Before ‘Moonlight’ and ‘The Walking Dead,’ a Friendship Born in the Classroom

http://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/21/theater/danai-gurira-andre-holland-walking-dead.html

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Behind every successful person are relationships that helped forge a path. But the stories of these friendships, collaborations, alliances, romances or rivalries often are lost in the glow of achievement. In this new feature, we explore a personal connection that made a difference in the lives of two artists.

André Holland never thought much about writing his own monologues when he attended the Tisch graduate acting program at New York University. But one day, early in his first semester in 2003, he watched another African-American student, Danai Gurira, forgo the usual speeches by white characters and perform her own material instead. Her monologue, about the struggles of black women, had an immediacy and ferocity that led to a bond between them — as friends, actors and, eventually, writing partners.

Ms. Gurira was working on what would become “In the Continuum,” the Obie Award-winning play that she co-wrote and starred in Off Broadway. Ms. Gurira would go on to write last year’s Tony-nominated play “Eclipsed” and act on Broadway and television, where she is best known as Michonne on “The Walking Dead.” Mr. Holland is starring in August Wilson’s “Jitney” on Broadway and as the diner cook Kevin in the film “Moonlight,” which is nominated for best picture in this Sunday’s Academy Awards.

Speaking by telephone this month while Ms. Gurira was filming in Georgia, she and Mr. Holland talked about having each other’s back in school, tackling challenges together on Broadway and collaborating on a screenplay. This conversation has been edited and condensed.

ANDRÉ HOLLAND After seeing that monologue at N.Y.U., I basically followed Danai around for the whole semester.

DANAI GURIRA It was very obvious.

HOLLAND I was a first-year student. You were a big-deal third-year.

GURIRA [laughter] Oh, come on. Most of us were up to our eyeballs in student loans. We were all just trying to get by.

HOLLAND All the first-years had to work on the third-years’ shows. They were doing an August Wilson play, actually — “King Hedley II.” I was working backstage, and I was responsible for firing a backup gun in case the one onstage didn’t go off. You fired the gun, right, Danai?

GURIRA I fired the gun!

HOLLAND One night her gun didn’t go off. It took me a second to register what happened. Danai acted it very well.

GURIRA It’s the climax of the play. I had this split-second where I thought, “Oh, let me try again.” And the guy who was supposed to be shot — his face was like: “Was I shot? Was I not shot?” Then Dré fired the backup and saved us.

HOLLAND Doing my job.

GURIRA We were all very keen to see Dré get a show where he was the clear lead. But it takes awhile.

HOLLAND In my third year I got Tartuffe.

GURIRA The character is a scoundrel, and we all looked at André as this sweet, kind guy. I found myself kind of rooting for Tartuffe because André is so likable.

HOLLAND N.Y.U. was a magical place for me. I was living out in West New York, N.J., in a $500-a-month bedroom and taking the bus in at 6:30 a.m. But then you get to the classroom and it was just constant creativity, working from 9 a.m. to midnight.

GURIRA I still go to Tisch to block out a room when I need to work something out quickly. I did that with all my plays. It’s about being back in those very humble classrooms. The place kept Dré and I humble.

HOLLAND A few years after, we ended up making our Broadway debuts together, in another August Wilson play, “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone.”

GURIRA Our characters never met onstage. But that’s when we became good, good friends offstage.

HOLLAND It was a highly pressurized situation. Bart Sher was directing. There were a lot of feelings about us having a white director on a Wilson classic like “Joe Turner.” And the ending of the play — well, we as a cast were struggling to find the right ending. Danai and I talked about it a lot outside of rehearsals. “What are we doing? How do we figure this out?” I was struggling with my character, Jeremy — there were things that the play was asking me to do, and other things that the director was asking me to do, and those two things don’t always line up. I trusted her implicitly. “Does this make sense?” I’d ask her. “Is this clear?”

GURIRA My character, Martha Pentecost, came onstage at the very end of the play. She is facing the husband she left years earlier back in the South. It was tough to figure out how to play the ending. We were taught in our N.Y.U. training that collaboration is not cooperation. You need to leave your ego outside; it’s about finding the best work. That was a place that both André and I came from. August Wilson is such a deep, spiritual writer. You just can’t come at it intellectually; you had to come at it deep. I leaned a lot on Dré. I got to know the poeticness of Dré’s Southern background. I needed that for Martha.

HOLLAND Mostly, I just sat there listening. Danai had most of the answers about what she needed to do with the character.

GURIRA It wasn’t that Bart wanted one thing and I wanted another. A lot of it was time pressure — it was a three-hour play and a huge amount to rehearse.

HOLLAND A lot of the time it was just giving each other space to express things that you can’t express easily in front of the director and the rehearsal room. We talked about the church a lot, religion a lot.

GURIRA Two years later we did “Measure for Measure” in Central Park. We didn’t know each other was auditioning. No idea.

HOLLAND I was playing her brother, Claudio.

GURIRA Ridiculous! I literally had no idea you had been cast when I came in. But what was great was that you made it easier for me to find that thing that my character needed. My goal for my character, Isabella, was that she wasn’t going to be someone that the audience could judge easily. Isabella has to decide whether to save her brother, who is in prison. She doesn’t agree with things he has done, but Dré, as Claudio, made me want to save him.

HOLLAND I talk to Danai more than anyone in terms of work. All these plays I’ve done — Danai came to see “Jitney” recently, and she is the only person I talk to about the work. She had a couple good ideas. I’m working hard to put them in. I’ll keep the specifics to myself. [laughter]

GURIRA A lot of it is about decision-making in our careers. We remind each other of who we are, what we want, where we want to go. We can get caught up in the moment of the thing you are working on. We remind each other of what we said last year, or five years ago, about what we wanted in life.

HOLLAND We’re working on a screenplay now together. It’s based on the book “A Native of Nowhere,” and it’s a fascinating story about one man’s life. It’s early going, but I’ve always been interested in writing. I have stacks of notebooks that I’ve filled with stories.

GURIRA It’s a busy time for us. We’re in different cities, but the writing keeps us connected now.

HOLLAND You keep me focused, too, on not doing the same things over and over. I’ll call her and she’ll say, “We’ve already seen you do that, Dré.”

GURIRA “Moonlight” was so good for him. That was new and different and honest. As for me, well, he doesn’t watch “The Walking Dead,” so what can I say?

HOLLAND This is a point of contention in our relationship. She doesn’t think I watch it.

GURIRA Well, you don’t.

HOLLAND I have a very weak stomach and a very vivid imagination.