Lupita Nyong'o to star in New York play written by Walking Dead star

Lupita Nyong’o will make her New York stage debut in the Public Theater’s presentation of Eclipsed, a play about women suffering through the Liberian civil war, written by Walking Dead actress Danai Gurira.

“Danai Gurira has written a brilliant play, ripped from the headlines, that looks at the terrible conflicts in post-colonial Africa with an eye that is both incisive and deeply compassionate,” said the Public’s artistic director, Oskar Eustis, in a release. “A feminist reading of the Liberian Civil War, a war that was ended by women, Eclipsed is both heart-breaking and profoundly life-affirming. We are delighted to welcome the extraordinary Lupita Nyong’o to the Public in this vitally important play.”

Nyong’o will play “The Girl,” who disrupts the fragile community of vulnerable women when she becomes the newest addition to a rebel’s officer’s harem. “Eclipsed reveals distinct women who must discover their own means of survival in this deeply felt portrait of women finding and testing their own strength in a hostile world of horrors not of their own making,” according to the press release.

The play, directed by South African-born Liesl Tommy (Appropriate) begins previews on Sept. 29 and officially opens on Oct. 14. It will run until Nov. 8.