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About
The Convert
From prodigiously talented playwright Danai Gurira (Eclipsed, In the Continuum) comes The Convert;
winner of the 2011 Stavis Award and Edgerton Foundation New American Plays Award. In 1895 in the
region that would become Zimbabwe, a girl is forced to choose between her family’s traditions and the
Christian faith and Western values she has embraced. Born in the U.S. and raised in Zimbabwe, Gurira’s
unique perspective and distinctive voice have created a compelling new play filled with humor and
compassion.
This production contains partial nudity. Appropriate for ages 14 and up.
Playwright Danai Gurira on The Convert
The Convert is part one of my cycle on Zimbabwe and Zimbabwean
identity. In the Convert I go back to the inciting incident: when Zimbabwe
became a colony and the first uprising against the colonial structure
occurred.
The concepts of ownership and cultural identity, right and wrong and moral
ideals, and of course questions of faith and Christian identity -- all these
things still flood who we are today. The Convert was really exploring all
of that in myself...I felt the need to explore my own Zimbabwean identity
and the country as a whole the only way I know how, which is through
dramatic writing.
Director Emily Mann on The Convert
I go to the theatre not just to have myself reflected back at me. I go to the
theatre also to be transported to some place I’ve never been, and this play
does that…And although you are seeing the story of a young African woman
in Harare in 1895, you absolutely connect to her and her story.
What happens to a young soul who’s caught between cultures, who sees
the good in western culture and the good in her own culture and the
bad in her own culture and the bad in western culture? What happens
to that person? It’s a question I’ve had all my life, studying world
history and politics and geography. And through The Convert, Danai
shows us.
INTERVIEW WITH DANAI GURIRA
Shortly before rehearsal for The Convert began, literary intern Kaitlin Stilwell sat down with playwright
Danai Gurira to discuss her play and her career.
Kaitlin Stilwell: You‟re both an actor and a playwright. Can you talk a little bit about how you came
to a life in the theater?
Danai Gurira: My theater life began pretty early on. I was born in the United States but raised in
Zimbabwe. I actually spent a lot of time in theater there as a child. I was part of a children’s performing arts
workshop, which really introduced me to the dramatic arts. The head of it, one of the founders, is a
professor in English and Dramatic Arts. He taught at University of Zimbabwe for several years, but
originally, he’s a white South African/Brit. He indoctrinated me into theater back then and got me very
interested in the craft. And then it just kind of snowballed, throughout high school and into college, though I
wasn’t a theater major in college, I was a psychology major.
In terms of writing, I just wasn’t finding e nough stories about contemporary African people—or historical,
just anything, the whole gamut. I was raised in southern Africa and I came back to the West for college. I
was starting to look for what I would like to perform, what I would like to see put to life onstage, and I was
finding many stories about everybody else, but none about my own people. My playwriting became a
―necessity being the mother of invention‖ type thing. I wasn’t finding what I wanted to perform, so I started
to create it myself.
KS: You‟ve had a relationship with McCarter for several years now. Can you talk about how that
began and has progressed?
DG: The relationship with McCarter began during my first play, In the Continuum, which is a two woman
show that I co-performed with my beloved creative sister, Nikkole Salter. We were summoned here by
Emily Mann. And when you are summoned, you come. We did not know exactly why, but she was just like,
―I want to know you. I want to know what you’re doing next, and that’s that.‖ We were like, ―Cool.‖ So really
from there on, she, and the institution as a whole, have been probably the most supportive institution of my
work. My next play was Eclipsed, which they said, ―Okay, what’s the next step?‖ And I said, ―I need to go
to Liberia.‖ And so they applied for the grant with me and got me to Liberia. It’s just been that sort of a
thing, and this next trilogy that The Convert is a part of, they helped me get another grant to go to
Zimbabwe to do the work on that. It’s just been constant support. Really they’re kind of my closest ally,
when it comes to my voice and getting it out there. Ever since we were summoned, it’s just been a
consistent relationship since then.
KS: Can you talk a little bit about the bigger play cycle The Convert is a part of?
DG: I have no idea how many parts will be in the cycle, I’ll say that off the bat. It’s part one of my cycle on
Zimbabwe, on Zimbabwean identity. A lot of stuff was going on in Zimbabwe in 2008 and I was asked to
write about it in a journalistic type way. I really didn’t feel that I was qualified; I felt like there was so much
going on and it was all rooted in something very ancient—something not present, not today. There’s just so
much that leads to what actually has been going on. I’m not a journalist, I’m a dramatist. So I felt the need
to explore my own Zimbabwean identity and the country as a whole the only way I know how, which is
through dramatic writing. So I started to create; I went back. The Convert is part one because it’s where I
go back to the inciting incident, which is really when Zimbabwe, which was called Rhodesia, or Southern
Rhodesia, became a colony. That inciting incident, the concept of ownership and the concept of cultural
identity, and the concept of right and wrong and moral ideals, all these things still flood who we are today.
The Convert is set in the 1890s, when the first uprising against the colonial structure occurred. And for me
that’s really where that inciting incident rests. I could go further back, honestly, but you know, the largest
inciting incident was when two very major ethnic groups in Zimbabwe—what is now Zimbabwe—the Shona
and the Ndebele, rose up against the Western ideology. And of course the question of faith, and the new
Christian identity that was coming into Zimbabwe, which is very strong in Zimbabwe now, that’s also where
it was starting and really taking root. So The Convert was really exploring all of that in myself, being a
Christian, being a Zimbabwean, being someone who loves the culture of my country as well. All those
things are part of me as well, but it’s all rooted in a play about the 1890s.
KS: That‟s fantastic. Can you talk about the other parts of the cycle?
DG: I’m looking at the present century, the present decade. I’m looking at the 1970s, which is when the
liberation struggle, the struggle for Zimbabwe’s independence, happened. Basically a liberation
conglomerate rose up against the Rhodesian government in the 70s, and resulted in Zimbabwe becoming
Zimbabwe. That will definitely be its own play. And then the 1980s, 1990s and right now could be two, three
plays, who knows. I’m also interested in the 1930s, the 1940s and the 1950s. I was talking to a lot of people
when I was home about all these different time periods, and they’re all fascinating.
Though I went to high school in Zimbabwe I actually studied history very specifically in what you call AP
and what we call A-Level in the British system. And still I didn’t really grapple with this stuff. Because in
some ways it’s very politicized, our history. I’m not trying to look at all the politicized aspects, I just want to
know what happened. For myself, and consequently for my plays. And hopefully, maybe, for others.
KS: You‟ve written other plays set in Africa (In the Continuum, Eclipsed), but Zimbabwe is where you
grew up. Are there ways in which this play is more personal for you?
DG: It’s more personal. Everything I learn hits me in a different way than when I went to Liberia. I was very
connected with that, but as an African. When women would share their stories of what they went through
during the wretched civil war that happened there, they would embrace me as a sister and share very
intimate details with me. They trusted me, they looked at me as family. Which is deeply humbling and a
beautiful thing to experience, and also a great responsibility to take their stories and try and give them
voice.
In terms of this, it’s just a whole other level of personal. Because The Convert is inspired somewhat by
stories I know of my maternal grandfather’s aunt, who has a very similar story to the lead character, to a
point. She fled her family, went to the Catholic church, became a nun, a little after the period of The
Convert but not much after. My own grandmother, who became a very staunch Methodist, asked her father
if she could go and join the missionaries and learn under them, and became a teacher. She stepped out of
a very specific cultural system—her father was a very powerful chief. And he allowed her to go, he became
a Christian too—he didn’t give up his wives, but he became a Christian, too. This is my history. There were
all sorts of things that were going on that are very personal to me. That it’s just exploring my own identity,
really, that’s a different level than anything else I’ve ever done.
KS: A really interesting thing about the way you choose to tell the story is that we only see the
effects of the Eurpoean colonists through the interactions of the African characters; there are no
European characters in the play. Was that a choice you made early on, or something that came to
be in the writing of the play?
DGi: I think it’s both. I did consider I think in quite an early draft, one of the white clergy making an
appearance in the play. But then the play just didn’t make room for him, and I kind of liked that. So it was
very much a choice, and also something that was informed by the play, that there would be no Europeans
in the play. But their presence is still deeply felt, which is in some ways the point.
KS: In The Convert, some of the characters speak Shona and it remains untranslated for the
audience. Can you speak a bit about why you felt it was important to use the Shona language in the
play, and about the choice to let it remain foreign to our ears?
DG: Meaningful communication is an aspect of who we are as human beings. You don’t need to know
exactly what everyone’s saying word for word to hear it, to see people living in a different world and to hear
that they don’t speak American English. And you know, I think people will think, ―I get what’s going on,‖ and
that’s what’s awesome. I don’t need to hear every single word, don’t need it to be spelled out for me.
Audiences, I think, are much smarter than we give them credit for. Really, there was absolutely no way I
could write this play with the Shona not being there. We took a lot out—there are some people actually
tinkering with the play in Zimbabwe, and I’ll put a lot more in for that version. But in terms of what’s
happening with it here, I think there was no way to avoid having the Shona in it. I think that it’s an element
that is not only crucial and essential, but is also enriching, for the Western ear. They’ll get lost but only a
little bit, and then they’ll catch up.
KS: What were the challenges of writing the play?
DG: Finding the language, finding what was true. There’s no real record that I have found that gives you the
exact way Zimbabweans, and Africans at that time, spoke English. I know how we speak it now, I know
how we’ve been speaking it, I know the different ways that people of different classes and different
education levels speak it. So that’s where your imagination as a dramatist has to take over. In some ways
it’s rooted in people I know, but in other ways it had to be specific to the period. So it was really about
finding that, and when I did find it, it was very enjoyable to put it on the page, and to find out how Chilford
says things like ―Goodness of Graciousness,‖ or ―Be of silence.‖ That became really fun, but finding that,
and knowing I had a burden on me to find something that speaks to that possible way that Zimbabweans
spoke back in the 1890s, the Zimbabweans who spoke English—that was an interesting challenge. It
became a joy, but initially it was a challenge.
KS: The play is set in a very specific historical period. Did you do a lot of research? How did you
balance being faithful to history with being faithful to the needs of your play?
DG: I’m a child of academics. My father is a chemistry professor, my mother is a librarian. So I grew up
around books, I grew up around academic speak, I grew up around academics in general, so I’m kind of a
natural researcher. I like to get to know things, I like to delve deep, I like to find out interesting details.
