Eclipsed (play)
| Eclipsed | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Danai Gurira |
| Characters | Helena (Wife #1) Maima (Wife #2) Bessie (Wife #3) The Girl (Wife #4) Rita |
| Date premiered | October 14, 2015 |
| Place premiered | The Public Theater - LuEsther Hall |
| Original language | English |
| Subject | Sisterhood, Rape, Kidnapping, Survival, Peace |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | In a small, one room shack on the Liberian compound |
| Official site | |
Eclipsed is a 2015 play written by Danai Gurira. It takes place in 2003 and tells the story of five Liberian women and their tale of survival near the end of the Second Liberian Civil War. It became the first play with an all-black and female creative cast and team to premiere on Broadway.
Eclipsed opened Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in October 2015 with positive reviews and ran until November 2015. The following year, it transferred to Broadway, premiering at the John Golden Theatre with an opening on March 6, 2016.
Eclipsed takes place in the country of Liberia in 2003 at a bullet ridden-one room shack, which serves as an army camp for the rebel group called Liberians United for Reconciliation and Democracy (LURD), which aimed to depose Charles Taylor, the then president of Liberia. The unseen Commanding Officer kidnaps two young women (Helena & Bessie) and makes them his "wives" by forcing them to have sex with him whenever he wants it. The women are helping to care for a bright 15-year-old (The Girl), who has also been abducted and raped after being discovered by the C.O.. Soon, Maima returns from the battlefield, where she was fighting as a soldier. She tries to convince The Girl to leave the C.O. and become a soldier with her. Rita, who works for a peace organization, makes occasional visits at the compound to end conflict. The Girl now seems to resign herself to her new life in the compound with limited options to choose from—stay with an abusive C.O. or become a soldier, while the others will try to make sense of this difficult situation.
Gurira's inspiration for the play was a photo of Black Diamond, a female Liberian freedom fighter, in a New York Times article. The image prompted curiosity about Liberia’s fourteen-year civil wars and a trip to Liberia in 2007. Gurira interviewed more than 30 women—who had been raped, among whose daughters that had been taken by rebel fighters and turned into sex slaves. She also spoke to female peace activists who were instrumental in ending the violence. The names of the women in Eclipsed come from the people Gurira met during her travels, whereas the fifth character is unnamed.
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