Ruined: Adriane Lenox to star

Manhattan Theatre Club has announced that Tony Award winner Adriane Lenox will return to MTC next spring to head the cast of the world premiere production of Lynn Nottage�s Ruined.

Ruined is a co-production with the Goodman (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director).

Prior to coming to MTC, Lenox will appear in the Goodman run of Ruined which will open in Chicago on 17 Nov 2008 in the Goodman�s Owen Theatre. After the Chicago run, the production will come to MTC at New York City Center � Stage I where it will begin previews from 21 Jan 2009 and open on 10 Feb 2009.

Ruined: Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, the play follows Mama Nadi (Lenox), a shrewd businesswoman in a land torn apart by civil war. But is she protecting or profiting by the women she shelters? How far will she go to survive? Can a price be placed on a human life?

Lenox previously appeared in the MTC world premiere production of the Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning 'Doubt' which subsequently transferred to Broadway and garnered Lenox the Tony for Best Featured Actress in a Play.

Ruined will be directed by Kate Whoriskey, who staged Nottage�s 'Fabulation' at Playwrights Horizons' Peter Jay Sharp Theater in 2004.

Lynn Nottage previous plays include 'Fabulation,' 'Intimate Apparel,' 'Mud, River, Stone,' 'Por'Knockers' and 'Crumbs from the Table of Joy.' Additional casting for Ruined will be announced at a later date.