from BJ Jones, Artistic Director

As I stood in the back of the theatre on opening night of Eclipsed, I was incredibly moved, as was our audience.  Of course the play and the crystalline performances of our brilliant ensemble cast were responsible for my misting over, but what really touched me was the fact that our audience, was now standing on their feet cheering.  They were fully engaged and invested in a play so completely outside their experience.

In the last year we have adjusted our mission statement and Eclipsed is a perfect embodiment of what the mission statement articulates. We strive to change perspective and encourage compassion, and in Eclipsed through playwright Danai Guirira and director Hallie Gordon’s finely honed work we have fully realized that goal.

I remember when Candy my wife and I went to visit our daughter Keely in Ghana, Africa’s first democracy, while Keely was working there for the NGO Women in Progress.  Africa was nothing like the portrayals of that vast continent in film and novels.  Third world does not cover the degree of poverty and daily struggle that we saw.  It was a jolt to our perspectives yet wonderful and mysterious and the people were loving and warm.  We loved every moment and would go back in a heartbeat.  However that is Ghana…not Liberia.  And just miles away from Cape Coast where we stayed, the Ivory Coast was overrun by refugees from the Liberian conflict that November in 2005.  I knew nothing of what horrors were occurring in Liberia, much less the fullness of the terror these people were undergoing.

The up close look at the lives of these women and the sexual intimidation and terror they suffer cannot be imagined, and what is extraordinary to me is how deeply our audience connects with them and how much they embrace their stories.  We strive to “bring our community to the world and the world to our community” and I believe we have succeeded with Eclipsed.

So on opening night, when subscribers and board members alike emerged from the theatre gripping their Kleenex, I could not have been more proud, and so deeply moved by the success of our risk at presenting this rare work to a North Shore audience.  I hope it does the same for you.