When I get fascinated by a time period or an issue or historical aspects of things, I like to go into those
things and really start to use them to inform what I dramatically create. So in some ways it was really about
finding what was interesting that was actually happening, and then creating characters and situations
based on what was actually happening. Before I start writing I always have to do some research, and at
some point I say, okay I think I can write, and I write for a while and then I go back and research some
more, and then I go back and forth and back and forth. I really allow the facts to inform the fiction. And that
keeps me balanced. There are some things chronologically that you’re like, that doesn’t help me that that
happens then, I need it to happen more quickly, can we jump time? And we’re dealing with that a little bit.
Just little tweaks in the chronology of things that can get a little annoying, but you always find a way around
them. It’s not a documentary, so if I tweak with things a little bit, hey. I never said it was a documentary. It’s
inspired by true historical experiences.
KS: What surprised you in researching and writing the play?
DG: I guess I was surprised by several things. I was surprised by the experiences of Africans during this
time, in certain ways, the way that some were doing one thing and some were doing another and there was
already such a clear division going on, in terms of some blacks were very,‖ let’s get rid of the whites,‖ and
some were working for them. I was surprised when I started to realize how common a phenomenon it was
for African women to flee oppressive situations in their homestead and go to the church. That phenomenon
was happening that early and that extensively. That’s all very interesting stuff to me. [There was a spirit
medium, a woman, Nehanda] I found a lot of pictures of her being captured with a fellow medium called
Kaguvi. [They were both leaders of the rebellion, who were eventually executed. Kaguvi, before he was
executed, converted to Christianity.] And Nehanda, the woman, never converted. There were these two
accounts of [her death]: [in one,] she went to the gallows screaming and shouting hysterically. And then the
other account, historically, was she went to the gallows singing and dancing to her ancestors. I really
started to realize the question, who owns the history, whose version or interpretation gets voice.
KS: I just have one more question for you. What do you think this story has to say to us in this
particular moment in history? What do you hope will resonate with an audience today?
DG: This play got an award at the National Theater Conference. And the lady who presented it, who’s a
lovely Midwestern lady from Nebraska, as Caucasian as can be, she said, ―You know this play really
affected me, and I could see myself in it, my daughter in it, my mother in it.‖ That’s kind of the thing I aim
for: The universal. The more specific you get in your cultural expression, the more human you’re going to
get. The idea that sometimes I hear even from my own fellow artists in Zimbabwe is, we have to make it
commercially viable, we have to make it work for the rest of the world. I say, actually that’s going to make it
not work. Because it’s going to step it away from the truth. If you delve really specifically into your cultural
realm, you actually create the strongest stuff, that actually becomes more universally connected. So I kind
of hope that that’s the response to this play, where they actually see themselves in it, in some realm. That
struggle for identity, that struggle to truly hone on self, that struggle to decide, ―What is my truth?‖ and what
extent will I go to to remain true to my truth? All these influences are going to come at me and tell me what
to be and who to be, and that is a huge experience of today. But who do I, what do I stand up for, where is
my integrity, where is my truth, and what do I say yes or no to in society and who does that make me. How
do I affect change in the world, in the realm that I’m in. I think that is really the struggle and the specificity of
this character. What is institutional and what is personal, and what is oppressive and what is choice. And I
think that that struggle that she goes to to find her own self, I think is something that I hope can be
identified with by many.
Emily Mann on The Convert
Just before rehearsals began, directing intern Daniel Tobin sat down with Emily Mann to discuss directing
The Convert.
DT: What specifically about The Convert excites you so much?
EM: When I read it, I couldn’t believe that it was only her third play. She had leapt so far from [her second
play] Eclipsed, which I loved. The Convert is a classically well-made play, but without any of the oldfashioned trappings. It’s very rare to read a well made play anymore from a new writer because often
people are trying to break form, or they write more in the form of movies or television, in a way that can be
translated onto the stage. But she did not do that. She wrote real scenes, with incredible wit, humor,
intellect, drama, and passion.
Though you are reading the story of a young African woman, Shona woman, in Harare in 1895, you
absolutely connect to her and her story. You understand colonialism from a unique perspective. Danai can
write this incredibly well made play, in English, with some Shona thrown in, and connect to it in a way that’s
absolutely accessible, so that you become the African people from further back than the last century and
think, ―I get it. I understand it. I understand what happened and why.‖
DT: What are some of the challenges you foresee in the rehearsal process, or in the play itself?
EM: We have had a workshop, so I feel very, very ready to jump into a full rehearsal period. When we
started the workshop, there was so much Shona, which is the native language of these people. I loved the
idea of us hearing authentically who would be speaking accented English and who would be speaking in
Shona, but we didn’t want to use subtitles. So how do you have the Shona work, stay theatrical, and not be
a barrier to the audience entering into the play? We cut it way back, and we really use the Shona in a way
that through an action by a character or an actor on the stage. If the Shona says, ―Take off your shirt and
put this on,‖ you see that and so you don’t feel like, ―I don’t really know what happened there.‖
The other challenge is because the language is authentic and yet stylized at the same time, a lot of the
humor comes from the malapropisms of the characters. And you don’t want to be sending them up; you
really want to be hearing them, but at the same time to find it amusing and interesting, and make sure that
you don’t lose respect for the characters while you are hearing them speak in malapropisms. It’s very, very
subtly written and very intelligently written and it’s quite clever. So, to keep the humor in the right balance
with the drama is going to be an interesting challenge.
Danai is a maniac for authentic detail and because she has just been in Zimbabwe for five weeks, she is
going to be a lunatic when it comes to authenticity. She’s going to want everything exactly right, which I
love. Every prop, every item that is on the stage or referred to is going to be extraordinarily well researched.
There are all of those interesting cultural differences and subtleties that I’m looking forward to learning.
DT: Why do you think this story needs to be told now?
EM: Why is now the right time for this play? Well, in terms of the author, because this is her newest play,
and she’s probably going to become one of the most important writers in the American canon. She’s going
to be right up there if she keeps going, with the major playwright figures of the last forty years.
In terms of story, that’s a good question. I always think, when you write a history play, you’re really talking
about now. So, the question of the people rising up against an oppressive regime, we’re seeing all over the
world people rising up and protesting regimes that have kept them under. If you look at the whole so called
Arab Spring, we don’t know what’s going to come of that, but this play helps you understand, from the
inside, why people would say, ―No, you cannot treat me in a less than human way. This is my country you
cannot take this away from me.‖
So, on the one hand, we’re looking at just despotism and tyranny. On the other hand, we’re looking at
colonialism from the point of view of those who are being colonized. It’s very rare we see something that we
understand from the inside out. Danai has a unique perspective being both Zimbabwean and American,
being a great actress and a great writer, and someone who has a real mastery of the English language and
theatrical English language. She can bring this to us alive, and passionate, and funny, and smart. I think it’s
a rare opportunity for an audience to go and connect with this story. And of course, we have a very
intelligent audience. I think they’re going to find it thrilling. It’s a journey I haven’t seen on film or in the
theater.
DT: One thing that really interests me about this play is that it’s not set in the heart of colonial rule, but sort
of on the precipice at the beginning. How do you think that affects the story?
EM: What I love about this play is that there are no angels and no villains. You are seeing why Christianity
had the hold on Africa that it did, both for good and bad. Certainly, Danai, who is a devoutly religious
woman, is very glad that Christianity came to Africa. And in a way, the play shows how the African church
got formed. You see how the push and pull of the idea of what the traditional lifestyle, or traditional culture
was, as opposed to the new Western culture, what was good and bad in one side and what was good and
bad in the other.
You can understand the tension in a young girl who didn’t want to be the tenth wife of some old man in
some village, and yet, the uncles had the power to basically enslave her, converting to Catholicism
because there’s no such thing as polygamy in Catholicism. She was, as a woman, saved from the
misogyny of her own culture. That’s where Danai is so brilliant. There is a complexity to how she looks at
the situation I haven’t seen in a play, from the point of view that we’re hearing it from. We’re hearing from
an African woman’s perspective, who’s also an American, whose primary language is English, tell us this
story.
CULTIVATING THE CONVERT - BY CARRIE HUGHES
Our third play of the season, The Convert, brings playwright Danai Gurira’s work to our mainstage for the
first time, directed by Emily Mann. Set in 1896 in what is modern day Zimbabwe, The Convert tells the
story of Jekesai, a young woman fleeing a forced marriage in her native village. Brought to the home of
Chilford, an African Catholic catechist, and moved by genuine faith and a glimpse at the education and
possibilities this new world offers her, Jekesai, renamed Ester, embraces Catholicism and Jesus. When a
violent uprising against colonial white rule disrupts their lessons, Ester and Chilford must choose between
people they love, and confront the changes that threaten their deepest loyalties.
While The Convert is Danai’s first play on our mainstage, she’s a familiar presence in McCarter’s Lab
activities, and her path to production is a window in to the occasionally mysterious new play development
process. McCarter provides artists with a variety of tools and opportunities, customizing and not dictating a
set path. We make resources available, build a relationship, ask good questions, have faith and trust that
the work will follow. Danai has managed to try out just about every tool in our arsenal—and the work has
been extraordinary.
The McCarter artistic staff first became aware of Danai with her first play, In the Continuum, which she cowrote and performed with collaborator Nikkole Salter. Captivated by her story telling, we invited Danai to
McCarter to participate in one of our Lab Festival events, in which writers read from works in progress. The
piece she performed—a monologue by a teenage girl soldier in Liberia—was shocking and compelling (and
funny). Immediately, we knew we wanted to go further with the play and support this writer. Trained as an
actress, and born in America but raised in Zimbabwe, Danai has a unique voice and perspective. So we
did what we often do when beginning a relationship with an artist: we asked what she needed. At that time
she needed support to travel to Liberia to continue her research. We sponsored Danai’s application for a
travel grant from Theater Communications Group, which she received. The monologue expanded—and
within the year she brought us her first draft of Eclipsed, the story of a group of women caught up in
Liberia’s civil war. The 2008 Lab Festival included a reading and one excited conversation in the back of
the theater later, Eclipsed became the centerpiece of the 2009 Lab Festival.
