Anthropology’s Kathryn Takabvirwa served as cultural consultant for the Steppenwolf production of Familiar

When Danya Taymor was hired to direct Steppenwolf’s new comedy, Familiar by Danai Gurira, she knew that she had to get the cultural elements exactly right. The play, which focuses on a Zimbabwean-American family as they prepare for the wedding of their eldest daughter, hinges on the conflict between Shona culture of Zimbabwe and the impact of American society. “Danai told me that no production of Familiar should be done without a cultural consultant,” Taymor says.

The team wasn’t sure where they would find such an expert, but with a little research they came to the Division’s Department of Anthropology. There, they found Kathryn Takabvirwa, who joined the University of Chicago in August 2018 as a Provost's Postdoctoral Fellow and will become Assistant Professor in 2020. Takabvirwa grew up in Zimbabwe, and her research focuses on citizenship, culture, and society in Southern Africa. Her background and work made her the ideal consultant for this project. But, Takabvirwa says, “I didn’t know anything about the theater.”

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