MTC Offers 'After Words: RUINED' Discussion Series, Nottage, Ensler & Whoriskey to Guest

Manhattan Theatre Club is pleased to announce that After Words, the popular discussion series which has been a success at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre will come to MTC at New York City Center for the world premiere of Lynn Nottage's RUINED, the haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war.

The series will make its debut at New York City Center on Saturday, January 31 following the matinee performance of RUNED. The panel will feature RUINED playwright Lynn Nottage and Jessica Neuwirth, a founder and current president of Equality Now. The discussion will be moderated by MTC Artistic Associate Lisa McNulty.

After Words is part of MTC's continuing effort to deepen and enrich the play-going experience for its audiences. Held after selected Saturday matinees, this exciting series of talks with writers, cultural critics, journalists, and members of the RUINED cast and creative team provides provocative and illuminating insights into the political, cultural, and artistic contexts of the work MTC produces.

Future editions of After Words will include:

On Saturday, February 7, After Words will feature RUINED director Kate Whoriskey with Eve Ensler, writer of The Vagina Monologues, and Dr. Denis Mukwege, founder and director of Panzi General Reform Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where he performs life-saving surgeries for women who have been brutally raped and mutilated in the Congolese war. The discussion will be moderated by MTC Artistic Associate Lisa McNulty.

On Saturday, February 14, After Words will welcome RUINED cast members Saidah Arrika Ekulona and Russell Gebert Jones. They will be joined by panelist Denise Bell of Amnesty International. The discussion will be moderated by MTC's Director of Education David Shookhoff.

For more information on After Words, or to download a podcast of past After Words, please visit: www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

BIOGRAPHIES
January 31
Jessica Neuwirth is one of the founders and current President of Equality Now, an international human rights organization established in 1992 to work for an end to all forms of violence and discrimination against women. From 1985 to 1990, she held various positions at Amnesty International, including Policy Advisor for Amnesty International USA and Tour Producer for Human Rights Now!, an international concert tour commemorating the fortieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Ms. Neuwirth subsequently worked in international finance, specializing in sovereign debt restructuring for developing countries as an associate at the law firm of Cleary, Gottlieb, Steen & Hamilton. She has also lent her expertise to the United Nations, most recently as a consultant to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda on issues of sexual violence in several cases and helped win landmark decisions recognizing rape as a form of genocide and holding Rwandan media executives accountable for the role of the media in the 1994 genocide. She has taught international women's human rights at Harvard Law School. Ms. Neuwirth holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard Law School and a Bachelor of Arts in History from Yale University.

February 7
Eve Ensler is a playwright, performer and activist. She is the award-winning author of The Vagina Monologues, which has been published in 45 languages and performed in over 120 countries. She is the also founder/artistic director of V-Day, the global movement to end violence against women, now celebrating its 11th year. Eve has traveled to the DRC three times in the past 18 months.

DR. DENIS MUKWEGE is director and founder of the ground-breaking Panzi hospital in Bukavu, DRC where he performs life-saving fistula surgeries for women who have been brutally raped and mutilated in the Congolese war. Together with V-Day and UNICEF, he is working to build the City of Joy, a safe community for survivors of sexual violence healed at Panzi.

February 14
DENISE BELL is the Darfur Campaigner at Amnesty International USA (AIUSA), where she works on issues of security, humanitarian access, and international justice in Amnesty's campaign to end the conflict in Darfur. She also works more broadly on issues of violence against women and girls in conflict zones in Africa, refugees and IDPs, and economic activism. Previously, she was a Sudan Country Specialist for the organization. Denise was instrumental in creating AIUSA's economic activism campaign on Sudan and also developed Amnesty's new human rights exhibition on Darfur, "Displaced." Denise came to Amnesty from Behind the Book, a grassroots literacy nonprofit serving low-income youth in NYC public schools; as Director of Development, she was a founding partner of the organization. Denise earned a B.A. in History and English from the University of Michigan and an M.A. in History from the University of Cambridge. She left a Ph.D. program in History at Northwestern University to pursue a career in human rights.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ON RUINED
The Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Barry Grove, Executive Producer) and Goodman Theatre's (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Executive Director) co-production of RUINED, written by Lynn Nottage and directed by Kate Whoriskey, will open Tuesday, February 10 at MTC at New York City Center - Stage I (131 West 55th Street).

RUINED features Quincy Tyler Bernstine (The Misanthrope at NYTW), Cherise Boothe (King Hedley II at Signature), Chris Chalk (MTC's Defiance), Saidah Arrika Ekulona (Well, Nottage's Fabulation) William Jackson Harper (Queens Boulevard), Chiké Johnson (The Crucible at Steppenwolf), Russell Gebert Jones (Our Lady of 121st Street), Simon Shabantu Kashama (Ruined at the Goodman), two-time Emmyâ Award winner Kevin Mambo ("The Guiding Light"), Tom Mardirosian (Wonderful Town, HBO's "Oz"), Ron McBee (The Colored Museum) and Condola Rashad (Pearl at The Kennedy Center).

RUINED played an extended engagement at the Goodman's Owen Theatre where it opened to rave reviews for Nottage's play, the ensemble cast, and director Kate Whoriskey.

From Lynn Nottage, the Obie Award-winning author of such plays as Fabulation and Intimate Apparel and director Kate Whoriskey (The Piano Teacher, Fabulation), comes this haunting, probing work about the resilience of the human spirit during times of war. Set in a small mining town in Democratic Republic of Congo, this powerful play follows Mama Nadi (Ekulona), 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?

The creative team for RUINED includes: Derek McLane (scenic design), Paul Tazewell (costume design), Peter Kaczorowski (lighting design), Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (sound design and music direction), Dominic Kanza (original music), Randy Duncan (movement director).

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned a total of 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include Top Girls; From Up Here; Come Back, Little Sheba; The Receptionist; LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Kimberly Akimbo; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin'.

This season, MTC's Broadway stage was renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street). The landmarked theatre has been the institution's home on Broadway since 2003 and was rehabilitated by MTC following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street), its Off-Broadway home since 1984.

For more information on Manhattan Theatre Club, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

Via New York City Center Box Office (131 West 55th Street), CityTix® (212-581-1212) and www.nycitycenter.org: Single tickets for all Manhattan Theatre Club productions at New York City Center are available by calling CityTix® at (212) 581-1212. Tickets are $75.00. Group and student rates are also available. For group ticket information, call (212) 399-3000 x 4132. Student tickets are $25 and will be on sale for all performances based on availability on the day of the performance, up to one hour before showtime. Call (212) 581-1212 for further information. MTC at New York City Center is accessible to people with disabilities and is equipped with a hearing augmentation system.
MTC Subscriptions: You can subscribe to MTC by calling (212) 399-3030, Monday - Friday, noon - 8 PM, with a major credit card. Subscriptions are available online at www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com

THROUGH SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM, Sunday at 7 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM (no performance on Monday).
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 16 - SUNDAY, MARCH 22: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM (no performance on Monday).
MONDAY, MARCH 23 - SUNDAY, MARCH 29: Tuesday at 7 PM, Wednesday through Saturday at 8 PM. Matinees on Saturday and Sunday at 2 PM (no performance on Monday). Please note there are only seven performances on sale to the general public this week.

Please www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com for more information.