In that workshop production we provided a talented equity cast, a director known for her dramaturgical skills
(Liesl Tommy), a dramaturg (Carrie Hughes) with whom Danai would begin a long-term collaboration, a
design team and barebones design budget, three weeks of rehearsals, and eleven performances in the
Berlind rehearsal room. In the rehearsal room, in conversations with McCarter’s artistic staff, and with the
eventual addition of a smart Princeton audience (maybe you got to see it?), Danai learned things about her
play that she brought to her rewriting. And rewrite she did—the list of changes ran eight pages, single
spaced. The Lab Festival helped launch Eclipsed, both by helping Danai strengthen her script and by
bringing it to the attention of a wider audience—in the next season it was produced at Yale Rep, Woolly
Mammoth in DC and Center Theatre Group in LA.
Building on the relationship we’d begun, we invited Danai to join us in Princeton that summer for our artists’
retreat, a ten day event in which we house writers at Princeton’s Palmer House bed and breakfast and give
them as much support or space as they’d like. Among the projects she worked on was her newest play,
The Convert, a commission for Center Theatre Group. McCarter and CTG teamed up to support Danai in
the manner we hoped would serve her work best and a cross country collaboration ensued (eventually we
were joined by the Goodman Theatre in Chicago). We were off (and traveling)! There was a summer
workshop in LA, two fall readings in Princeton, a short Chicago workshop at the Goodman (in January—
such is our devotion to Danai that both literary director Carrie Hughes and producing director Mara Isaacs
spent the weekend in Chicago in January!), and a longer one in Los Angeles in April directed by Emily
Mann (that one wasn’t quite the same level of physical sacrifice). There were several long coffee dates in
which Emily and Carrie talked through the play with Danai. At each step, challenged by the questions and
reflections of her collaborators, Danai refined and deepened her play—considering the role of characters,
the use of the Shona language, the tightness of the dialogue, the rhythm of the action, even the placement
of intermissions. This winter the world premiere production of The Convert will travel from Princeton to
Chicago to LA, and no doubt change along the way.
The Convert is the first in a planned series of Zimbabwe plays. We hope to be involved in their
development and, perhaps, their eventual production. Danai is part of the McCarter artistic family—we
can’t wait to introduce her to you!
THE WORLD OF THE CONVERT: A BRIEF
HISTORY OF ZIMBABWE
BY CARRIE HUGHES
For centuries, the region of present day Zimbabwe had been home to a number of sophisticated native
states, civilizations of mostly Shona-speaking people with established art, religion and commerce. But
major change began to set in in the 1830s, when the Ndebele people of present-day South Africa, who
were fleeing violence in their native region, arrived in the southwestern part of the country. They proved to
be a powerful force and quickly seized control of much of the south by overthrowing many long-standing
Shona chieftancies. The Ndebele eventually established a home, Matabeleland, in the southwestern
portion of the region, while many Shona-speaking people remained in Mashonaland, to the north, subject to
the Ndebele chiefs.
Around this time, the European presence in Africa was steadily increasing. European political and business
interests were scouring the continent for opportunities, while permanent missions—both Protestant and
Catholic—had begun to take root. One of the first British missionaries, Robert Moffat, befriended the
Ndebele king, Mzilikazi Khumalo, in the 1820s. Moffat and his party earned the trust of the locals and
introduced them to Christian values and western customs. Though technically independent of the political
and commercial British interests, the missionaries influenced the colonization of the area and the lives of
its people.
At the same time, European governments and the missionaries’ business-minded contemporaries
continued splicing up the continent. By the 1880s German, Portuguese, Boer and British settlers were
aggressively vying for the land and resources of southern Africa, and Zimbabwe became a prime target in
the ―scramble for Africa,‖ as its promise of mineral resources and rich ranching and farming land made the
plateau a desirable prize. The Ndebele king, Mzilikazi Khumalo’s son, Lobengula, found his state swarmed
with Europeans and their growing influence.
In 1888, the British gained the advantage when, under the leadership of politician and businessman Cecil
John Rhodes, they sent John Smith Moffat—the son of Robert Moffat—to meet with King Lobengula. Moffat
convinced Lobengula to sign the Moffat Treaty, which prevented him from dealing with other foreign
powers, and the Rudd Concession, which gave Rhodes ―complete and exclusive charge of all metal and
mineral rights,‖ as well as commercial and legal powers. Lobengula trusted Moffat—their fathers had been
friends—and signed away these rights as a means of both protecting his people and keeping foreign
interests in his kingdom at a minimum. He knew he could not win an outright war with the settlers, and was
led to believe his people would receive British protection from other European states. Additionally, he was
verbally promised that no more than ten white men would be mining in his state at one time. In exchange,
he received monthly payments, rifles and ammunition. On the strength of these concessions Rhodes was
granted a charter by Queen Victoria, and his British South Africa Company (BSAC) became the
administrative power in the region. The BSAC was given complete imperial and colonial power, and with it
they established police forces, built roads, railways, harbors and banks, and sent the Pioneer Column,
settlers protected by BSAC forces, north from South Africa to occupy the Zimbabwe plateau. In 1890, the
Pioneer Column raised the British flag over what would become Salisbury (which would later become
Harare); among their party was a Jesuit missionary.
But the oral and written portions of Lobengula’s concessions differed. He tried to appeal to Queen Victoria
and failed. In 1893, war erupted between the Ndebele and BSAC forces; the Ndebele were defeated and
Lobengula fled north. At that time the settlers believed the unrest was under control—the people of
Matabeleland were defeated and the settlers assumed those in Mashonaland were content. They were
wrong, and tensions escalated. The locals were angry over the unbalanced appropriation of the land, and
the introduction of the hut tax in 1894 forced them, a majority of whom had previously held their wealth
largely in cattle, to work for colonists for currency so that they could pay taxes. Further complicating
matters, an epidemic of rinderpest wiped out cattle. Religious leaders, spirit mediums who communicated
with the ancestors and gods, urged a rebellion. From 1896 through 1897 first the Ndebele and then the
Shona rose up against the colonists. Dubbed the first Chimurenga (―revolutionary struggle‖ in Shona), it
was notable for the show of unity among tribes and its early success forced settlements into a siege
mentality. But reinforcements of men and equipment from the south soon gave the settlers the advantage,
and the leaders of the rebellion, including spirit mediums, were captured; many were executed.
Negotiations at the end of 1896 allowed for some amnesties, and a promise of the removal of troops from
Matabeleland settled the situation in the west. But the conflict in the eastern part of the region, which
includes Salisbury/Harare, continued through the early twentieth century. These tensions and the strict
rejection of traditional ways by missionaries also led to the emergence of independent African churches in
the late nineteenth century, incorporating and blending traditional and Christian rites.
It would be another 80 years before Zimbabwe (then called Southern Rhodesia) permanently broke free of
colonialism. In 1922, BSAC rule formally ended and the region was annexed by the British government.
The white minority opted for self government, and shortly thereafter, restrictions to land access forced
many blacks into wage labor; over the next several decades black opposition to colonial rule grew and
nationalist groups emerged. In 1965, the government unilaterally declared Rhodesia (as it was then known)
independent from Great Britain, setting off a civil war with nationalist groups that lasted until 1979, when
British-brokered peace talks led to a new constitution. In February, 1980, Robert Mugabe won the country’s
first independent elections, and two months later Zimbabwe became an internationally recognized country.
This triumph, and the hopeful years that immediately followed it, were later marred by corruption, violence,
and economic deterioration. Mugabe has continued to win elections amid charges of electoral violence,
corruption, and intimidation. At the turn of the twenty-first century, inflation exceeded 1000%, governmentsanctioned land redistribution programs that seized white-owned land were plagued by violence and
opposition politicians were beaten or charged criminally. Since 2008, Mugabe has shared power with
Morgan Tsvangirai, the opposition leader who now serves as prime minister, but criticism and tensions
remain.
ZIMBABWE FROM THE NINETEENTH
CENTURY: A TIMELINE
1820s
1830s
1859
1860
1879
British missionary Robert
Moffat befriends Ndebele
King Mzilikazi Khumalo in
present-day South Africa.
The Ndebele flee
South Africa and
arrive in
southwestern
Zimbabwe;
overthrow many
Shona chieftaincies;
establish the
Matabeleland state.
Robert Moffat and
the London
Missionary Society
(non-denominational
Protestants)
establish the first
permanent white
settlement in
Zimbabwe, the Inyati
Mission.
King Mzilikazi’s
son, Lobengula,
becomes king of
Matabeleland.
First Jesuit
mission in
Zimbabwe is
established.
1888
1889
Sept. 1890
1893
1894
Lobengula signs Moffat
Treaty, which prevents
him from dealing with
foreign powers other than
England, and the Rudd
Concession, which gives
Cecil John Rhodes of the
British South Africa
Company (BSAC),
―complete and exclusive
charge of all metal and
mineral rights,‖ as well as
commercial and legal
powers in exchange for
British protection, a
monthly payment, and
weapons.
Queen Victoria
gives royal charter
to Cecil John
Rhodes and his
British South Africa
Company,
effectively granting
them complete
imperial and colonial
power.
Union Jack raised in
Salisbury (presentday Harare, the
setting of The
Convert). Members
of the British South
African Company’s
paramilitary Pioneer
Column occupy
Mashonaland. In the
―scramble for Africa,‖
Zimbabwe is now in
the British sphere.
First AngloNdebele War
breaks out when
execution of
treaties does not
meet
Lobengula’s
expectations.
Ndebele lose and
Lobengula flees
north.
Hut tax introduced.
Most Africans in
the region had
previously held
their wealth largely
in cattle. The
introduction of this
tax forces many to
work for colonists
for currency so
that they can pay
taxes.
May 1895
1896
June 1896
Sept. 1897
1922
British South African
Company officially adopts
the name Southern
Rhodesia for the region.
Rinderpest epidemic
devastates cattle.
African religious
leaders and
mediums include
this as a sign of
anger of the
ancestors over the
presence of the
settlers. White
forces kill off cattle
to limit spread of
disease, further
enraging native
people.
Related Shona
uprising begins.
Shona traditional
spiritual leaders,
including spirit
mediums of Kaguvi,
Nehanda and Mwari,
inspire rebels.
Shona Chief
British South
Makoni executed African Company
after
rule ends.
Rhodesia is
surrendering.
formally annexed
by British
Government.
Bernard Mzeki,
African Episcopal
catechist, killed by
rebels.
March 1896:
Ndebele uprising
against the settlers
begins. Beginning
of siege of
Bulawayo. Mlimo,
the Ndebele spiritual
leader, is one of the
instigators of the
rebellion.
