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UNITED States-based Zimbabwean playwright and actor Danai Gurira’s play, In the Continuum, which she co-wrote with graduate student Nikkole Salter, will be hosted in theatres around the US as part of an HIV awareness initiative and fighting stigma in that country.
The play is expected to be performed in Boston and in Los Angeles among other theatre venues in other states next week. In the play, Gurira focuses on African women and HIV, while Los Angeles native Salter wrote about the American hip-hop generation. The end result is a play that combines the two stories and lights a political fuse around the world. In the Continuum is set in a 48-hour period in which the protagonists discover that the men in their lives have infected them with HIV. The protagonists go on a quest as each tries to come to grips with her diagnosis. According to Gurira, the disease is shrouded in secrecy, shame and silence. HIV/AIDS ranks as one of the leading causes of death for African-Americans between the ages of 24 and 44. In a statement Gurira said the play presented the stories of Nia and Abigail, two women living on opposite sides of the world — one in LA, and the other in Zimbabwe — "whose diagnoses lead them on a journey of truth, understanding and self-acceptance". She said she was happy the play, which has been used by the United Nations for its informative value, was being hosted all over the US. She was also exploring ways of bringing the play to Zimbabwe, she said. Okay Machisa, the founder of Artist for Democracy Zimbabwe Trust said Gurira was making Zimbabwe proud by showing that issues that affect Zimbabwe and Africa also affected the US where critics have described the play as Broadway theatre material. Broadway theatre is the best-known form of professional theatre to the general public in the United States and the most lucrative for performers, technicians and others involved in putting together shows. "Gurira shows the power of theatre because her play is appreciated all over and I understand it will be having a Boston debut next week," Machisa said. "That is the talent we want. And this is a play that educates even the United States citizens." Machisa said when the climate is ripe, many of the established playwrights would be investing their time here and making positive change to Zimbabwean society. Government has banned many plays on the grounds that the messages they convey are politically incorrect and destabilising. Gurira said she would unveil her new play Eclipse but did not reveal what it was about because she wants to surprise her fans. Judging by her previous work it could be another scorcher. Gurira was born in the United States and raised in Zimbabwe. She won the Helen Hayes Award for Best Actress in her play. She has also appeared in Law and Order: Criminal Intent, and in the films Ghost Town and The Visitor. Her play won a Global Tolerance Award from the United Nations. By John Mokwetsi
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