RUINED Special United Nations Performance Video

By Leora Kanner, Broadway Magazine

"There are so many people out there who need our hands. Our helping hands," says UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon after a special performance of Lynn Nottage's play RUINED.

Theatrical performances are not always purely entertainment, a fact embodied in the new drama "Ruined." The Manhattan Theater Club's show tells of the inhumane and violent treatment of women in the Congo and has been shown to the Secretary-General of the UN and co-sponsored by the UN Commission of Human Rights. In this exclusive video, the playwright Lynn Nottage speaks of the show’s conception and the impact she hopes it will have on the lives of the women it portrays. Nottage wants people to see the show and then when they hear about the violence they will see the women as "three-dimensional not as statistics."

Lynn Nottage discusses how the idea for the show came from a trip to East Africa that she took in order to write a modern adaptation of Brecht's "Mother Courage." Instead, her experience with the refugee women gave her insight into a story "very specific to that region." The women literally asked her for help, and as a 'storyteller' she was initially unsure how she could help. She decided to find an audience for the stories of these women beset by abuse and violence in order to "change their lives." Four years later, Nottage believes that having a UN Secretary-General view the play and learn about the violence is a "tremendous accomplishment."

Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary-General discusses how the show tells a "very compelling story that everyone should know." He believes that its important people understand that there is an entire world of women who "need our help." "Ruined" showcases a "crime" that stands against everything the UN promotes. Moon emphatically states that he must work to "end violence."

Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, also attended the performance and believes that the play is important because it shows people "intimately the impact of sexual violence on women." She also praises the power of the actors, saying that although only "four actors were playing soldiers" it seemed like "a whole army."

Nottage's success with "Ruined" is evident by the Pulitzer Prize she received and the many other awards the play garnered. Nottage feels the whole experience has been "overwhelming" and is surprised that the show not only found an audience but has "received accolades" and continues to grow. As successful as the show is, Nottage hopes that the show will "impact the audience" and that ultimately people will be "compelled to act" in whatever form they feel is appropriate.