Danai
Gurira is not only the sword-swinging, ass-kicking Michonne on “The
Walking Dead” — she’s also a playwright. In an interview with DuJour magazine, the 37-year-old actress talks about her second off-Broadway screenplay “Eclipsed.” see more pics below
Starring actresses Lupita Nyong’o,
Pascale Armand, Akosua Busia, Zainab Jah and Saycon Sengbloh, the play
highlights five Liberian wives of a warlord and a Liberian peacemaker
during the country’s civil war trying to define their identities among
the widespread violence.
Gurira, who was born in America but raised in Zimbabwe, told the magazine that she was fascinated by an image she saw of women in the Liberia Civil War in 2003 and vowed to tell the story on stage one day.
“There were some women rebel fighters
who were getting attention in the Western press because no one had ever
seen anything like this,” she said. “I was raised in Africa and I had
never seen anything like it, women with AK-47s, dressed very hip and
looking formidable.”
Gurira her research for the play in
Liberia in 2007. With “Eclipsed,” she explores the women’s complex
perspectives as they laugh, cry and love throughout the story, Gurira
also told DuJour that the issues of violence and limited resources she tackles in the country that still exists today.
“Unfortunately, these are very current
issues,” Gurira said. “And it is appalling that they are very current
issues. One would think we’d have figured them out by now, but we
haven’t and we still live in a world where women are disproportionally
victimized, attacked, put into inhumane circumstances and left to feel
perpetually unsafe. This is a huge global human rights issue that has
not been resolved.”
“Eclipsed” is running at New York’s Public Theater through November 29.
Check out more of her stunning photos from DuJour’s spread below. (Click on any image to enlarge).
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