LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE PRESENTS LYNN NOTTAGE’S PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING RUINED

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
(Free-Press-Release.com) October 25, 2010 -- LA JOLLA, CA — La Jolla Playhouse presents the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, by Lynn
Nottage (Intimate Apparel, Crumbs from the Table of Joy), directed by South Africa native Liesl
Tommy, in the Mandell Weiss Theatre November 16 – December 19 (media night: Sunday,
November 21 at 7:00 pm). Ruined is a co-production with Berkeley Repertory Theatre and the
Huntington Theatre Company.

The cast features Oberon K.A. Adjepong as “Christian,” Pascale Armand (Playhouse’s The

Love of Three Oranges) as “Salima,” Jason Bowen as “Fortune,” Carla Duren as “Sophie,”
Wendell B. Franklin as “Jerome,” Zainab Jah as “Josephine,” Joseph Kamal (Playhouse’s
Culture Clash’s Zorro in Hell) as “Mr. Harari,” Adesoji Odukogbe as “Musician 2,” Kola
Ogundiran as “Laurent,” Okieriete Onaodowan as “Simon,” Tonye Patano as “Mama Nadi,”
Adrian Roberts as “Commander Osembenga” and Alvin Terry as “Musician 1.”
The creative team includes: Liesl Tommy, Director; Clint Ramos (Playhouse’s Most Wanted),
Set Design; Kathleen Geldard, Costume Design; Lap Chi Chu, Lighting Design; Broken

Chord Collective, Original Music, Sound Design and Musical Direction.

In a small town in the war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, Mama Nadi runs a cozy brothel
where a soldier can put down his weapon and spend the evening in the company of beautiful
women – for a price. Mama Nadi both protects and profits from the young women who work for
her, and she is determined to keep the war at bay and the money flowing at any cost. But it’s
the hope of these courageous women that ultimately prevails. Expertly navigating relationships
and politics, Ruined is rich with humor and music, celebrating the triumph of the human spirit.

Winner of the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Ruined was extended multiple times off-Broadway
and has earned numerous awards, including the Obie Award for Best New American Play and
the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Variety wrote that Nottage “has crafted a work that
speaks eloquently of the monstrous acts bred by war, and of the courage and compromises
required to survive them,” while The Chicago Tribune raved, “Sincere, passionate, courageous
and acutely argued, Ruined is a remarkable theatrical accomplishment.” And according to the
Wall Street Journal, “Ruined, in which [Nottage] shows us what things have come to in the

bloody, brutal land that dares to call itself the Democratic Republic of Congo, leaves no doubt
that the author…is one of the best playwrights that we have.”

Tickets for Ruined are $31 - $66 and are available at the Playhouse Box Office: (858) 550-1010
or online at LaJollaPlayhouse.org. Ruined is sponsored by Deutsche Bank and Bozeman
Group, LLC.

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