US-based actress and playwright Danai Gurira has taken the time to speak about her 2020 as she described the year as a tough year.
Gurira spoke about her projects in 2020 and the trajectory they took because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and said:
Creating work has never been easy. Not even in the best of circumstances. We could never have imagined a 2020 as we planned for its programming, but we recalibrated.
Nevertheless, our programming suffered, we did manage to work towards our core vision in the midst of it all.
Danai also spoke about the Almasi project, a Zimbabwean-American drama arts collaborative organization she co-founded and said:
The goal of Almasi Arts has always been to create opportunity for African artists, to provide education and access.
Being both American and Zimbabwean, it was always vitally important to me to facilitate this relationship between artists across the globe, for the world to get a little smaller, a little less divided.
She also spoke about the highs of her other project OPC and said:
Our work with Ojai Playwrights Conference (OPC) continued in spite of the pandemic preventing travel. Zimbabwean teenagers engaged with American teenagers in the youth writing programme OPC provides,
In January, we were able to conduct our annual Almasi African Playwrights’ Conference and brought dramaturge Sasha Emerson from the United States to Harare to serve as this year’s facilitator; yet another connection made with OPC.
This holiday season, was different from any other, take a moment to get to know a Zimbabwean writer, watch our Playwrights’ Conference video from early in the year and see how Zimbabwean theatre makers developed stories the world needs to hear. Watch the testimonials and hear artists share how they spent this tumultuous year and managed to find their artistic flow despite it all.
Finally, Danai spoke about her work in general and what she has learnt over the years and said:
What I learnt after the astounding response to Marvel’s Black Panther, as a cast member, was that the world is more than ready for narratives from an African perspective.
Everytime I am back in Zimbabwe, I meet artists ready to take off and tell powerful untold stories in unexpected ways. Join me in making sure these stories are heard and experienced by the world.
Danai is one of the few Zimbabwean born actors who have made it big in Hollywood,
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