Ruined extends for a third time

Manhattan Theatre Club's critically acclaimed production of Ruined, by playwright Lynn Nottage and director Kate Whoriskey, has extended its run for a third time. The play will now run through to 3 May 2009.

Ruined opened at NY City Center Stage I on 10 Feb 2009, following previews from 21 Jan, and was originally scheduled to close on 29 Mar 2009.

The show opened to excellent reviews: "stirring and sometimes startling new work" (NY Daily News); "Beautiful, hideous and unpretentiously important" (NewsDay); "powerful new drama" (AP); "emotionally scorching new play" (Variety) and "a crackling thriller with humor, plot twists and lots of humanity.� (NY1)

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?

Ruined is a co-production with Chicago�s Goodman Theatre where it opened to rave reviews for Nottage�s play, the ensemble cast, and director Kate Whoriskey.

Saidah Arrika Ekulona plays the leading role of 'Mama Nadi.' She made her Broadeay debut in Lisa Kron's 'Well' (Kay: 2006). Her off-Broadway credits include 'Unconditional,' 'Romeo and Juliet' and 'Well' for the Public Theater, as well as 'Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine' (playwright Horizons) and 'A Streetcar Named Desire' (New York Theatre Workshop).

Ruined also features Quincy Tyler Bernstine, Cherise Boothe, Chris Chalk, William Jackson Harper, Chik� Johnson, Russell Gebert Jones, Simon Shabantu Kashama, Kevin Mambo, Tom Mardirosian, Ron McBee and Condola Rashad.

The creative team for RuinedD includes: Derek McLane (sets), Paul Tazewell (costumes) and Peter Kaczorowski (lighting).