Huntington Theatre Company Hosts Post-Show Conversations After RUINED

In conjunction with the Huntington Theatre Company's production of Lynn Nottage's Ruined, local scholars, aid workers, journalists, and other experts will co-facilitate Huntington staff-led post-show conversations on the issues raised in Nottage's important work.

Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ruined is directed by South Africa native Liesl Tommy at the Huntington. The ensemble cast features Tonye Patano (Showtime's "Weeds") as Mama Nadi. Ruined is a co-production with La Jolla Playhouse and Berkeley Repertory Theatre.

In 2004, Nottage traveled to East Africa to interview Congolese women fleeing the armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). "I was fueled by my desire to tell the story of war, but through the eyes of women, who as we know rarely start conflicts but inevitably find themselves right smack in the middle of them," explains Nottage. "I was interested in giving voice and audience to African women living in The Shadows of war. I knew their stories weren't being heard. I wanted to understand who they were beyond their status as victims. I was surprised by the number of women who readily wanted to share their stories, and by the end of the interviews, I realized that a war was being fought over the bodies of women. Rape was being used as a weapon to punish and destroy communities."

Scheduled speakers include Edouard Bustin, professor and director of Francophone Africa Research Group, Boston University; Dimitry Anselme of Facing History and Ourselves; staff from Congo Action Now and the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative; and faculty from Boston University's Department of African Studies, Dartmouth College's department of English, and UMass Boston. A current schedule of speakers is available below and will be updated online at huntingtontheatre.org/ruinedevents.

ABOUT THE HUNTINGTON
The Huntington Theatre Company, in residence at Boston University, is Boston's largest professional theatre company. Under the direction of Artistic Director Peter DuBois and Managing Director Michael Maso, the Huntington creates seven new productions each season featuring world-class theatre artists from Boston and Broadway and the most promising new talent. The Huntington has transferred over a dozen of these productions to Broadway, including recent favorites Noël Coward's Present Laughter and Alfred Hitchcock's The 39 Steps. The Huntington also runs nationally renowned programs in education and new play development, and serves the local theatre community through its operation of the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, which the Huntington built in 2004.

The Calderwood Pavilion, which includes the 370-seat Wimberly Theatre and the 200-seat Roberts Studio Theatre, houses most of the Huntington's new works activities and complements its 890-seat, Broadway-style main stage, the Boston University Theatre. The Huntington provides the first-class facilities and audience services of the Calderwood Pavilion to dozens of organizations each year, including some of Boston's most exciting small and mid-sized theatre companies, at significantly subsidized rates.

As a national leader in the development of new plays, the Huntington has produced more than 50 New England, American, or world premieres to date, with two world premieres scheduled for the 2010-11 Season. The Huntington's acclaimed education programs have served hundreds of thousands of middle school and high school students since 1982, and bring theatre to the Deaf and blind communities, the elderly, and other underserved populations in the Greater Boston area.

The Huntington was founded in 1982 by Boston University and separately incorporated as an independent non-profit in 1986. Its two prior artistic leaders were Peter Altman, (1982-2000) and Nicholas Martin (2000-2008). For more information, visit huntingtontheatre.org.

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski

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