1930s – 1960s
1965
1972 – 1979
Opposition to colonial
The white-minority Guerrilla war against
rule increases; nationalist government, led by white rule ensues.
Ian Smith,
groups emerge.
unilaterally declares
Rhodesia
independent from
British rule.
1979
1980
British-brokered
peace talks lead
to peace
agreement and
new constitution.
Pro-independence
leader Robert
Mugabe wins
independent
elections;
Zimbabwe is
internationally
recognized.
1998
2000
2002
2003
Economic crisis, strikes
and riots.
Seizure of whiteowned farms and
accompanying
violence.
Mugabe re-elected in Opposition
elections criticized by leader Morgan
Tsvangirai
foreign observers.
arrested and
charged with
treason. (He is
later acquitted.)
2006
Inflation exceeds
1000%.
2008
After charges of
intimidation lead the
opposition to pull out of
the election, Mugabe and
opposition leader Morgan
Tsvangirai sign powersharing agreement.
Implementation is slow
and problematic.
Sources: Becoming Zimbabwe Edited by Brian Raftopoulos and Alois Mlambo;
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14113618; Zimbabwe Epic compiled by P.C. Mazikana
and I.J. Johnstone.
THE CONVERT GLOSSARY
Created by Kaitlin Stilwell, in order of appearance in the play
Salisbury: Salisbury began as Fort Salisbury, established in 1890 and named for Britain’s prime minister.
In 1980, Rhodesia became the independent Republic of Zimbabwe, and two years later, in 1982, Salisbury
was renamed Harare.
nhembe: goat skin skirt
Mai : In Shona, women are addressed by their relationship to a male family member. Mai is the term for
―mother of‖ so Mai Tamba is being called ―mother of Tamba.‖
Muzezuru/Shona : The Shona language is part of the family of Bantu languages and is spoken in
Zimbabwe and southern Zambia. The term Shona also refers to people who speak the Shona language.
There are five dialects of Shona including Zezuru, which is spoken in northern Zimbabwe where Salisbury
is located. Speakers of Zezuru are also known as Muzezuru, Mazezuru or Mazizuru. Approximately 14.2
million people speak Shona.
mutsvairo: African broom
Mai Kuda‟s „brown powder‟/snuff: Tobacco as a crop was introduced to Zimbabwe in the early 17th
century and quickly became incorporated into African society. Snuff is a form of tobacco that has been
finely ground and is meant for inhaling.
catechist : trained layperson who evangelizes using a question and answer format to teach Christian
doctrine
Commissioner of Native Affairs : Minor civil servant appointed to each district or subdistrict of
Mashonaland and Matabeleland to help regulate that area: keep the peace; report crimes, epidemics or
unrest; even assign land and regulate the creation of new buildings and gardens. The native commissioner
was often responsible for collecting the hated hut tax. Effectively, they filled the role a chief would normally
have held, but answering to the colonial government.
hut tax : A tax of ten shillings per hut collected in Mashonaland by the British South African Company on
behalf of the colonial government beginning in 1894. Because in Shona society wealth was calculated by
heads of cattle and not currency, the hut tax often forced Africans to abandon traditional practices and work
in British mines and infrastructure to earn the money with which to pay the tax.
biblical story of Ester: Esther is a Jewish orphan raised by her uncle, Mordechai, and chosen to be the
new bride of King Ahasuerus (Xerxes). The King honors one of the realm’s princes, Haman, and Haman,
feeling his new status, forces everyone to bow to him. But Mordechai won’t, because as a devout Jew, he
will only bow to God. This angers Haman, and he hatches a plan to have Mordechai executed and to kill all
the Jews in the kingdom. Esther is the only one who can save them, by talking to the King, but there’s a
catch: upon pain of death, she cannot enter the King’s presence unless she has been called for, and he
hasn’t called for her in a long time. But she gathers her courage and goes to his court unsummoned (―If I
perish, I perish‖). By reminding the King of his debt to Mordechai and revealing Haman’s plan, Haman is
punished and all the Jews of the land are given the right to defend themselves and take revenge. Esther’s
story is celebrated on the Jewish holiday of Purim.
brideprice: Also known as the roora, a form of dowry paid to the bride’s family. Livestock was almost
always the payment: cattle if the family could afford it, and sheep or goats if they couldn’t. Often the
brideprice for a daughter would pay for the marriage of a son, and thus enforce close bonds between those
siblings, whose matrimonial fates were closely linked. Because of the brideprice if a girl found herself in a
terrible marriage, it was hard for her to leave; her family would be forced to repay the brideprice, which
often they had already spent.
gonzo: Shona word for a rat
maize meal (mealie meal): A coarse flour made from maize. Also known as mielie-meal (from the
Portuguese word for maize), it is a staple food in southern and sub-Saharan Africa.
Jesuit missionaries: A Roman Catholic religious order founded in 1534 by St. Ignatius of Loyola. They
conduct missionary work all over the world with a strong emphasis on education, earning them the title
―schoolmasters of the world.‖ The first Jesuit mission in Zimbabwe was established in 1879. Jesuits were
chaplains and interpreters for the Pioneer Column in 1890 when the British South Africa Company moved
north to establish Salisbury in Mashonaland. As reward for their services, they were given Chishawasha,
12,000 acres outside of Salisbury, which became a mission farm.
kaffirs: Now, a derogatory term to refer to black people, mostly used in southern African countries. In
colonial times, it was the common European term for an African, and was used neutrally. From the Arabic
word for "non-believer," it is thought to have been picked up by the Portuguese and applied to the Africans
they met when they first colonized southern Africa.
bafu: a traitor, or someone "not on our side"
kraal: an Afrikaans and Dutch word similar to the word corral, it can refer to a village (a collection of huts)
surrounded by a stockade, the huts themselves, or a circular enclosure for cattle and other livestock (often
located within the village itself)
Baba: Shona term for father; also used as a term of respect for an elder (for example, Baba Chiamba, the
Chiltern’s gardener)
“white man with no knees‖: This epithet comes from the military manner in which the colonial soldiers
marched: stiff-legged, without an obvious bending at the knee.
duties of priesthood: In Catholicism a priest works under the Bishop in the Church’s hierarchy. Aside
from Holy Orders which must be done by a Bishop, he can conduct any of the other Seven Sacraments:
Baptism, Confirmation, Eucharist, Penance, Anointing the Sick, and Matrimony. Priests must be celibate.
Kurova Guva: Ceremony that typically occurs 6 months to a year after death. When a Shona person is
buried, a stick is put into the grave while the dirt is being poured and packed in; later it is removed and a
hole is left behind. The Shona believe that a dead person has two shadows: a black one (the flesh) and a
white one (the soul). When the white shadow emerges from the grave (often in the form of a white worm)
that means it is time for the kurova guva. The worm goes into the woods and grows into an animal, a
physical manifestation of the soul. In the kurova guva, the family is calling home the spirit of their dead
ancestor from the forest and establishing its place as a vadzimu, one of the spirits that will guide the lives of
the living family. In preparation, beer is brewed and an animal is selected for sacrifice. On the day of the
ceremony, the beer is poured over the grave and the animal killed and roasted at the spot. After the formal
ceremony, the drinking and eating go on through the night, sometimes with drums and singing. Kurova
guva is also the time when the inheritance is divided and passed on.
kaffir corn: Another name for the grain sorghum. Because it is highly drought-resistant, and has enough
protein to sustain a population in times of famine, it is an important crop in many tropical and sub-tropical
regions.
giving one‟s testimony: a way of evangelizing by sharing one’s own personal conversion story as a
means to convince someone else to join the faith
Mwari: The Shona have one God, Mwari: a remote, impersonal ―creator.‖ As Mwari is remote, they also
have other important spirits that play essential roles in their rituals and everyday lives. There are tribal
spirits or royal ancestors (mhondoro) who are responsible for the welfare of the tribe and are appealed to
on matters such as weather or battle outcomes. Then there are the vadzimu, the spirits of one's ancestors
who must be honored and appeased through many rituals, and who are appealed to in matters of daily life.
The spirits of these ancestors must be carefully placated and tended to; not only are they the medium
through which prayers can go to Mwari, they can also take revenge upon the living if badly treated.
Beatrice Mine: This gold mine, about 35 miles outside of Salisbury, was established in 1895, and named
for the sister of one of men in the Pioneer Column. A miner’s life was difficult: the mine owners were
constantly testing how little they could pay their African workers, the hours were long, and the work was
dangerous. In some of the mines, the workers were confined to closed labor compounds, locked in for three
to six months at a time.
Matabele/Ndebele language/people: Ndebele is also a Bantu language, like Shona, but descended from
and influenced by Zulu. The Ndebele people were Zulus who split off in the 1820s. They established
themselves in Zimbabwe is the late 1830s and subdued the Shona people in the west and south to
establish Matabeleland.
mbange: smokable cannabis
“We must tend to it as Chuma and Susi with Livingstone”: David Livingstone was a Scottish explorer
who traversed Africa in the 19th century. Chuma and Susi were his African companions on his final
exploration. When Livingstone died, Chuma and Susi carried his body and journal thousands of miles to the
coast so that his body could be brought back to England. He was interred at Westminster Abbey. (Chuma’s
story has some resonance with Childford’s: Livingstone freed him from slave traders when he was only a
boy, and after that, he never left his company and regarded Livingstone as his only family.)
Bernie Mizeki: Bernard Mizeki was an African catechist for the Anglican church. When the 1896 uprisings
began, he was urged to evacuate his mission, but chose to stay. On June 18, 1896 he was murdered
outside his home during the Ndebele/Shona uprising.
n‟anga: Traditional healer (sometimes called a witchdoctor) responsible for the spiritual as well as physical
health of the village. She or he can be an expert herbalist, possess powers for making charms and
remedies, or ―cast bones‖ to divine answers. In this century, the n‟anga has become incorporated into a
Christian lifestyle.
knobkerries: These large, club-like sticks are common in Southern and Eastern Africa; they have a knob
at the end and are variously used to hunt animals (by throwing it at them), against an enemy, or as a
walking stick.
kachasu: Popular beverage especially for the poorer populations of Zimbabwe and Zambia, because it can
be brewed at home and cheaply. It is brewed from fermenting rotten sadzu (millet or maize meal). Like
moonshine, the alcohol content is high and can vary widely: anywhere from 20–30% to 70% pure ethanol.
