One of the best things about the hit OWN series Queen Sugar is that the characters portray the type of family that many African-Americans can relate to: Relatives all possessing their different strengths and weaknesses, experiencing some drama from time to time, but coming together when it matters the most. The show’s award-winning director Ava Duvernay recently shared that when it comes to the cast having each other’s backs, it isn’t much of an act at all.
Duvernay was a recipient of the Woke Women Award at this year’s Essence Festival held in New Orleans. HuffPost reports while accepting her award she explained what being “woke” means to her and it doesn’t necessarily have to do with protesting or activism:
“For me, a big thing about this whole idea about being woke is about not focusing on yourself. It’s about togetherness and family.”
She then went on to share how the Queen Sugar cast recently came together off-set to show her support at a particularly difficult time:
“A little over a year ago, my father passed away.”
“I was at the funeral and I looked up and I saw the cast of ‘Queen Sugar.’ They drove from New Orleans to Montgomery, all of them, in their own cars. They were all there.”
The Wrinkle In Time director told the audience how close she was with her father who coincidentally passed away three weeks after she directed the show’s premiere episode in which the patriarch of the family suffers from a stroke that shortly leads to his death.
She shared how closely she related to the characters at that time and how the cast helped her look at what it means to be “woke” in a different way:
“In some way, I was in the same situation as the characters.”
“That is woke to me. Woke is not necessarily activism or protesting. It’s about being there for each other in a time of need.”
“The wokeness of our community and what we have done throughout the generations to survive is to hold on to each other and to make sure that we are OK. I encourage us and celebrate that we continue to do that.”
The characters’ chemistry makes so much sense now and it’s nice to see that they are just as close off-screen as they appear in each episode.
The post “It’s About Being There For Each Other In A Time Of Need.” Ava Duvernay Shares Just How ‘Woke’ Queen Sugar Cast Is appeared first on MadameNoire.