Ruined receives unprecedented accolades—the Pulitzer Prize + 13 awards!
PLAYWRIGHT LYNN NOTTAGE ACCEPTS THE 2009 PULITZER PRIZE – 
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The Goodman Theatre commission and co-production with Manhattan Theatre Club extends for the seventh time off-Broadway, now through August 2
It has earned rave reviews, popular acclaim, a 7-time extended run—and a Pulitzer Prize, plus 13 awards and 17 nominations. Wow!
Ruined, by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whoriskey continues to thrill off-Broadway audiences (through August 2, 2009 at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage 1 ) direct from its Goodman Theatre world premiere, and has garnered an unprecedented number of accolades—including the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and (in alphabetical order): Clarence Derwent Award; two Drama Desk Awards (including Outstanding New Play); two Lucille Lortel Awards (including Outstanding Play); New York Drama Critics Circle's Best Play Award; four OBIE Awards (including Best New American Play); Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Off-Broadway Play; Theatre World Award; and two Drama League Award nominations (including Distinguished Production of a Play).
On May 28, Ms. Nottage accepted the 78th Pulitzer Prize in Drama at a luncheon at Columbia University’s Low Library, and became the second African American woman ever to receive this distinguished honor. In attendance to celebrate her success were Ms. Whoriskey, Goodman Theatre Executive Director Roche Schulfer and Manhattan Theatre Club’s Artistic Director Lynne Meadow, Executive Producer Barry Grove and Associate Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield. Ruined is the first Goodman Theatre world-premiere production to receive the Pulitzer Prize—the Goodman’s American premiere production of Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet won in 1984—and the second consecutive year that the Prize has been awarded to a play from Chicago.
Set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the year 2000, Ruined follows a young woman's nightmarish path to Mama Nadi, a savvy businesswoman who—in the midst of a complex civil war—both protects and profits from the women whose bodies have become battlegrounds. At once heartbreaking and captivating, Ruined pays homage to the courageous and resilient women who must piece themselves together after the ruin.
Ruined was first produced as a staged reading in the Goodman's 2007 New Stages Series and had its world premiere on the Goodman’s Owen stage in November 2008, in a co-production with Manhattan Theatre Club. The Goodman’s current season featured another production that started at the New Stages Series—Ghostwritten. The 09/10 Owen Season will feature a third play from the New Stages Series, The Long Red Road by Brett C. Leonard and directed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, starting February 2010.
“EXPLOSIVE"
"...the play that in every way deserves to become the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner for drama...”
–Chicago Sun-Times
“DAZZLING"
“...a celebration of the endurance and vitality of African women...”
–Chicago Tribune
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LYNN NOTTAGE is the author of Intimate Apparel, which was produced in New York at Roundabout Theatre Company after its world-premiere production at Center Stage and South Coast Repertory. The play received numerous awards, including the 2004 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play, the Outer Critics Circle Best Play award, the John Gassner Award, the American Theatre Critics/Steinberg 2004 New Play Award and the 2004 Francesca Primus Award, and it has gone on to receive dozens of productions around the country. Her next play, Fabulation, or the Education of Undine (Obie Award) directed by Kate Whoriskey, was first produced by Playwrights Horizons and recently received a highly acclaimed production at the Tricycle Theatre in London. Both plays are published in an anthology by Theatre Communications Group (TCG). Another anthology of her plays, Crumbs From the Table of Joy and Other Plays was published by TCG, and includes Crumbs From the Table of Joy; Las Meninas; Mud, River, Stone; Por’Knockers and Poof! Her plays have been produced and developed at theaters throughout the country, including Alliance Theatre, Second Stage Theatre, the Vineyard Theatre, Freedom Theatre, Crossroads Theatre Company, Intiman Theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Yale Repertory Theatre and the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab, among many others. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the prestigious 2004 PEN/Laura Pels Award for literary excellence and the MacArthur "Genius" Award, as well as fellowships from Manhattan Theatre Club, New Dramatists and the New York Foundation for the Arts, where she is a member of the Artists Advisory Board. Ms. Nottage is an alumna of New Dramatists and a graduate of Brown University and the Yale School of Drama, where she is currently a visiting lecturer. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband, filmmaker Tony Gerber, and daughter Ruby. She would like to thank the Guggenheim Foundation for its support of this project.
