Playwright Lynn Nottage won the 2009 Pulitzer
Prize for Drama for her play, Ruined, in which
the ravaged women of the Democratic Republic of
the Congo do what they must to survive.
This past Monday, The Kennedy Center staged a
reading of the play in conjunction with The Enough
Project. Nottage was present and most of the
play's original cast and the musical director
took time away from other projects to participate.
Quincy Tyler Bernsteine, an actress DC audiences
may have seen in Stunning at Woolly Mammoth,
described Ruined as "one of the most important
pieces of art that I've had the opportunity to work on."
They say that all's fair in love and war, but
anyone who has lived in a war torn country can
tell you that nothing about war feels fair.
In fact, Mama Nadi, one of proprietor of the brothel where
the play is set says, "There must always be a part of you
that this war cannot touch."
Mama Nadi, a shrewd businesswoman, takes in women
who have been raped repeatedly and mutilated.
The women who work in her bar/brothel find
there is strength in numbers, even if they must
become prostitutes to find some shelter when
their families won't help them because they are
"ruined."
Nottage notes that the use sexual violence as a weapon of
war is not new, but that it has been taken to chilling extremes
in the Congo.
The Enough Project, an offshoot of the Center for
American Progress, works to prevent genocide and
crimes against humanity and the play touches on
two of the project's key issues: conflict minerals
and sexual violence. (Perhaps you heard of blood
diamonds--well, conflict minerals are similar,
but they are not used for jewelry.)
The sexual violence and conflict minerals are not
unrelated since the power struggles in the Congo are
connected to the world's desire for minerals that
are found there. The Congo's supply of minerals
like tin, tantalum and tungsten is valuable
because these minerals are key in making cell
phones and other electronics.
As Nottage's play illustrates, it is more compelling
to explore these issues in a drama rather than
simply tell you that our desire for electronics
contributes to the fighting and sexual violence in the Congo.
"A play allows you to explore the emotional life
of your character in a way you can't in
traditional media. I can spend 2 to 2 1/2 hours
introducing an audience to a world," Nottage says.
Come back on Friday to read more from my backstage
interview with Lynn Nottage.
For additional info: Conflict Minerals: Are your electronic products fueling the deadliest war in the world?
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