“rindapest”: Rinderpest, also known as cattle plague or steppe murrain, is an infectious virus that was
notorious for decimating cattle populations. Most animals died within 6-12 days of showing symptoms. In
the 1890s, rinderpest wiped out 80–90 percent of all the cattle in southern Africa, leaving many Africans
impoverished. Attempting to curb the spread of the disease, the colonists slaughtered huge numbers of
African cattle they feared had been exposed, and then forbade the starving Shona and Ndebele to eat the
meat. Many believe that this was the final spark that led to the 1896–7 uprisings. Rinderpest was officially
declared eradicated in 2011.
bhudi: a informal term used colloquially like "buddy" or "man" implying familiarity
dofo: dull, as in dim-witted, or not smart; often applied to schoolchildren
zambia: African scarf
absolution: Sins are washed away in the sacrament of baptism. However, after baptism, a person can still
sin, and a priest must absolve those sins for the sinner to go to heaven. This is done through the sacrament
of penance or confession. This sacrament requires the sinner to have a contrite heart, confess his/her sins
to a priest who absolves him/her in the name of Christ, and then carry out the act of penance. Only a priest
can absolve sins.
COSTUMES AND CHARACTERS
The Costumes for The Convert are designed by Paul Tazewell. Paul did extensive research to create
costumes that are authentic to the time period (1895-1896) and to the place (Salisbury, the city that would
later become Harare, Zimbabwe, and the rural villages of the region). Sketches below show the distinctive
silhouettes of the mid-1890s, and also illustrate the ways in which certain characters move between
Chilford’s westernized household in Salisbury and their home village.
Mai Tamba: A woman, mother of
the earth, in her mid fifties.
Jekesai/Ester: A girl in her late
teens.
Chilford: A man in his early to mid thirties.
Tamba: A man in his early to mid
twenties.
Chancellor: A man in his early to mid thirties.
Uncle: A man in his forties or fifties.
Prudence: A woman in her early thirties
Cast and creative
Pascale Armand (Jekesai/Ester)
McCarter Lab: Eclipsed. Regional: Belleville; Danai Gurira’s
Eclipsed, dance of the holy ghosts (Yale Rep); Ruined (La Jolla
Playhouse, The Huntington, Berkeley Rep); Let There Be Love
(Baltimore Center Stage); Gee's Bend (Kansas City Repertory
Theatre); Doubt (Vermont Stage Company); Gem of the Ocean
(Arena Stage); As You Like It (Hangar Theatre); Hamlet, Jitney,
Blues for an Alabama Sky (Syracuse Stage). Off-Broadway: Four
(MTC); Breath, Boom (Playwrights Horizons). European tour with
Peter Sellars performing An End to the Judgment of God.
TV/Film: The Good Wife, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Law &
Order: Criminal Intent, Kinsey, Strangers with Candy.
Cheryl Lynn Bruce (Mai Tamba) Broadway: The Grapes of
Wrath. Regional and International: The Grapes of Wrath
(Steppenwolf, National Theatre – London, La Jolla Playhouse);
Race, The Great Fire (Lookingglass); Harriet Jacobs (Kansas
City Rep). TV/Film: Prison Break, There Are No Children Here,
Separate but Equal, To Sir with Love 2, Stranger than Fiction,
Daughters of the Dust, The Fugitive. Awards/Fellowships: 2010
Jane Addams Hull House Association’s Woman of Valor Award,
3Arts Artist Award, and the Inaugural Fellow of the Ellen Stone
Belic Institute for the Study of Women and Gender in the Arts and
Media at Columbia College Chicago in spring 2006. Ms. Bruce is
developing a performance project on the life and times of Edward Alexander Bouchet, Yale’s first black PhD in
Physics, for her 2011-12 Yale Research Residency.
Zainab Jah (Prudence) Theater: Josephine in Ruined (La
JollaPlayhouse, The Huntington, Berkeley Rep;San Diego Critics’
Circle Featured Actress Award); A Doll‟s House (Williamstown
Theatre Festival); Eclipsed (Yale Rep); Tranced (Merrimack
Rep); Intimate Apparel, King Lear, Trojan Women (Classical
Theatre of Harlem, Drama Desk Award); In Darfur (The
Public/NYSF); Much Ado About Nothing, Edward II (The Queen’s
Company); Peter Sellars’ Children Of Herakles (European Tour).
TV/Film: principal roles in 100 Center Street dir. by Sidney Lumet,
Dinner Rush with Danny Aiello, Law & Order: SVU. Zainab
received the Best Actress Award for Nick Mwaluko’s Waafrika,
which was presented as part of the Fresh Fruit Festival NYC and again for Nick Mwaluko’s S/HE at The Blue Heron
Theatre, NYC.
Kevin Mambo (Chancellor) Broadway: Fela!. Off-Broadway:
Ruined (MTC), Hoodoo Love (Cherry Lane Theatre), Once Around
The Sun (Zipper Factory Theater), and Fela is a Weapon (Shrine
Theater). TV/Film: Cadillac Records, Guiding Light (two-time
Daytime Emmy Award for Younger Lead Actor in a Drama Series),
One Life to Live, Soul Food, Any Day Now, Law & Order, Law &
Order: CI, Deadline, Law & Order: Trial by Jury, Law & Order:
SVU, Spin City, Family Matters, Freshman Dorm, The Firing
Squad, and One Of Us Tripped. Mr. Mambo received his BFA from
the University of Southern California Theatre Conservatory.
LeRoy McClain (Chilford) Broadway: Cymbeline, The History
Boys. Off-Broadway: Milk Like Sugar, Born Bad (AUDELCO
nom.), Measure for Measure, Othello, The Good
Negro, Oroonoko, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Huck &
Holden, In Search of Stanley Hammer. International: Othello.
Regional: Milk Like Sugar, The Piano Lesson (Connecticut Critics
Circle Award, Best Actor), Antony & Cleopatra, The Whipping
Man, The Good Negro, Blue/Orange, Elmina's
Kitchen, Othello, Trouble In Mind, The Comedy of Errors, Rough
Crossing, Richard II, Three Days of Rain, Private Eyes, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Like Sun Fallin' in the
Mouth, The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, Medea/Macbeth/Cinderella. TV/Film: The Happy Sad, The Adjustment
Bureau, Rubicon, Law & Order: CI, Guiding Light, Breaking In, The Stage. Education: MFA Yale School of Drama,
National Theatre Acting Studio (London).
Warner Joseph Miller (Tamba) has recently appeared at
Seattle Repertory Theatre in their debut of Tarrell A. McCraney's
The Brothers Size. He has premiered the plays: Lost Boy Found
in Whole Foods, Follow Me To Nellie's (Premiere Stages);
Brothers from the Bottom (The Billie Holiday Theatre); and Seed
(Classical Theatre of Harlem). Other credits include: August
Wilson's Fences dir. by Kenny Leon (The Huntington), Ma
Rainey's Black Bottom (Syracuse Stage), The Piano
Lesson (Geva Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre), Paradox of
the Urban Cliche (LAByrinth Theater Company), the premiere
production of Since Africa (The Old Globe), False
Creeds (Alliance Theatre), and A Raisin in the Sun (Hartford
Stage). Film: American Gangster dir. by Ridley Scott, HBO's Wyclef Jean in America, and Everyday People. TV: Law
& Order, CSI-NY.
Danai Gurira (Playwright) co-created and performed in the award-winning two-woman play In the Continuum, which
premiered off-Broadway and toured the U.S. and Southern Africa. For her work on that production, Danai won a 2006
Obie Award, the 2006 Outer Critics John Gassner Award, and the 2004 Global Tolerance Award (Friends of the
United Nations), in addition to being honored by the Theatre Hall of Fame. In 2007, she received a Helen Hayes
Award for Best Lead Actress in In the Continuum at Woolly Mammoth. Danai was most recently seen in the
Shakespeare in the Park production of Measure for Measure, the acclaimed film The Visitor (with Oscar-nominated
actor Richard Jenkins), and on Broadway in Lincoln Center Theater's production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone.
She is also featured in the films 3 Backyards (Sundance 2010), My Soul to Keep (Wes Craven, 2010), and Restless
City. She has appeared on TV in Law & Order, Life on Mars, Lie to Me, Law & Order: CI and has a recurring role on
HBO’s Treme. Her play Eclipsed, about Liberian women in war, was recently produced at Woolly Mammoth, CTG's
Kirk Douglass, and Yale Rep. It won Best New Play at the 2010 Helen Hayes Awards and Danai won Best Playwright
at the 2011 NAACP Theater Awards. She was the recipient of '08 TCG New Generations travel grant for Eclipsed
and has taught playwriting and acting in Liberia, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. She is currently developing a play
about the current situation in Zimbabwe with the Royal Court in London. She received her MFA in acting from
NYU. Danai was born in the U.S. to Zimbabwean parents and raised in Zimbabwe.
Paul Tazewell (Costume Designer) McCarter: Fetch Clay, Make Man. Broadway: Memphis (Tony nom.); In the
Heights (Tony nom.); Guys and Dolls; The Color Purple (Tony nom.); Elaine Stritch at Liberty; Caroline or Change; A
Raisin in the Sun; Lombardi; Miracle Worker; Bring in da’ Noise, Bring in da’ Funk (Tony nom.); On the Town; Def
Poetry Jam; Drowning Crow; Hot Feet; Gershwin’s Fascinating Rhythm. Off-Broadway: Ruined, In the Heights,
McReele, Flesh and Blood, Fame, Boston Marriage, Harlem Song. Opera: Faust (The Met), Porgy and Bess
(Washington National Opera, LA Opera, and San Francisco Opera), Magdelena (Chatelet Opera Theatre), Margaret
Garner (Michigan Opera), Little Women (Glimmerglass Opera, New York City Opera), Treemonisha (Opera Theatre
of St. Louis).
J. Steven White (Fight Director) is pleased to be working again with Emily Mann for whom he staged the fights for
her production of Theresa Rebeck’s The Bells. His fight direction has been seen on Broadway in 18 productions
including Pillow Man, The Color Purple, The Pirate Queen, Golden Child, and A View From the Bridge with Anthony
LaPaglia. Mr. White is proud to be working again with Ms. Gurira whom he helped train for the Graduate Acting
Program at NYU-Tisch.
