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Oscar Winner Lupita Nyong'o Is Ready to Make Her Broadway Debut in ECLIPSED!
Nov 7, 2022
Following a sold-out run at The Public Theater, ECLIPSED will begin previews on Tuesday, February 23, 2016, with opening night set for March 6, 2016 on Broadway at the Golden Theatre (252 W. 45th Street). Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong'o will reprise her role on Broadway for this strictly limited engagement. She just chatted with BroadwayWorld about preparing for her big Broadway debut and you can check out what she had to say below!
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0:00
Hello, I'm Richard Ridge for Broadway World. Following a sold-out run at the Public Theatre, Academy Award winner Lapita Nyong'o will make her Broadway debut in Danai Gurira's new play, Eclipsed
0:12
Under the direction of Liesl Tommi, it will open on March 6th at the Golden Theatre. And I caught up with the Oscar winner during a break in rehearsal
0:20
Well, you're about to make your Broadway debut. How do you feel
0:23
I feel great. I mean, I can't believe that this moment is here and it's with a play that I've loved for so long and dreamt of doing
0:32
And so to be finally able to do it and to do it on the Broadway stage is like so many dreams come true in one
0:38
It's been quite a journey with the play. Did you start at Yale with this? Yes, I understudied it when it was at the Yale Repertory Theater
0:45
And I understudied the role that I'm playing, the girl. And I remember then being so moved by it
0:50
I thought it was just such a powerful, riveting story. And I made a promise to myself that I had to find a way to play it one day
0:58
I had no idea it would be in this kind of way. I'd have played it in Cincinnati or whatever
1:03
And so I just so happy to be able to bring it to a New York audience and on the Great White Way Well I had the privilege of seeing you downtown at The Public and I want to thank you for one of the most riveting nights I ever spent in the theater
1:18
What's this whole journey meant for you with working on this play? It's been a really powerful journey
1:24
Danai Gurira, who is the writer, best known for her role in The Walking Dead
1:29
she's both an actor and an incredible playwright. she's a powerful woman but she's been my friend for a while and and uh we worked we've tried to
1:38
work together over the years and stuff and to be able to do this with her and with Liesl who I've
1:45
also known from the Yale Repertory uh production it's it's just it's it's all full circle you know
1:52
to be able to do that and the actors who are in it Akoswa Busia whom I have adored since watching
1:58
the color purple is a little girl and now she's in the play and color purple is
2:01
next door I mean it's also full circle and and and so I'm just really really
2:07
enjoying this experience and being able to mount it again it's such a powerful
2:13
play talk a little bit about who you play and where the play takes place so the play takes place in Liberia during the Civil War We meet these five women who are trying to cope with wartime
2:28
and how they deal with it, and it's really a celebration of their resilience
2:33
There are five women dealing with this situation in very different ways
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And I play the girl, the youngest and latest addition to a particular compound
2:43
which is run by a rebel commander. And he has these quote-unquote wives in captivity
2:52
and I play the last of the wives to join. And it's about my character being introduced to war and to life
3:00
in these very unimaginable circumstances and how she and the rest deal with it
3:05
And working with this wonderful cast, all women. All women. this is the first play on Broadway to be written by a woman, directed by a woman, and starring all women
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And it's a real ensemble piece, one that gives every single woman a voice
3:22
And we learn who they are, where they're from, what they want
3:25
And so everybody has so much to excavate in the play and it been so much fun and such a beautiful journey to do so with four actresses who are just like spellbinding you know every day
3:44
we get in there and we like take each other on and it's it's taught you know it's very taught and
3:51
And it's been so, it's fed my soul to be involved in it
3:58
I was going to ask you, just being back on stage, I mean, you've done beautiful work on screen
4:02
but there's nothing like doing live theater, is there? There is absolutely nothing like doing live theater
4:06
And it's so fulfilling for me. And so to be able to get back to it
4:10
it was one of the things I desired most after 12 Years a Slave
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and the whirlwind that was my life, just to get back to the craft of it and to rehearsal
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which is a wonderful way to find out collectively what story you want to tell
4:26
So my final question is, what are you looking forward to the most with bringing Eclipse to Broadway
4:31
Well, I'm looking forward to saying I'm a Broadway actress. Yeah, that's going to be fun to say
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