About the Play:

Eclipsed is a full-length drama by Danai Gurira. Set in 2003, Eclipsed unearths the wreckage of Liberia's vicious civil war and celebrates the women who navigate the most brutal of circumstances. The captive "wives" of a rebel officer form a community in a hostile warzone. Their world is transformed by the arrival of two newcomers and the unceremonious return of a former "wife" turned rebel soldier. Each woman finds her own means of survival, but at what cost?

Eclipsed tracks the lives of five Liberian women and their tales of survival near the end of the Second Liberian Civil War in 2003, highlighting their abuse, hardships, and means of survival. Their lives set on a nightmarish detour by the Liberian civil war, the captive "wives" of a rebel commanding officer band together to forge a close-knit community... one that inspires them to feats of increasingly greater strength. Each one works to find her own way to survive and her place within their tenuous community as the war draws to a close and an uncertain future awaits them. With the arrival of a new girl who can read – and the return of an old one who can kill – their possibilities are quickly transformed. Drawing on reserves of wit and compassion, these defiant survivors ask: When the fog of battle lifts, could a different destiny emerge? Drawing on reserves of wit and compassion, Eclipsed reveals distinct women who must discover their own means of survival in this chilling and humanizing story of transformation and renewal in a hostile world of horrors not of their own making. Eclipsed is a stirring tale of hope, humour and resilience that offers a chilling, humanizing and surprisingly funny portrait of transformation and renewal.

Eclipsed experienced three simultaneous world premieres in 2009 at Yale Repertory Theater, The Woolly Mammoth Theater in Washington D.C. and The Kirk Douglas Theater in Los Angeles. It was produced off-Broadway at The Public Theater in 2013 and transferred to a successful Broadway run at the John Golden Theatre, where it made history as the first Broadway production to be written by, directed by, and entirely acted by black women. It received critical acclaim and was nominated for five Tony Awards, including Best Play.

Looking for a contemporary play for Acting class? This wrenching, all-female drama is particularly pertinent for actors – because it was written by one. Danai Gurira devotes her playwriting to telling stories of those underrepresented (or not represented at all) across the arts, providing an unmatched lesson in the importance of reconciling research with personal connection to the material for a performance.

Cast: 5 female

What people say:

"Riveting…A gut-wrenching saga told with poignancy and wit." — Variety

"The wonder of Danai Gurira's new play is that Eclipsed is neither depressingly bleak nor oppressively sober. It's a surprisingly vivacious portrait of helplessness, of the entirely human impulse to adapt…conveyed with a lovely authority, at times even a whimsicality. [In this] authentic-feeling production, her tight-knit kinship with these characters comes across as if she shared the stage with them." — Washington Post

"Stirring and sobering, and funnier than you'd expect…a deeply felt portrait of women in extremis, finding and testing their own strength." — Washington City Paper

"Soul-searing... Eclipsed shines with a compassion that makes us see beyond the suffering to the indomitable humanity of its characters." — New York Times

"A major achievement... Eclipsed is shattering in part because, while the Liberian Civil War finally ended, the struggle continues in a ravished human landscape. We can do little more than bear witness – something this miraculous play helps boldly to accomplish." — Deadline

"Danai Gurira's remarkable play is an epic of war and suffering... painted with warmth, humor and rage...A considerable work of art." — Time Out London

"It's a common lament that there are no good roles for women. But Danai Gurira has packed this harrowing drama with five of them." — New York Daily News

About the Playwright:

Danai Gurira is an award-winning Zimbabwean-American actor and playwright. Born in Iowa and raised in Zimbabwe by Zimbabwean parents, she returned to the United States for college. Her plays include the Broadway play Eclipsed, for which she was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play. As an actor, she is best known for her role as the sword-wielding Michonne in television's The Walking Dead, and as Okoye in the Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero films Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame. She holds an MFA from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU.