Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Coming Soon in the Owen

In just two and a half weeks, Danai Gurira’s sharp new historical drama, The Convert, will open in the Owen. This world premiere by Ms. Gurira, who Goodman audiences may remember as the author and star of In the Continuum, which played in the Owen five years ago, takes place in 1895 in the country that would one day become Zimbabwe as it’s in the midst of British colonism. There, we meet Jekesai, a headstrong teenage girl who escapes a forced marriage by becoming the protégé of a black Catholic catechist, Childford. (Buy tickets here.)

The Convert as a co-production between the Goodman, McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey, and Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles, which means the production will have three runs—one at the McCarter, where it is currently playing, one here, which starts on February 25, and one in Los Angeles, which begins on April 17. For a preview of what’s in store, check out the show’s review in The New York Times.



Top: Pascale Armand in The Convert. Bottom: Pascale Armand and Warner Joseph Miller in The Convert. Photos by T. Charles Erickson.