[4] Eclipsed was developed at the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., where the play first premiered in September 2009 and was directed by South African director Liesl Tommy.[5] During its Washington, D.C. run, Eclipsed ran at the Center Theatre Group in Culver City, California, from September to October 2009, where play was directed by Robert O'Hara.[7] While filming The Walking Dead in Atlanta, Georgia, Gurira traveled back and forth to New York City, where she was preparing for The Public Theater's run of Eclipsed.The play was directed by Liesl Tommy and it starred Lupita Nyong'o as The Girl, Saycon Sengbloh as Helena, Akosua Busia as Rita, Zainab Jah as Maima, and Pascale Armand as Bessie.[3] Gurira and Tommy joined the cast of Eclipsed in June 2016, where they surprised the audience during the curtain call live on Facebook to announce plans for Carole Shorenstein Hays to bring the production to the West Coast at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, California for a limited engagement in Spring 2017.Charles Isherwood of The New York Times wrote a rave review, stating "The superlative performances from all five actors, under Ms. Tommy's sensitive direction, draw us so deeply into the lives of the women that this darkness nevertheless flickers with glimmers of light, humanity and even hope."[29] Jeremy Gerald of Deadline wrote: "Eclipsed is a major achievement - a scorching work about women and war whose humor burnishes rather than undermines its seriousness of purpose.