Emily Mann (Artistic Director/Resident Playwright) Multi-award-winning Director and Playwright Emily Mann is in
her 22nd season as Artistic Director of McCarter Theatre. Under Ms. Mann’s leadership, McCarter was honored with
the 1994 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theater. McCarter directing credits include Nilo Cruz’s Pulitzer Prizewinning Anna in the Tropics (also on Broadway), the world premiere of Christopher Durang’s Miss Witherspoon (also
off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons), Uncle Vanya (also adapted), All Over (also off-Broadway at The Roundabout;
2003 Obie Award for Directing), The Cherry Orchard (also adapted), Three Sisters, A Doll House, The Glass
Menagerie, A Seagull in the Hamptons (an adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull), and Mrs. Warren‟s Profession. Her
plays include Execution of Justice (supported by a Guggenheim Fellowship; winner of Helen Hayes and Joseph
Jefferson awards; nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Circle awards); Still Life (six Obie Awards); Greensboro (A
Requiem); and Annulla, An Autobiography. Ms. Mann wrote and directed Having Our Say, adapted from the book by
Sarah L. Delany and A. Elizabeth Delany with Amy Hill Hearth (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations;
winner of NAACP and Joseph Jefferson awards). For the Having Our Say screenplay, Ms. Mann won Peabody and
Christopher Awards. A winner of the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award and the Edward Albee Last Frontier
Directing Award, she is a member of the Dramatists Guild and serves on its council. A collection of her plays,
Testimonies: Four Plays, has been published by TCG. Her latest play, Mrs. Packard, was the recipient of the 2007
Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award and was published by TCG in spring 2009. Most recently, Ms.
Mann directed the world premiere of Phaedra Backwards by Marina Carr, the world premiere of Edward Albee’s Me,
Myself & I (at McCarter and Playwrights Horizons), and the world premiere of Sarah Treem’s The How and the Why.
Emily is scheduled to direct The Convert at Goodman Theatre in Chicago and CTG in Los Angeles following the run
at McCarter Theatre. In the spring, Emily will direct A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway with Wood Harris, Nicole
Ari Parker, Daphne Rubin-Vega, and Blair Underwood. Also this season, Emily's adaptation of The House of Bernard
Alba, which premiered at McCarter, will be produced at The Almeida Theater in London. She is the recipient of an
Honorary Doctorate of Arts from Princeton University and was recently named the 2011 Person of the Year from the
National Theatre Conference.
Lap Chi Chu (Lighting Design) New York: The Public, NYTW, Second Stage, Performance Space 122, and The
Kitchen. Regional: Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, The
Old Globe, Berkeley Rep, Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Dallas
Theater Center, Portland Center Stage, and Evidence Room. He is the lighting/video designer for ChameckiLerner
Dance Company (Costumes by God, Visible Content, Hidden Forms, I Mutantes Seras, Por Favor, and Não Me
Deixe), performed in the United States and Brazil. He has received multiple Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards
and a Drammy for Best Lighting, as well as a Lucille Lortel nomination for The Good Negro at The Public. Mr. Chu is
on the lighting design faculty at California Institute of the Arts.
Daniel Ostling (Set Design) McCarter: The How and the Why, Having Our Say, Argonautika, Lookingglass Alice,
Secret in the Wings, The Odyssey. New York:Sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor (Metropolitan Opera); Glorious
Ones (Lincoln Center); Durango (The Public); Pain and the Itch (Playwrights Horizons); Lookingglass Alice (New
Victory); Metamorphoses (Broadway - Tony nom.; Second Stage); Measure for Measure (NYSF); Arabian Nights,
Galileo Galilei (BAM). Regional: Candide (The Huntington, Goodman, Shakespeare Theatre); Once in a Lifetime
(A.C.T./SF), Verona Project (California Shakespeare), Becky Shaw (South Coast Rep), Tom Sawyer (Actors Theatre
of Louisville, Hartford Stage), Ethan Frome (Lookingglass), Amadeus (Alley Theatre). He made his directing debut in
May with Jacques Brel is Alive and Well… (Two River Theater). International: Donmar Warehouse, Barbican
(London); Melbourne Theatre. Ensemble member at Lookingglass Theatre. Associate Professor at Northwestern
University.
Darron L West (Sound Design) McCarter: Crowns; Hamlet; The Bells; Miss Witherspoon; Stick Fly; Me, Myself & I;
and Fetch Clay, Make Man. Broadway and off-Broadway, his work for dance and theater has been heard in over 500
productions on and off-Broadway, nationally, and internationally. His accolades include the 2010 Bay Area Critics
Circle Award, 2006 Lortel and AUDELCO Awards, 2004 and 2005 Henry Hewes Design Awards, the Princess Grace,
The Village Voice OBIE Award, and the Entertainment Design Magazine EDDY Award. Former Resident Sound
Designer for Actors Theatre of Louisville. Sound Designer and company member of Anne Bogart’s SITI Company.
Beth McGuire (Dialect/Vocal Coach) Ms. McGuire’s dialect/vocal coach credits include: The Overwhelming
(Roundabout); The Black Eyed (NYTW); Five by Tenn (MTC-Stage 2); People be Heard (Playwrights Horizons);
Free-market, Exit Cuckoo (The Working Theater); In Darfur (The Public); Belleville, The Piano Lesson, Servant of
Two Masters, Eclipsed, Death of a Salesman, Lydia, Trouble in Mind, King Lear, The Mystery Plays, dance of the
holy ghosts, Taming of the Shrew, All‟s Well That Ends Well, Iphigenia at Aulis, Kingdom of Earth (Yale Rep);
Hamlet, Carnival, King John, The Glass Menagerie (Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey); The Cook (Hartford
Stage); Crimes of the Heart (The Cape Playhouse). Ms. McGuire is an Assistant Professor of Acting at Yale School
of Drama. She is also an actress and member of Equity, S.A.G., and A.F.T.R.A. with over 30 years of performance
experience.
Carrie Hughes (Dramaturg) is the Literary Director at McCarter Theatre, where her recent production dramaturgy
includes The How and the Why by Sarah Treem; Fetch Clay, Make Man by Will Power; and Eclipsed by Danai
Gurira. Other dramaturgical credits include: An Incident (O’Neill Theater Center); The Kite Runner, When Something
Wonderful Ends (Actors Theatre of Louisville); Victoria Martin, Math Team Queen (Womens Project); Serious Money,
The Black Monk (Yale Repertory Theater). She has dramaturged workshops at New Harmony, New Georges, the
Lark, and the Kennedy Center's Page to Stage festival. She is a graduate of Amherst College and the Yale School of
Drama.
PRE-SHOW PREPARATION, QUESTIONS
FOR DISCUSSION, AND ACTIVITIES
Note to Educators: Use the following assignments, questions, and activities to introduce your students to The
Convert and its intellectual and artistic origins, context, and themes, as well as to engage their imaginations and
creativity before they see the production.
1. THE CONVERT: WEB SITE BASICS. Explore the wealth of information on this world-premiere production
on McCarter‟s The Convert website. Share with your students the articles illuminating the historical
context of the play, glossary and timeline resources, and print and video interviews with various
members of the creative team and cast, including playwright, Danai Gurira and director Emily Mann.
Reading aloud the articles and investigating the various resources available will not only pique their
interest, but also spark and fuel full-class and small-group discussion before coming to the theatre.
2. REVEALING (THE) TITLE: WHAT'S IN A NAME? Have your students consider the title of Gurira’s play, The
Convert, and its potential meanings and themes:
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Instruct students to look up the definition of the word "convert" and as a class consider its
various and related forms (e.g., convert, as both noun and verb; conversion; convertible;
convertibility).
Ask them to discuss where they have encountered—in their reading or studies or personal
experience—the topic/theme of converts, conversion, convertibility, etc.
What positive and negative implications/ramifications surface around this topic/theme?
Next read them this brief synopsis of The Convert: ―In 1895 in the region that would become
Zimbabwe, a girl is forced to choose between her family’s traditions and the Christian faith and
Western values she has embraced.‖ Ask students to project what cultural and religious
concerns and conflicts they might see played out in the story and characters of the play as
described.
3. A BLENDING OF LANGUAGES: SHONA AND ENGLISH. Having set the story of her play in Zimbabwe in the
late 1890’s, playwright Danai Gurira, decided: ―There was absolutely no way I could write this play with
the Shona not being there…I think that it’s an element that is not only crucial and essential, but is also
enriching for the Western ear.‖ The Convert features bilingual characters, Gurira’s unique blending of
languages, dialects, and accents, and, often, the Shona language spoken with no translation prompts
in English provided. According to Gurira:
Meaningful communication is an aspect of who we are as human being. You don‟t need to
know exactly what everyone‟s saying word for word to hear it, to see people living in a
different world and to hear that they don‟t speak American English. And you know, I think
people will think, “I get what‟s going on,” and that‟s what‟s awesome. I don‟t need to hear
every single word, don‟t need it to be spelled out for me. Audiences, I think, are much
smarter than we give them credit for.
Share the above quotations from Gurira with your students. Then, to prepare them for the experience
of hearing the play, introduce your students to the Shona language by listening to the English and
Shona language clips made by Zimbabwean speakers below, which were provided by The Convert‟s
vocal and dialect coach, Beth McGuire. (In advance of listening to the clips, ask students to try to focus
more upon the storytellers’ language/speech than on the content of the stories themselves. It might be
useful to play each clip twice to acclimate acclimatize students’ ears and allow them to focus on
language/speech over content.)
Batsi tells the story of “Running from the Dogs” in English.
Batsi tells the story of “Running from the Dogs” in Shona.
Nodumo tells the story of “Skipping School” in Shona mixed with English.
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After each clip, ask students to reflect on any observations they made about their experience
of listening to the Shona-English speakers speak.
After listening to all of the clips, ask your students to discuss what it is like to listen to two
languages being spoken at the same time, including one that you don’t understand.
Ask students to consider, in advance of experiencing the play, how Gurira’s blending of
languages and accent (i.e., English with a Shona accent) might serve the playwright in the
telling of her story and in her artistic task of creating the world of the play.
4. SCENE STUDY #1: ACT ONE, SCENE ONE. To fully appreciate playwright Danai Gurira’s unique and
exciting dramatic voice and to experience and explore her approach to constructing dialogue and her
blending of languages—English and Shona—and dialects and accents to tell the story of The Convert,
have your students read aloud, round-robin style (i.e., instead of assigning roles, the next student in the
reading circle assumes the next line) from the excerpt from the opening scene of the play.
