Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company Presents World Premiere Of ECLIPSED 8/31 - 9/27

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company will present the world premiere of ECLIPSED by Danai Gurira (Co-creator of In the Continuum) August 31 - September 27. Opening night is set for September 6.

ECLIPSED is directed by Liesl Tommy (The Good Negro, Public Theatre) and features Uzo Aduba, Jessica Frances Dukes, Ayesha Ngaujah, Dawn Ursula and Liz Femi Wilson.

The production team includes Daniel Ettinger (Set Designer), Colin K. Bills (Lighting Designer), Kathleen Geldard (Costume Designer), Veronika Vorel (Sound Designer), Jennifer Sheetz (Properties), Tonya Beckman Ross (Dialect Coach).

"The captive wives of a Liberian rebel officer form a hardscrabble sorority, their lives set on a nightmarish detour by civil war. With wit and compassion, they sift through the meager spoils of war and stumble on the biography of a certain recent US President. The book opens up the absurd America of their dreams: beyond the borders of their bloody compound, could a different destiny emerge?"

Danai Gurira is the award-winning co-writer and performer of the Off-Broadway hit, In the Continuum, seen at Woolly Mammoth in 2006, and performed across the U.S. and in South Africa. For that production, she was the recipient of a 2006 OBIE Award, a 2006 John Gessner Outer Critics Award, and a Helen Hayes Award. She appeared in the 2008 Oscar-nominated film, The Visitor. Born in the U.S. to Zimbabwean parents and raised in Zimbabwe, she is a graduate of NYU.

Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, on the verge of turning the big 3-0, is excited at the lineup of plays for the 30th Anniversary Season (2009-10). Featured are world premieres by Danai Gurira (In the Continuum), Mike Daisey (If You See Something Say Something), new plays from Bruce Norris (The Unmentionables) and Rajiv Joseph, and a large-scale work by Charles L. Mee (Big Love). In addition, Woolly Mammoth's favorite out-of-town troupe, The Neo-Futurists, returns to DC for an unprecedented fourth engagement of their hit show, TOO MUCH LIGHT MAKES THE BABY GO BLIND in December.

"For Woolly Mammoth's 30th Anniversary Season, we're drawing our favorite actors and playwrights together to ask huge questions about our nation and engage in a provocative dialogue with our community," states Artistic Director Howard Shalwitz. "Poised between hope and despair, the current American moment is re-shaping our lives. During 2009-10, we'll gain new perspective on economics, war, race, love, and commitment - by looking across the globe and into our own neighborhoods to ask big questions: Are the old divisions between capitalism and socialism breaking down? What is the role of the individual in times of upheaval? Do personal relationships take on new meaning when the ground is shifting beneath us? How does our democracy look to people around the world? How does it influence the way we relate to our families and friends?

These questions are embedded in a remarkable group of new plays by the most gifted and challenging writers in America," continues Shalwitz. "Teetering between the ridiculous and the sublime, each one takes us to its own exotic world, and then leads us squarely back to our own. Throughout the 30th Anniversary Season, Woolly will be offering new ways for our audience to share their own thoughts and engage in conversations with artists, experts, and one another - via our website, social gatherings, pre-show panels, post-show dialogues, and a special conference on themes about theatre and democracy that will take place during the run of FULL CIRCLE. We'll be reaching out to new friends in the media, politics, academia, and even the military - to expand the circle of conversation, bring fresh perspective to the work on our stage, and strengthen the role of theatre in our civic discourse."

Tickets can be purchased by calling 202-393-3939, in person at the Box Office (641 D Street NW, Washington, DC) or by visiting www.woollymammoth.net.

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