Theatre News Wire

Acclaimed playwright Danai Gurira (In The Continuum) returns to Chicago with her newest work, The Convert, directed by Emily Mann and critically hailed as "riveting... beyond outstanding" (The Philadelphia Inquirer) and "masterful" (Central Jersey Packet Publications). A world-premiere co-production with McCarter Theatre Center (Princeton, NJ, where Mann is in her 22nd season as artistic director) and Center Theatre Group (Los Angeles, CA, which commissioned the play), The Convert is the first of Gurira's cycle about Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwean identity. The seven-person cast includes Pascale Armand (Eclipsed at Yale Repertory Theatre) in the title role, as Jekesai/Ester; Cheryl Lynn Bruce (The Dreams of Sarah Breedlove) as Mai Tamba; Zainab Jah (In Darfur at The Public Theater) as Prudence; Kevin Mambo (Ruined) as Chancellor; LeRoy McClain (Cymbeline on Broadway) as Chilford; Warner Joseph Miller (The Brothers Size at Seattle Repertory Theatre) as Tamba; and Harold Surratt (Serious Money on Broadway) as Uncle.

"Danai is a thrilling new voice in the American theater; her incisive, riveting In The Continuum left a lasting impression on Chicago when we produced it in 2007," said Artistic Director Robert Falls. "I'm excited to welcome her back, as well as to collaborate with Emily Mann-one of America's top-tier playwrights, directors and adaptors whose work I've admired for more than two decades. The Goodman is proud to produce this important new play together with two wonderful partner theaters, McCarter Theatre Center and Center Theatre Group."

Set amid the colonial scramble for southern Africa in 1895, The Convert tells the tale of Jekesai (Armand), a young girl who escapes a forced marriage arrangement with the help of a stalwart black African catechist, Chilford Chiredzi (McClain). Caught between her loyalty to her family's traditional culture and her indebtedness to a new Christian god, she becomes Chilford's protege, who renames her Ester. When an anti-colonial uprising erupts she is forced to choose sides in the conflict-and decide where her heart truly belongs. The Convert explores the untold cultural and religious collisions caused
by British colonization in what is now Zimbabwe, and the reverberating effects still felt in the region today.

"I am interested in tapping into the experiences of Africans in a period of history that directly informs the Africa we know now," said Gurira, who was born in America, raised in Zimbabwe, and who returned to America to attend New York University. "One of the main themes in The Convert is the idea of finding one's true self when faced with several institutional ideologies. I think this is something that Africa still struggles with-as a whole and as individuals-but we rarely see that dramatized."

The Convert marks Mann's return to her hometown of Chicago, where her credits include the world premiere of her Obie Award-winning play Still Life at the Goodman and her Jeff Award-winning play Having Our Say at Briar Street Theatre.

"Danai sent me her initial draft of The Convert just to hear my response to it, and I could not put it down. So fresh and alive, it's one of the best reads of a new play that I've had in decades," said Mann. "My friend the South African playwright Athol Fugard once said, 'real entertainment is the interplay between heart and mind.' Danai writes about history with humanity, truth and depth, and gives us access to the heart and mind of an African teenage girl who struggles with making a lifechanging choice. She brings the African colonial experience right to us."