Remember when Viola Davis won that Emmy and she said, “You cannot win an Emmy for roles that are simply not there.”? Well, Walking Dead star, Danai Gurira, better known as Michonne on the show, has taken
matters into her own hands and has created those roles Davis was talking about.
The Root got to sit down with the multi-talented writer to see what she has been up too.
With being a native from Southern Africa and before she was on the tv screen playing a zombie slaying bad ass, Gurira was actually a playwright.
She soon realized that there were little to no stories about her and her work so took matters into her own hands and created plays that told the story of African women and/or women from the continent.
She explains, “I couldn’t find anything on African women, so I actually started to create as a result of not being able to find stories that spoke to that part of me.” She continues, “I wanted to
create pieces that allowed other girls and women coming up behind me to be able to pick up a piece of work and audition with it or use it in whatever capacity, and know that they had something that they could
work with from that area, something that existed, some dramatic literature that existed.”
When asked, what it felt like to be a creator of something that has become so big. She had this to say, “I love that….I love the idea that I can be on the other side of the world and that’s happening. I
don’t have to be there.”
While Gurira’s play, Eclipsed, is still getting recognition on Broadway and working on another play. She has also been keeping herself busy by preparing for the role of playing Afeni Shakur, Tupac
Shakur’s mother, in the Tupac biopic, All Eyez On Me!
CaDarius B. | IG: @cadarius_ | Twitter: @cadarius_
http://www.theroot.com/articles/culture/2016/03/danai_gurira_as_a_playwright_she_gives_voice_to_african_women.html?wpisrc=topstories