Scene study notes/suggestions:
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Give students a few minutes to leaf through the script before beginning the reading.
Point out to them that Shona dialogue is distinguished by the use of italics, and that for most
lines printed in Shona, an English translation is provided in brackets [ ] and emboldened type.
For the reading students should read the English translation whenever provided, and do their
best to pronounce the Shona for which no translation is provided.
Also, call their attention to character voices whose English is affected by an accent. For
example, Mai Tamba, who speaks English with a Shona accent, says to Chilford on pg. 3,
column one, ―No smell, Masta. Today you eat fast.‖ (i.e., ―No smell, Master. Today you eat
first.‖) and in column two, ―You say you need someone cook, someone crean rike at Fatha
Hem’s house.‖ (i.e., ―You say you need someone cook [to] cook, someone [to] clean like at
Father Helm’s house.‖)
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Sometimes Gurira indicates the character’s intended word by including it in brackets after the
spoken word; for example, on pg. 3, Mai Tamba’s first speech begins, ―She need onry little,
she smar [small] gir…‖ which would be read, ―She need onry litte, she smar gir…‖
Students should read the words as phonetically written by Gurira, embracing the playwright’s
indication of how the character’s speech is intended to sound.
Note that // indicates an overlapping of dialogue. When a double slash occurs in a character’s
speech, this indicates that the next character’s line should begin and overlap the rest of the
previous speaker’s dialogue.
After reading the scene:
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First ask students to reflect upon their experience of the story of the play, its setting, and its
characters:
 What or who engaged and interested you? Why?
 Which character would you be the most interested in portraying? Why?
 Where any questions evoked in the course of the scene?
 Did anything confuse you?
 Can you project what might happen next in the story?
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Then ask students to reflect specifically on their experience of the language/ dialogue of the
play.
 What joys and challenges did you experience in your cold (i.e., unpracticed) reading of
the script?
 Do you have any observations regarding the characters’ language in general or
specifically and Gurira’s use of the English and Shona languages, as well as British
dialect and Shona accent?
 Did any character’s voice stand out to you especially? What made it outstanding or of
interest to you?
 Can you get a sense of what the play might sound like in performance from reading
the play aloud in class? How might the experience of the play in performance be
different from your reading experience?
 What challenges do you think an English-speaking American actor faces when taking
on a role like The Girl’s/Ester’s or Mai Tamba’s? How do you think an actor might
prepare (or be prepared) to play such a role?
5. CONTEXTUALIZING THE CONVERT. To prepare your students for The Convert and to deepen their
level of understanding of the play’s distinctive world and its characters, have them research, either
in groups or individually, the following topics:
 Playwright Danai Gurira
 Biography
 Dramatic Works—plays and production history
o In the Continuum
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o Eclipsed
 Acting filmography
Director Emily Mann
 Biography
 Director’s resume
Zimbabwe
 Geography: Map, climate, natural resources and environmental facts
 History and culture
o Pre-colonial overview (c. 1000 - 1887)
o Shona people and culture
o King Mzilikazi Khumalo and the Matebele Kingdom
o British South Africa Company/Cecil John Rhodes
o Christian missionaries in Zimbabwe/Robert Moffat
o Chimurenga
o Hut tax
o Rinderpest
o Bernard Mizeki
 George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion
 Malapropisms: Etymology, distinguishing features and examples
Students should share their discoveries on each topic with the class using visual aids, such as
PowerPoint presentations, collages, storyboards, etc. Following the presentations ask your students to
reflect upon their research process and its joys and challenges.
6. SCENE STUDY #2: TWO PYGMALIONS; OR, GURIRA‟S GIRL MEETS SHAW‟S FLOWER GIRL. One of
playwright Danai Gurira’s inspirations for The Convert was George Bernard Shaw’s popular 1912
comedy Pygmalion, which tells the story of a British phonetics professor who makes a bet with an
associate that he can teach a low-class girl to speak proper English and, in turn, be mistaken for a
duchess. Gurira, despite her twenty-first sensibilities and Zimbabwe-American roots, connected to
Pygmalion‟s themes and Shavian ideology and structure and found it to be the perfect point of
departure for her very personal dramatization of the creation of modern Zimbabwean identity :
…Even though Pygmalion is as old as it is… I said this still happens. This is very African. This is
what we do. This is the only way we think to get better is. [You] can‟t remain only knowing your
native tongue and living in that way. You have to become globally viable. So…one day it just
clicked and I said, “I‟m going to make an African version of Pygmalion, a Zimbabwean version of
Pygmalion,” because it is really what I grew up witnessing…it‟s definitely what was happening back
when they first came, the white settlers. And then…it sort of started to birth itself. So I‟m writing it.
I‟m thinking this is an African version of Pygmalion, and then it sort of grows into this thing that„s
deeply connected to the Church! And deeply connected to all these things I didn‟t plan for it to be
connected to. And that‟s when the play starts to tell you what it is, which is a beautiful and magical
moment, because that‟s when you know it‟s really alive. And your ideas are being outweighed by
the reality of a true story coming to birth, and you just being the vessel. So it became a lot more
than my initial idea…the genesis, I would say is definitely when I realized how Pygmalion is very
current and even historical for Zimbabwe.
Share the above information and quotation with your students. Then, to allow them fully appreciate
and engage with Danai Gurira’s artistry and approach to storytelling and that of her influential
predecessor George Bernard Shaw, break your students up into scene-study groups of four and
assign them one of the following scenes to prepare on-book performances for the edification and
enjoyment of their classmates:
Danai Gurira's The Convert
Act One, Scene One (excerpt)
or
George Bernard Shaw‟s Pygmalion
Act Two (excerpt)
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Each group should divvy up parts and elect an ―actor-manager‖ to run the rehearsal(s).
Following scene presentations, lead students in a discussion of their experience in performing
both the Shaw’s Pygmalion and Gurira’s ―African version.‖ Questions to foster discussion might
include:
 What were the joys and challenges of staging and rehearsing your particular scene?
 What insights regarding any of Pygmalion‟s or The Convert‟s characters did you gain
from putting or seeing them on their feet?
 What Shavian influences did you detect in Gurira’s script or in the performance of the
scene?
 Are there any direct connections you can make between Shaw’s characters, themes,
and style Gurira’s?
 How do Shaw’s and Gurira’s style, themes, and characters differ?
 Consider the first seven sentences of Gurira’s quote above in relation to both The
Girl/Ester in The Convert and to The Flower Girl/Liza in Shaw’s Pygmalion. What must
each do to ―get better‖ or become socially or ―globally viable?‖
POST-SHOW QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
AND ACTIVITIES
Note to Educators: Use the following assignments, questions, and activities to have students evaluate their
experience of the performance of The Convert, as well as to encourage their own imaginative and artistic
projects through further exploration of the play in production. Consider also that some of the pre-show
activities might enhance your students’ experience following the performance.
1. THE CONVERT: PERFORMANCE REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION. Following their attendance at the
performance of The Convert, ask your students to reflect on the questions below. You might choose to
have them answer each individually or you may divide students into groups for round-table discussions.
Have them consider each question, record their answers and then share their responses with the rest
of the class.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR STUDENTS ABOUT THE PLAY IN PRODUCTION
a. What was your overall reaction to Danai Gurira's The Convert? Did you find the production
compelling? Fiery? Transformative? Arresting? Stimulating? Intriguing? Challenging?
Memorable? Confusing? Evocative? Unique? Meaningful? Explain your reactions.
b. Did experiencing the play heighten your awareness or understanding of the play’s themes?
[e.g., the struggle to find and assert an authentic identity; the personal politics of religious
conversion; familial loyalty/duty vs. personal convictions/yearnings; Christianity as both an
oppressive and a liberating influence; colonial society’s oppression of native cultures; the
duality of oppression for the African woman (i.e., oppressed by both the laws of her patriarchal
culture and colonial rule); the complex dynamics of race and class in colonial southern Africa.]
What themes especially drew you into the play? What themes were made even more apparent
or especially provocative in production/performance? Explain your responses.
c. Is there a moment in the play that specifically resonated with you either intellectually or
emotionally? Which moment was it and why do you think it affected you?
d. Do you think that the pace and tempo of the production were effective and appropriate?
Explain your opinion.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR STUDENTS ABOUT THE CHARACTERS
a. Did you personally identify with any of the characters in The Convert? Who? Why? If no, why
not?
b. What character did you find most interesting or engaging? Why were you intrigued or attracted
to this particular character?
c. What qualities of character were revealed by the actions and speech of The Girl/Ester/Jekesai,
Chilford, Chancellor, Prudence, Mai Tamba, Tamba, or Uncle? Explain your ideas.
d. Did any character or characters develop or undergo a transformation during the course of the
play? Who? How? Why?
e. In what ways did the characters reveal the themes of the play? Explain your responses.
QUESTIONS TO ASK YOUR STUDENTS ABOUT THE STYLE AND DESIGN OF THE PRODUCTION
a. Was there a moment in The Convert that was so compelling or intriguing that it remains with
you in your mind’s eye? Write a vivid description of that moment. As you write your description,
pretend that you are writing about the moment for someone who was unable to experience the
performance.
b. Did the style and design elements of the production enhance the performance? Did anything
specifically stand out to you? Explain your reactions.
c. How did the overall production style and design reflect the central themes of the story of The
Convert? Explain your response.
d. What did you notice about Daniel Ostling’s set design? Did it provide an appropriate and/or
evocative setting/location for The Convert? How and why, or why not?
e. What mood or atmosphere did Lap Chi Chu’s lighting design establish or achieve? Explain
your experience.
f. What did you notice about the costumes designed by Paul Tazewell? What do you think were
the artistic and practical decisions that went into the conception of the costumes?
g. Did you find sound designer Darron L. West’s soundscape evocative? Can you describe what
you heard in words? How did West’s work serve in creating or enhancing the world of the
play?
2. ADDITIONAL POST-SHOW QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION POINTS FOR THE CONVERT
The Blending of Languages: Shona and English
Playwright Danai Gurira felt very passionately that ―There was absolutely no way I could write this play
with the Shona not being there…I think that it’s an element that is not only crucial and essential, but is
also enriching for the Western ear. They’ll get lost only a little bit, and then they’ll catch up.‖ Having
experienced the play and Gurira’s unique blending of languages, dialect, and accents, engage your
students in a discussion of language and The Convert with the following questions:
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Having experienced The Convert in performance, can you imagine a production with no Shona
(that is, English-only) dialogue? How would it alter the overall effect of the play?
