OBIE Award-winning playwright Danai Gurira (Eclipsed, In The Continuum) returns to Woolly with her rich, unflinching, and compassionate new play. Set in 1895 amid the colonial scramble for Southern Africa, The Convert follows Jekesai, a young girl who escapes village life and a forced marriage arrangement, ultimately discovering Christianity under the guidance of an African teacher. However, as anti-colonial sentiments rise to a boiling point, Jekesai must choose between her new European God and the spirits of her ancestors. “Intense and deeply affecting” (Chicago Tribune), The Convert examines complex cultural and religious collisions that shaped the post-colonial world, the reverberations of which are still felt in Zimbabwe today.

For this February 23rd performance of The Convert, Mammoth Forum on Women and Christianity in Africa is partnering with the DC Mayor’s Office on African Affairs for a town-hall style discussion to follow on the role of women in traditional African cultures and in African Christianity.

Panelists:

• Emira Woods is co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, and an expert on U.S. foreign policy with a special emphasis on Africa and the developing world.
• Elmina Bell is a senior at School Without Walls High School. She is the president of the African Culture Club at her school and the Vice President of the NAACP Youth Council for D.C.
• Dr. Suleyman Nyang is a professor in the African Studies program at Howard University, specializing in African political thought, public policy, Islam, and African systems of government.

Purchase tickets online.