Lupita Nyong'o to Star in Play 'Eclipsed' by 'The Walking Dead' Star Danai Gurira

Lupita Nyong'o is set to star in "Eclipsed," a 2009 play by writer and "The Walking Dead" actress Danai Gurira.

"Eclipsed" will run in New York City's Public Theater on Oct. 14 until Nov. 8, with previews beginning on Sept. 29, Variety reported. Lisel Tommy will direct the play, which debuted at D.C.'s Woolly Mammoth Theater and New Haven's Yale Rep in 2009. Its staging at Off Broadway's Public Theater will mark the play's New York debut.

"Eclipsed" is set during the Second Liberian Civil War and follows the story of a group of women who are the captive wives of a rebel officer, Variety wrote. Their lives will be shaken by the arrival of a new woman.

Nyong'o, who won the 2013 Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her work on "12 Years a Slave," previously appeared in onstage theaters, such as Yale Repertory's "The Winter's Tale," the news outlet noted. The Mexican-Kenyan movie star also has a role in this year's "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

"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 artistic director Oskar Eustis in a statement, as quoted by Daily Mail.

He continued, "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."

Gurira, 37, is best known for her role in AMC's "The Walking Dead" as the katana-wielding Michonne, but she has been an active playwright for more than a decade. Some of her plays are "The Continuum," "The Convert," and "Familiar," all of which are produced in the stage, Daily Mail noted.

"Eclipsed" joins Public Theater's lineup of new works by Tarrell Alvin McCraney, Michael John LaChiusa, and the duo of Stew and Heidi Rodewald, Variety wrote. The Public currently offers the New York Shakespeare Festival's Free Shakespeare in the Park production of "Cymbeline."

Lupita Nyong'o Advocates Against Elephant Poaching

Nyong'o recently traveled back to her native Kenya to advocate globally against illegal wildlife trade.

The actress, who has joined international environmental organization WildAid as one of its star-studded ambassadors, urges the world "to end the current elephant poaching crisis by being 'Ivory Free.'"

"It is time to ban sales of ivory worldwide and to consign the tragedy of the ivory trade to history," Nyong'o said in a statement, as quoted by WildAid.