical Background and Context for the Play

Historical Context of the Play (Erin)

Historical Background and Context of Ruined

Lynn Nottage 

• Born in 1964 and raised in Brooklyn by an artistic and politically driven family, Nottage was quickly exposed to the issues she discusses throughout her plays as well as African American art. 
• Attended the High School of Music and Art in Harlem, then studied English and creative writing at Brown University and then enrolled at Yale School of Drama for further training. 
• Worked with Amnesty International that focused on public relations and outreach. Her time ran short when the organization discussed the issue of female genital mutilation, but because it was considered to be a cultural action it was not a legal matter and the group did not recognize it as a human rights violation. 
• She took focus on female rights, sex trafficking and other cultural practicing involving women.
• The lack of recognition and public attention to women's rights caused Nottage to revisit playwriting and focus on social and political issues.
• Nottage spent more of her career traveling to Uganda where she conducted interviews with women that were affected by the rape and brutality of the decades long war in the Congo. 

Congo War

• The Second Congo War  began in 1998 (only a year after the First Congo War) and lasted until 2003. 
• During the Civil War there were 9 african countries and 25 other armed groups battaling killing around 5.4 million people over the course of about 5 years. (this made it the most deadly war since WW11) and another 2 million people fled Africa seeking asylum.
• Despite the new government in Western Congo, Eastern Congo remained unsafe, causing the Second War where the Rwandan/Ugandan performed a joint invasion in 1998.   
• The War officially ended in 2003 

Ruined (2007)

• Nottage was known for writing similar plays. Her first play Mud, River, Stone (1998) was also set in Africa.
• Ruined was first performed in 2007 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago
• Nottage was inspired by author Bertolt Brecht's and his idea of intellectual distance or alienation. 
• In the early 2000's realism was at a revival in western theatre. While the text reflects on social issues in the Congo, Nottage uses western dramatic conventions to connect to the American audience. 

Nottage recieving her Pulitizer Prize award in 2009 for Ruined 

Iqbal, Nosheen. “Lynn Nottage: a Bar, a Brothel and Brecht.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 20 Apr. 2010, www.theguardian.com/stage/2010/apr/20/lynn-nottage-ruined.

“Ruined, By Lynn Nottage .” The Pulitzer Prizes, 2009, www.pulitzer.org/winners/lynn-nottage.

“The Norton Anthology of Drama.” The Norton Anthology of Drama, by J. Ellen Gainor et al., 3rd ed., vol. 2, W.W. Norton & Company, 2018, pp. 1681–1748.

Designs for original or major production

Designs for original and major productions
By: Kayla Porter

• Premier: Goodman Theater (2008)

- Director: Kate Whoriskey
- Scenic Designer: Derek McLane

     - Bright colors

     - Wooden furniture

- Costume Designer: Paul Tazewell

     - Contemporary clothing

     - Combination of Earth tones and brighter colors

- Lighting Design: Peter Kaczorowski

• Manhattan Theatre Club (2009)

- Same production team

- Same design

(Photos by Joan Marcus)

• Almeida Theatre (2010)

- Director: Indhu Rubasingham

- Scenic Designer: Robert Jones

- Costume Designer: Robert Jones?

- Lighting Designer: Oliver Fenwick

Works Cited

http://shows.manhattantheatreclub.com/past-shows/ruined/photos.htm

https://almeida.co.uk/whats-on/ruined/15-apr-2010-5-jun-2010

Critical Reviews

• critical reviews of the show. Try to stick with those for original or major productions, but you can bring in reviews from other productions if necessary. What was the general response to the show at first, and did that change with any subsequent major productions?

Original and/or Major productions

• Ruined was originally commissioned by and received its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, IL. The play premiered on November 8th, 2008 and ran through December 14th, 2008. The play was actually first performed in the Goodman Theatre New Stage Series in 2007. 
  

          (Ruined, Goodman Theatre)

• Ruined made its New York City, Off-Brodway premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club. Previews began on January 21^st, 2009, and the show officially opened on February 10^th, 2009. The production closed on September 6^th, 2009 after receiving nine extensions.
• Notable people a part of the production:
• Kate Whoriskey (director); Derek McLane (set designer); Peter Kaczorowski (lighting designer); Paul Tazewell (costume designer); Rob Milburn & Michael Bodeen (sound designers); Dominic Kanza (original music).
• Notable actors for both productions: 
• Condola Rashad – Sophie
• Kevin Mambo – Commander Osembenga
• William Jackson Harper – Simon

(The cast of Ruined take the opening night curtain call, Aubrey Reuben)

• European production premiered at the Almeida Theatre in London, United Kingdom. The show opened for previews on April 15^th, 2010 and closed on June 5^th, 2010.
• Notable people a part of the production:
• Indhu Rubasingham (director)
• Jenny Jules – Mama
• Lucian Msamati
• Ruined was performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2010, directed by Liesl Tommy.
• The Canadian Premiere was presented by Ellipsis Tree Collective in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
• Ruined ran at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts through April 30th, 2011.
• An Obsidian Theatre Company in association with Nightwood Theatre production in Toronto, Ontario at the Berkeley Street Theatre in 2011 starred Sterling Jarvis and Yanna McIntosh.
• Ruined had its Australian premiere by THAT Production Company in Ipswich, Queensland in 2013. The production featured many actors who had fled the Congolese War and had relocated to South-East Queensland. Lynn Nottage sent a personal message to the team, encouraging the production's premiere.

Hernandez, Ernio. “PHOTO CALL: Nottage's Ruined Opens Off-Broadway.” Playbill, PLAYBILL INC., 11 Feb. 2009, www.playbill.com/article/photo-call-nottages-ruined-opens-off-broadway-com-157912.

BWW News Desk. “Goodman Theatre Launches World Premiere of RUINED 11/8.”                        BroadwayWorld.com, BroadwayWorld.com, 16 Oct. 2008,                www.broadwayworld.com/chicago/article/Goodman-Theatre-Launches-World-Premiere-of-RUINED-118-20081016.