Ruined is a play written by the Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and directed by Ernest W. Wiggins. Kean University students show off their talents as they take over the stage and capture the attention of audience members.
Ruined is set at a bar in the middle of the African country Congo, a war torn area. The establishment is owned by Mama Nadi, played by theatre education major, Sahirah Johnson, and is a popular spot for soldiers, irrespective of what side they are on. Nadi employs girls who dance and can be sold as escorts. By working for Nadi, the girls in trade earn a safe place to sleep every night and food every day. The girls, Sophie—Daisha Davis, Kean University junior theatre major, Salima— Chelsea Deline and Josephine—Lorin Tompkins, dance for money and serve drinks to the customers. Sophie goes the extra mile and provides audience members the opportunity to listen to her beautiful voice as she sings on a nightly basis.
Sophie and Salima were the most recent girls to join Nadi’s ranks as Ruined opened up with Sophie’s Uncle Christian, played by senior music major Michael Harris. The uncle is attempting to convince Nadi to accept Sophie, and the deal is sweetened by Belgian chocolate in order to ensure his niece is welcomed. Sophie walks with a noticeable limp because she is “ruined” and this quality deems her as bad luck. The bar has a brown pool table and Nadi proudly claims it is the only one in the area. The bar itself contains pictures, various bright colors, and “Kwela Jazz” scribed on it.
Josephine has an aura of arrogance surrounding her. She considers herself as being better than the other girls, and is not shy about sharing her intuition. Once Josephine is summoned for another customer, Salima reveals privately to Sophie that she is pregnant. Worse off, the child is not fathered by her husband because she hasn’t seen him since she was “ruined” just like Sophie. Salima is labeled “ruined” because one day she was sitting in a garden with her baby daughter when members of the militia grabbed her and kidnapped her. When her baby was crying on the ground, a soldier stomped on her head, and a sound did not come out after that. Salima was then tied to a tree for months as the soldiers would come by often and sexually assault her.
Militia commander Osembenga, portrayed by senior major and former Marine Donnie DeMary, comes to Nadi ’s bar for drinks and notices Christian sitting at the bar. Osembenga is skeptical of Christian, saying he never trusts anyone until he has a drink with them. Meanwhile, Christian has been sober for four years but it would be very dangerous to refuse a drink from a man like Osembenga. After some hesitation, he has his first drop of alcohol in four years. In the ensuing days, Christian is a regular at the bar, spending his time getting drunk.
Salima’s husband Fortune, played by graduate student David Oshioma,working towards an MA in Health Administration, turns up to find his wife. They have not seen each other since Salima came back from being kidnapped, but Fortune turned her away. Apparently Fortune has had a change of heart and has come back to find her again. Salima refuses to see him and Nadi tells him she has never heard of Salima, though he is not convinced and stands in the rain for two nights outside the bar. Through his act of stubbornness, Fortune spots members of the opposition army going in and out, and he tells Osembenga that Nadi is serving the enemy. Osembenga thanks him for the information, and says he will deal with Nadi later.
While Osembenga is contemplating what to do with Nadi, she takes out a diamond, rich in worth. She gives up her diamond to fund a procedure to fix Sophie’s limp and allow her to live in the city. Nadi gives the diamond and instructions of where to go to a bar regular, Mr. Harari, portrayed by senior Theatre major Mark Zebro, Jr. When Harari was waiting downstairs for Sophie, his driver frantically sprints inside yelling that he saw a jeep coming down the road with Osembenga in it, and that he was leaving with or without them. Harari screams in desperation for Sophie to come down, and when he does not hear anything back, he panics and flees. Sophie comes downstairs unknowing of what just happened and goes outside. She returns, looking defeated, and saunters back inside to be comforted by Nadi. At this moment, Osembenga and his men raid the home, with Fortune being one of the soldiers. After being interrogated by Osembenga, Salima stumbles out the back door, bleeding from her midsection. Her husband sees her, grabs her in fear, and she collapses and dies in his arms.
A few months later, Christian returns sober again. He attempts to woo Nadi, asking her why not us? Finally, Nadi concedes that she too is “ruined” too.
The audience spent most of the night adjusting in their seats. Ruined elicited moments of suspense and drama, where the crowd would scoot to the edge of their seats and others where they could sit back and laugh. The connection between Nadi and Christian particularly would cause laughter. Upon conclusion of the play, continuous clapping and a few standing ovations materialized. The loudest roars were saved for Nadi and Sophie. The show was executed with terrific quality and without many, if any, mistakes.
