Danai Gurira Selected Works

The captive wives of a Liberian rebel officer form a hardscrabble sisterhood, their lives set on a nightmarish detour by civil war. With the arrival of a new girl who can read—and the return of an old one who can kill—their possibilities are quickly transformed. Drawing on reserves of wit and compassion, these defiant survivors ask: when the fog of battle lifts, could a different destiny emerge?

In the Continuum, an OBIE award-winning and Pulitzer Prize nominated drama in monologue, puts a human face on the devastating impact of AIDS in Africa and America through the lives of two unforgettably courageous women. Living worlds apart, one in South Central Los Angeles and the other in Harare, Zimbabwe, each experiences a kaleidoscopic weekend of life changing revelations in this surprisingly comic story of parallel denials and self-discoveries. Written and performed by Danai Gurira and Nikkole Salter.

This moving new work explores the untold cultural and religious collisions caused by British colonialism in southern Africa, and the reverberating effects still felt in the region today.

Set amid the colonial scramble for southern Africa in 1895, The Convert tells the tale of Jekesai, a young girl who escapes a forced marriage arrangement with the help of a stalwart black African catechist, Chilford Ndlovu. Caught between her loyalties to her family and culture but indebted to this new Christian god, she becomes Chilford's protégé, but when an anti-colonial uprising erupts she is forced to decide which side of the conflict she will choose——and where her heart truly belongs. With wit and compassion, The Convert explores the untold cultural and religious collisions caused by British colonists in this section of southern Africa (now Zimbabwe), and the reverberating effects still felt in the region today.

In a snowy Midwestern suburb, Marvelous and Donald are preparing for the marriage of their eldest daughter. Clashes erupt within the family when the first-generation American bride-to-be insists on observing a traditional Zimbabwean wedding ritual. Familiar is a richly funny and deeply moving new play about the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters, sisters, wives and husbands——the customs they keep, and the secrets they keep buried.