I feel it's my social responsibility to shine a light on areas that don't get seen." - Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage is a Pulitzer Prize award winning playwright. Her new play, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, is currently playing in regional theatres nationwide in addition to having enjoyed an extended run Off-Broadway at Second Stage Theatre (Lily Award, Drama Desk Nomination) and most recently at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, Lyric Stage in Boston and The Goodman Theatre in Chicago. Her Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club and The Goodman Theatre (OBIE, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics' Circle, Audelco, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Play). It subsequently toured widely throughout US regional theatres and premiered internationally at the Almeida Theatre in London. The play has since been produced throughout the world, including Cambodia, Chad, The Caribbean, The Democratic Republic of Congo, and Germany. Her other plays include Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and New York Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Play); Fabulation, or The Re-Education of Undine (OBIE Award); Crumbs from the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por'knockers and POOF!. Nottage is the recipient of the 2010 Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, the inaugural Horton Foote Prize for Outstanding New American Play (Ruined), Helen Hayes Award (Ruined), the Lee Reynolds Award, and the Jewish World Watch iWitness Award. Her other honors include the 2007 MacArthur Foundation "Genius Grant," the National Black Theatre Festival's August Wilson Playwriting Award, the 2005 Guggenheim Grant for Playwriting, the 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for Drama, as well as fellowships from the Lucille Lortel Foundation, Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists and New York Foundation for the Arts. She is a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer. She is a co-founder and producer at Market Road Films LLC, a film production company. Nottage is a board member for Theatre Communications Group, BRIC Arts Media Bklyn, Donor Direct Action, The New Black Fest, Voice and Vision, and the Dramatists Guild. Lynn Nottage established a relationship with both the art of narrating a story and political commitment - the two driving forces behind her work - early in life. Her grandmother, an extraordinary storyteller, and her mother, a political activist who participated in the Civil Rights and the Feminist movements, had a large impact on who Nottage is today: A politically engaged playwright. After Nottage received a Master of Fine Arts from the Yale University School of Drama, she worked as a press officer for Amnesty International for four years until she started writing plays. Although her plays deal with very different subject matters and take place in different settings, they all have one similarity: In each of them we find a strong woman - a "Warrior Woman." (Bio Source - LynnNottage.com and Humanity Council of Washington D.C.) To learn more about Lynn Nottage, visit her website at LynnNottage.com |
Directed by Aaron Todd Douglas The award winning and critically acclaimed play Ruined will open the 2014 Lynn Nottage season. In war-torn Congo, Mama Nadi keeps the peace between customers on both sides of the civil war by serving everything from cold beers to warm beds. This shrewd matriarch both protects and profits from the women whose bodies have become battlegrounds "ruined" by the brutality of government soldiers and rebel forces alike. Inspired by interviews conducted in Africa, Ruined won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize Award for Drama. Actor, Director and Former Congo Square Theatre Associate Artistic Director Aaron Todd Douglas makes his Eclipse Theatre Directorial Debut. 
Directed by Ensemble Member Esther lives in a boarding house for women in 1905 New York City, sewing intimate apparel for clients who range from wealthy white patrons to prostitutes. With her skills and discretion in great demand, she uses her gifted hands and her sewing machine to refashion her dreams and make them anew from the whole cloth of her life's experiences. Ensemble Member and Goodman Theatre Associate Artist Steve Scott directs. 
Directed by Andrea J. Dymond The 2014 Lynn Nottage season concludes with her rarely seen play Mud, River, Stone. An African-American couple vacationing in Africa takes a turn off the main highway, finding themselves stranded during the rainy season in the remnants of a grand hotel. As the rains continue, their comic and romantic adventure takes on absurd dimensions when the hotel guests are taken hostage by the angry bellhop. His demands are simple: He wants grain for his village and a wool blanket for his mother. Relationships are tested by the volatile politics of Africa, as we learn what the hungry human spirit will do for food and a warm blanket. Acclaimed director Andrea J. Dymond makes her Eclipse Theatre directorial debut with this thrilling conclusion to our Lynn Nottage season. The Playwright Scholar Series
As a subscriber, you'll also get to learn more about the life and work of Lynn Nottage with free readings and events throughout the season. Details regarding our Playwright scholar series events will be announced in 2014. |