“We went to — I’ll call her the matriarch of our South Florida community when it comes down to phenomenal heroine Black actresses — and that was Toddra Brunson,” Pride said. “We went to Toddra, and we said, ‘Toddra, you know, you’ve been such a tremendous collaborator with us, we want to do something for you. What is the role that you’ve always wanted to play? What show do you want to do?’ And she said, ‘I want to play Shug Avery in ‘The Color Purple,’’ and we were like, ‘Done!’