The Pulitzer prize-winning play “Ruined” set in a bar in the Ituri Forest in the eastern Congo is to be performed at Kennesaw State University’s Stillwell Theater from March 18-23 as part of the university “Pan Africa Week” activities.
Compared to Berthold Brecht’s “Mother Courage,” the play portrays characters who live amidst war and suffer from the violence that has plagued the region for years.
Karen Robinson, a professor in the department of theatre and performance, is directing the play. She told Global Atlanta that “Ruined” was selected because of the university’s dedication “to theater that fosters global learning and social justice.”
Besides showing the brutality women have faced in the region, she added that the play reveals “how the men – rebel militias and government soldiers alike – are caught up in chaotic and brutal battles incited by the fight for land, natural resources, money and power.”
She also said the play raises questions about the underlying violence associated with mining the minerals in the region for the manufacture of cell phones, computers and other technologies.
Written by Lyn Nottage, who interviewed many women who have fled the DRC for Uganda, Ms. Robinson said the play humanizes the women and provides a perspective on their lives and relationships that may change preconceived notions of life there.
On Friday, March 21, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, founding director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center at Spelman College and an adjunct professor at Emory University’s Institute for Women’s Studies, is to speak on “Violence and Silence in the Black Woman’s Experience.”
Several events are to focus on the life and times of Nelson Mandela including a photo exhibit and a musical tribute.
On Monday, March 17, Doug Shipman, CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights, will speak from 12:30 p.m. to 1:45 p.m. about “the global struggle for freedom.”
The Robert C. Williams Paper Museum at the Georgia Institute of Technology currently also has an exhibit featuring the maps from the DRC as part of the Africa Atlanta 2014 events. To learn more about this exhibition, click here.
To learn more about the Pan Africa week at Kennesaw State, click here.To purchase tickets for “Ruined,” click here or call (770) 423-6650.
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