US Based Actress Gurira Making Waves

Gurira who starred in the award winning movie, The Visitor, has been hailed as the “creative mind from Zimbabwe that adds a spark in the USA film and theatre industry”.

Gurira told Radiovop said: “It has been a fairytale for me. I love this moment in my life. My play Eclipsed has been well received. I think this is a sign that Zimbabwe has a talent to be tapped.”

Written by Gurira and directed by Hallie Gordon is about the effect of Liberian Civil War on the women who must service the warlords rebelling against Charles Taylor.

Gurira was also one of the two gifted young performer-actresses who created “In the Continuum,” a powerful work about women and AIDS that was seen at the renowned venue, Goodman Theatre.

“Eclipsed” is set in a rebel army camp in Liberia in 2003, where Arenas’ Helena (also known as Wife Number One) must both protect and keep in line her fellow “wives,” all stuck in a forced harem of shared danger and mutual competition. The other “wives” take different survivalist tacks: Bessie (Sheppard) takes care of her baby and understandably worries about her well-being; the pragmatic Maima (Perry) becomes an armed rebel herself.

“But much of the play is focused on the youngest of the group, known as The Girl (Collins), who has yet to define herself or her tools of survival, and for whose innocent soul the other wives battle even as she makes her own choices and mistakes,” Gurira explains.

She tells Radiovop that Africa, which has hardly been over-explored in Western theatre, is certainly large enough such plays. I need to promote this work here so that it will be easy for some who will try their luck at Broadway.”