MILWAUKEE — It's a local story with national implications. The musical Zuri's Crown opens in Milwaukee later this month. Local actress Camara Stampley plays Zuri.
"Her ultimate journey is about self-discovery and figuring out what makes her both unique and beautiful. And figuring out her place in the world while accepting who she is," said Stampley.
The Rufus King graduate and Milwaukee native was a guest on @TheTable Monday night.
Zuri's Crown is describedas an adaptation of the classic Rapunzel story that "features a mysterious woman who teaches a beauty supply store owner’s arrogant wife that being different should not be scary."
It comes at a time when there's national conversation around the CROWN ACT - which stands for Creating a Respectful and Open World for Natural Hair to prevent discrimination based on hairstyle and hair texture.
Zuri's story touches on this narrative.
"There's a lot of conflict around someone's hair being acceptable or if it's not acceptable," said Stampley. "And figuring out where you fit into all of that and defining your own beauty based off of what's going on in the world around her."
But Zuri's story can also be any young woman's journey in today's world.
"Self-acceptance is something that we all connect with, your journey to figuring out what makes you unique, what makes you powerful, what makes you beautiful, is something that we all have to go through, and we all arrive at some point," Stampley said @TheTable.
Zuri's Crown can be seen April 27-29 at the Wilson Theater at Vogel Hall.
Watch the full conversation in the video at the top of this article.
Charles Benson and Shannon Sims interview key people in our community during TMJ4's @TheTable segment every weeknight at 10 p.m.