What was it like to hear two languages being spoken, including one that you didn’t understand?
Did you get lost ―a little bit?‖ Did you ―catch up?‖
Why do you think Gurira believes that the inclusion of Shona is both a ―crucial and essential‖
element in the play? Do you agree?
Consider each character in The Convert and the languages they speak, their differing abilities to
speak them, and when they choose or are forced to speak them. What does a character’s
languages, dialect/accent say about him or her?
Describe The Girl’s/Ester’s/Jekesai’s ―journey of language‖ in the course of The Convert.
The Convert and Issues of Identity, Conversion, Oppression, and Synthesis
Playwright Danai Gurira is a practicing Christian and characterizes her ―authentic identity‖ as both
African and Christian. In writing The Convert, Gurira was very deliberate in exploring her ―authentic
identity‖ in the context of a very specific historical period and place—that is, early colonial southern
Africa (eventually Zimbabwe)—in which great friction existed and tension resulted between these
racial/ethnic and religious categorizations.
Engage with your students in a complex discussion of issues of identity, conversion, oppression, and
synthesis as explored in The Convert.
On Identity and Conversion
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On a spectrum of conversion which features at one end the category of ―authentic convert‖ and
at the other that of ―false convert,‖ ask your students to determine where each character in The
Convert would fall in the continuum.
Which characters have experienced conversion by free choice? Who by association? Who by
force? And who for convenience? Defend your answers.
In the play, what appear to be obstacles to authentic religious conversion or true belief?
What are the benefits or advantages to religious conversion?
What elements of Christianity seem to speak to those who are true converts?
Overall, what do you think is the attitude of the play/production to the concept of religious
conversion?
Ask students to consider what words they would choose to describe their ―authentic identities.‖
Ask them to consider if any tensions exist between any of the facets they have named.
On Oppression
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Establish working definitions for the following words with your students:
Oppress
To burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints; subject to a burdensome or harsh exercise of
authority or power; to weigh down.
Oppression
The exercise of authority or power in a burdensome, cruel, or unjust manner.
Oppressor
A person who uses power or authority in a cruel, unjust, or harmful way; one who oppresses.
(The) Oppressed
People who are treated cruelly or are prevented from having the same opportunities, freedom, and benefits
as others; one who is oppressed
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Next write the names of all of The Convert characters on the board and ask students to
consider for each character if he or she are oppressed, oppressive, or both. Ask students to
defend their positions.
Do any characters in the play see/maintain a difference between white missionaries and white
businessmen? Do any see them all as part of the same oppressive force?
Do any characters come to a new understanding about oppression or their relationship to
oppression and/or an oppressor in the course of the play?
On Synthesis
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Is the synthesis of an African identity and a Christian identity possible in the world of Gurira’s
play, i.e. 1890’s southern Africa? Why or why not?
 The Convert design team wanted to explore the idea of a ―spectrum of synthesis‖ between
British and Shona culture in the scenic, costume, and sound design of the production. In
relation to set, costume, and sound, ask students to consider:
 Where do the two cultures come together and live comfortably?
 Where do they create visual or aural friction?
 Where do the production elements create/highlight synthesis?
 Where do the production elements create/highlight friction?
 For homework, ask your students to research answers to the following questions: Is the
synthesis of an African identity and a Christian identity possible for a contemporary
Zimbabwean? What elements of Shona culture/tradition have been integrated into or
accepted by the Christian religion? (Keyword search: Kurova Guva and Christian/ Catholic;
N’anga and Christianity)
A ―Zimerican‖ Learning, Connecting, and Reflecting
Danai Gurira describes herself and her artistic purpose as follows:
Zimerican. That is the word I designed to describe the specificity of my cultural makeup. I am an
American-born Zimbabwean artist. I see both places as my home. My life work in the dramatic arts
serves as an illustration of my bicultural makeup. My core desire is to continue to create stories
that give voice to the African experience on the global stage.
What my Zimerican nature has taught me is that there is no difference between Africans and
Americans—just geography. We are all flesh and blood, with hopes, aspirations, and pursuits; our
humanity is identical. What drives me artistically is the lack of subjective voices from the African
world heard in the Western world. In the profession of storytelling, I am blessed to have the
opportunity to bring one voice to the other, and therefore, in my small way, to contribute to more
balance. The Convert is a further attempt at that contribution, an attempt to return to my homeland
and face myself and my people, to allow their voices and choices to inform and shape my artistic
output and to bring that output back to my Western society, with the hopes that both Africans and
Americans, myself most included are able to learn, connect, and reflect.
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Share the above quotations with your students—if you are able, project or write the quotations
on the board or provide printed copies of them. Then ask your students to indicate what
phrases or concepts that Gurira employs interests or attracts them or where they find personal
meaning in her description of self and purpose.
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Next ask students to account for/describe what they learned and connected to in their
experience of The Convert in performance. Ask them if the connections they made surprised
them.
Then ask each student to reflect on his or her own self and his or her potential (or definitive)
purpose and core desire for his or her own community, culture or society. Have them create
their own personal manifesto of self and purpose modeled after Danai Gurira’s first quotation
above.
3. DEAR, DIARY: WHAT. A. DAY! When the lights go down it may mean the conclusion of the play, but the
story and vibrant characters live on in your minds of your students. Gurira infuses soul, foibles,
passion, and humanity into the characters of The Convert, ensuring that their voices resonate in your
students psyches and live on in their imaginations.
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Have your students write journal or diary entries in the voices of the characters from The
Convert. Students should select the character whose story and voice speaks to them the
loudest personally. Encourage them to not be afraid to choose a character of a different
gender.
Entries may take place at any moment in the lives of the characters, including before the start
of the play or after its final scene. Students should be encouraged to be creative, yet stay true
to their character's personality and wants and needs.
Alternate Variation
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If students want to use Gurira’s characters and story as a point of inspiration and/or departure,
they can choose a character mentioned but not shown in The Convert (e.g., Father Helm,
Jekesai’s mother or father, or her intended husband; Mr. or Mrs. Coltern) and devise his or her
personality and character voice. Or they can invent an entirely new character that fit into the
world of the play, who we have not yet heard of or met (e.g., one of Ester’s prison converts, a
young woman of Jekesai’s village, Father Helm’s newly arrived successor.)
Students may use the journal/dairy entry format or write a letter to another person if preferred.
Encourage them to bring their characters to life by imagining and embracing their joys, desire,
and conflicts.
If students are willing, ask them to share their pieces with the class or in small groups. Remind them
that although the assignment is completed on time, the work does not need to end! Incite them to
continue digesting the desires of other fictional characters they meet in drama and prose, and to
breathe life into their own creations. Use the following questions to conclude the project:
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What were the joys and challenges of writing in the voice of an existing fictional character not
of your own thinking?
Was it easier or more difficult to conceive a new character? Why?
4. THE CONVERT: THE REVIEW. Have your students take on the role of theater critic by writing a review of
the McCarter Theatre production of The Convert. A theater critic or reviewer is essentially a
―professional audience member,‖ whose job is to provide reportage of a play’s production and
performance through active and descriptive language for a target audience of readers (e.g., their peers,
their community, or those interested in the arts). Critics/reviewers analyze the theatrical event to
provide a clearer understanding of the artistic ambitions and intentions of a play and its production;
reviewers often ask themselves, ―What is the playwright and this production attempting to do?‖ Finally,
the critic offers personal judgment as to whether the artistic intentions of a production were achieved,
effective and worthwhile. Things to consider before writing:
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Theater critics/reviewers should always back up their opinions with reasons, evidence and details.
The elements of production that can be discussed in a theatrical review are the play text or script
(and its themes, plot, characters, etc.), scenic elements, costumes, lighting, sound, music, acting
and direction (i.e., how all of these elements are put together). [See the Theater Reviewer‟s
Checklist.]
Educators may want to provide their students with sample theater reviews from a variety of
newspapers.
Encourage your students to submit their reviews to the school newspaper for publication.
CORE CURRICULUM STANDARDS
According to the NJ Department of Education, ―experience with and knowledge of the arts is a vital part of a
complete education.‖ Our production of The Convert and the activities outlined in this guide are designed to
enrich your students’ education by addressing the following specific Core Curriculum Content Standards for
VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS:
1.1
THE CREATIVE PROCESS: All students will demonstrate an understanding of the elements and
principles that govern the creation of works of art in dance, music, theatre, and visual art.
1.2
HISTORY OF THE ARTS AND CULTURE: All students will understand the role, development, and
influence of the arts throughout history and across cultures.
1.3
PERFORMANCE: All students will synthesize those skills, media, methods, and technologies
appropriate to creating, performing, and/or presenting works of art in dance, music, theatre, and
visual art.
1.4
AESTHETIC RESPONSES & CRITIQUE METHODOLOGIES: All students will demonstrate and apply an
understanding of arts philosophies, judgment, and analysis to works of art in dance, music, theatre,
and visual art.
Viewing The Convert and then participating in the pre- and post-show discussions and activities suggested
in this audience guide will also address the following Core Curriculum Content Standards in LANGUAGE
ARTS LITERACY:
3.1
READING: All students will understand and apply the knowledge of sounds, letters, and words in
written English to become independent and fluent readers, and will read a variety of materials and
texts with fluency and comprehension.
3.2
WRITING: All students will write in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and
form for different audiences and purposes.
3.3
SPEAKING: All students will speak in clear, concise, organized language that varies in content and
form for different audiences and purposes.
3.4
LISTENING: All students will listen actively to information from a variety of sources in a variety of
situations.
3.5
VIEWING AND MEDIA LITERACY: All students will access, view, evaluate, and respond to print, nonprint, and electronic texts and resources.
In addition, the production of The Convert as well as the audience guide activities will help to fulfill the
following SOCIAL STUDIES Core Curriculum Standards:
6.2
WORLD HISTORY/GLOBAL STUDIES: All students will acquire the knowledge and skills to think
analytically and systematically about how past interactions of people, cultures, and the
environment affect issues across time and cultures. Such knowledge and skills enable students to
make informed decisions as socially and ethically responsible world citizens in the 21st century
CREDITS
Editors:
Carrie Hughes, Erica Nagel
Contributors:
Paula Alekson, Amanda Coe, Lauren Durdach, Carrie Hughes, Erica Nagel, Kaitlin Stilwell
Web Design:
Dimple Parmar