Ruined
by Lynn Nottage

Jan 26 - Feb 17, 2018 @ Pacific Theatre

Set and Properties Designer: Carolyn Rapanos 
Lighting Designer: Jillian White
Costume Designer: Megan Gilron
Sound Designer: Corina Akeson
Elder/Cultural Consultant/Musician/Choreographer: Jacky Yenga
Musical Director: Mikaela Fuqua 
Fight Directors: Ryan Bolton & Mike Kovac
Stage Manager: Samantha Sue Pawlik
Asst. Stage Manager: Jenessa Galbraith
Rehearsal Stage Manager: Trevor McMahon
Properties Asst: Jennifer Jantsch
Director: Angela Konrad
Asst. Director/Producer: Jessica Garden
Photos: Jalen Laine Photography
Poster: Emily Cooper

Cast: Mariam Barry, Damon Calderwood, Mikaela Fuqua, Shayna Jones, Michael Kiapway, Agape Mngomezulu, Rachel Mutombo, Adrian Neblett, Tom Pickett, Donald Sales, Makambe K. Simamba, Jacky Yenga

Awards

• Shayna Jones: Outstanding Performance by an Actress - Small Theatre (win)

• Tom Pickett: Outstanding Performance by an Actor - Small Theatre (nominated)

• Angela Konrad: Outstanding Direction - Small Theatre (nominated)

Thoughts from the Director…

A searing drama set in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this Pulitzer Prize-winning play compels audiences to face the horror of wartime rape and brutality while still finding affirmation of life and hope.

Before producing Ruined, I knew very little about the Congo. But thanks to Lynn Nottage’s powerful play, I was introduced to a world whose beauty and pain touched me to the core. 

For a young, small company like Dark Glass Theatre, a play of this size, complexity, and importance was an audacious undertaking. But very early on, it seemed that this was the story we were supposed to tell. Doors opened, artists stepped forward, donors appeared, and at every point – through a long series of near-miraculous events – the truth that this play had to happen became more certain.

Not that it was easy. Far from it. The years leading up to the production were filled with planning, dreaming, and lots of hard work, as we learned how to produce and juggled innumerable hats. When we arrived at the first day of rehearsal, it seemed we had made it! All our efforts had paid off and the play was going to happen! But rather than relief, we entered into the most gruelling and challenging rehearsal process of my career, one that threatened at many points to self-destruct. But against the odds, the play survived, fighting off all obstacles with tenacity and determination, revealing beauty not just in spite of the difficulty but because of it.

How entirely appropriate.

When telling this story, it would be disrespectful to expect it to be easy. How can we possibly honour the women of this play, the people of the Congo, and the land of the country itself without struggle? 

Like the bird in the lyrics of the song, the story told in Ruined “cries out to be heard”.

May we answer its call.

Angela Konrad