"When Zindzi Okenyo takes the Sydney Theatre Company (STC) stage in June for John Patrick Shanley's Tony award-winning play Doubt the role played by Viola Davis in the film it will be a particularly special moment: her fourth main-stage role playing a black woman in a 20-year theatre career. I'm really excited about it, I haven't had a black role for so long, she says."
"For the last five years, Okenyo has been working behind the scenes to create more opportunities and safer spaces for black performers, not as an actor but as a director. When we meet in mid-January, she's in rehearsals for her production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Pulitzer and Tony award-winning dysfunctional family dramedy Purpose, opening at STC next week with an entirely black cast."
"It's a career milestone for Okenyo, but bittersweet. Born in Adelaide to a white mother and Kenyan father, she's spent much of her life and career as the only brown person in majority white spaces. I haven't had the opportunity, as an actor, to be in the [rehearsal] rooms that I create, she says. But for now, as a director, it's about creating a dream space for these actors."
Zindzi Okenyo will take the Sydney Theatre Company stage in June for Doubt, marking her fourth main-stage role portraying a black woman in a 20-year career. For the past five years she has worked behind the scenes as a director to create more opportunities and safer spaces for black performers. She is directing Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Purpose at STC with an entirely black cast, presented as a true ensemble where every actor has a powerhouse moment. Born in Adelaide to a white mother and Kenyan father, Okenyo has often been the only brown person in majority-white spaces and aims to create dream rehearsal rooms for black artists. African diaspora theatre in Australia has moved rapidly from the fringes to main stages.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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