Adepero Oduye replaces Condola Rashad in Broadway’s The Trip to Bountiful
Broadway’s hit revival The Trip to Bountiful recently welcomed a new cast member with the addition of actress Adepero Oduye. In her Broadway debut, Oduye takes on the role of Thelma, originally played by Condola Rashad. For Oduye, the play’s theme of home and finding a sense of belonging resonates deeply since the Brooklyn, N.Y.-born and bred talent often finds her familial roots in Nigeria questioned by others.
“It’s interesting to see how people view me when I view myself as very Nigerian. My mother lives in Nigeria and the last time I was there they looked at me like, where is she from? That’s weird because to me I am home in Nigeria,” she says. “I don’t have a personal identity conflict but I am aware of the different perceptions from the outside.”
Oduye’s next role in the film, Twelve Years a Slave addresses relevant issues in the African diaspora: slavery and racism. The historical drama tells the story of Solomon Northup, a free black man who was kidnapped and sold into slavery. Oduye hopes that the film will add a historical perspective to the nation’s current dialogue on issues of race post-Trayvon Martin. “What’s great about the conversations being had is that particularly with slavery it’s not something just for black people. This is American history and it’s something everybody should know and talk about,” she says. “With films like this it’s a great entry point for people to get a historical view of slavery through a personal narrative.” The film also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor and Brad Pitt and arrives in theaters Oct. 18.
Broadening conversations and narratives is the mission of the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts as evidenced by the organization’s successful Kickstarter campaign for an ambitious online expansion of its exhibitions and programs. The new museum website will feature video tours of all exhibitions, archives of artist talks and interviews, adult educational course materials including syllabus and audio recordings of courses, performance videos, live streaming of film festival movies and more.
According to James Bartlett, executive director of MoCADA, this new project is an important step in changing the concept of a museum and making it more accessible to a global audience.
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