'Eclipsed' Tony-Nominated Danai Gurira Joins The Edit's The New Hollywood Lineup

Gucci Creative Director Alessandro Michele joins stylist Tracy Taylor for The Edit's May 12 issue with its focus on 'The New Hollywood'. Photographer Bjorn Iooss flashes six creatives including Gillian Jacobs, Sonoya Mizuno, Elizabeth Debicki, Meera Menon, Ellie Bamber, and Danai Gurira in the all-Gucci feature.

Of special interest to AOC readers is Danai Gurira, a Zimbabwean actress and playright, who has mounted Broadway's first-ever all-female, women of color production called 'Eclipsed'. Our beloved muse Lupita Nyong'o is quoted by The Edit, describing Danai:

“In Eclipsed, Danai exposed the true pain of war. Performing it has been one of the most emotionally exhausting and rewarding experiences of my life. I thank the brilliant Danai for writing such an essential, powerful, funny and moving story, which forces me to dig down to my core every night.”

We continue our discussion of 'Eclipsed' after the images.

'Eclipsed' Nominated for Six Tony Awards

Playwright Danai Gurira was nominated as the only woman for a Best Play Tony for 'Eclipsed'. The play, which transferred to Broadway from New York's Public Theater, centers around five women during the Liberian civil war. Lupita Nyong'o earned a Best Leading Actress nomination; Pascale Armand and Saycon Senglboh were nominated in the Best Featured Actress category; while Liesl Tommy was nominated in the category of Best Direction of a Play.

"'I'm never offered parts that speak to my heritage," Gurira tells The Edit. "That's why I started writing. couldn’t find narratives that covered the vast range of the African experience and that was unacceptable to me. Maya Angelou inspired me to pave a way for the women coming after me. I want African women to shine: they can’t unless those roles are on the page.”

Uptown Magazine shares the additional information that behind the scenes funding for the play also came from Black women like LaLa Anthony, Alia Jones-Harvey and Marvet Britto serve as producers for the show.

Guirira is set to play Afeni Shakur, Tupac's mother, in biopic 'All Eyez on Me'.

Bono Joins 'Eclipsed' Cast For #IKNOWHERNAME Dedication

U2's Bono joined 'The Walking Dead' actor and 'Eclipsed' playwright, who also serves as an ambassador of the ONE Campaign, an organization he co-founded. The human rights activist was introduced by Lupita Nyong'o:

"We’ve asked (Bono) to join us today to launch our effort to bring direct attention to the challenges faced by millions of girls all over the world living under the tyranny of war, in poverty and being denied their human rights simply because they are female," Nyong'o told Saturday's audience. "From here on out, each performance will be dedicated to specific girls from around the world who have been kidnapped and are still missing."