Following the debut of Danai Gurira’s Eclipsed, which opened on Broadway’s Golden Theater on Sunday, March 6, headliner and Academy Award winner Lupita Nyong’o took to Instagram to list the things she’d like her audience to know before they see the show.
Written on monogrammed stationary in an assortment of colored pens, ‘Things To Know Before You See ECLIPSED’ lists as follows:
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“1. This is my Broadway debut! Such a thrill. I can’t believe it.
2. We are the first play on Broadway to be written, directed and performed by ALL WOMEN. Making history!
3. Liberia is a country on the West African coast that was founded by freed and free-born African-Americans, and was thus a colony of the United States.
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4. The play takes place during the Second Liberian Civil War when the Women’s Peace Movement helped bring an end to the war in 2003 through nonviolence movements, including a sex strike.
5. Leymah Gbowee, who started the initiative won the Nobel Peace Prize!
6. I first played my character as an understudy in Drama School. I never went on, and I promised myself back then that I would play “The Girl” some day, somehow, somewhere, so it’s mindblowing to get to do it on Broadway.
7. The Liberian constitution flag were modeled after the United States’. The flag contains one star. This is why Liberia is called Africa’s Lone Star state.
8. Liberia is Africa’s oldest republic. The capital city is Monrovia, named after American President James Monroe.
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9. Being in the play is an emotionally intense experience for me, and it means a lot to me to see your bright faces afterwards at the stage door each night. Thank you!
10. Some of the countries represented in our cast and crew are: Kenya, Liberia, Haiti, Sierra Leone, Ghana, USA, Zimbabwe, South Africa & Philippines.
11. Before the curtain goes up, you can typically find me knitting backstage! It helps calm the nerves :)
12. The play opens today, March 6th! AAAH! Visit EclipsedBroadway.com to get tickets. See you there!”