Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

BY JOCELYN BIOH
DIRECTED BY WHITNEY WHITE
IN ASSOCIATION WITH MADISON WELLS LIVE & LACHANZE
A CO-PRODUCTION WITH ARENA STAGE, CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER, AND LA JOLLA PLAYHOUSE
WEST COAST PREMIERE
PEET’S THEATRE

NOV 8–DEC 15, 2024

[The play] slyly reveals each of its characters…not as perfect but as the kind of person America should be fighting to have, instead of the opposite. Hailing from Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ghana and Nigeria, these women are entrepreneurs, artists, empaths and lovers. They’re neighbors who would have your back in an alley fight and friends brave enough to speak hard truths — if only we’d let them.

San Francisco Chronicle

There’s no denying the depth and urgency of the play’s themes, not to mention the wry pleasures of the text, Bioh’s rich gift for the idiosyncrasies of language and dialect, the rollicking musicality of speech…Bioh delicately laces the hilarity with strands of doubt and foreboding.

Bay Area News Group

And as this remarkably acted play develops under the skillful direction of Whitney White…playwright Jocelyn Bioh lets their stories and personalities naturally emerge amid their funny banter and blabber in the upbeat micro-community that is Jaja’s.

Berkeleyside

The kind of experience you can only have in the theater: it’s part documentary, part comedy, part drama and part immersion into the richness of a world you might not otherwise be able to access…The rhythms and the repartee are lively and flow beautifully as director White knows just how to bring focus into certain conversations or interactions.

Chad Jones’ Theater Dogs

Director Whitney White’s mastery of the play’s beats and humor is obvious…heavy-handed messages are kept to a minimum in Bioh’s script, and we are left with a poignant portrait of people struggling — and literally blistering their fingers — just to achieve some semblance of a dream they were promised.

SFist

The characters become multi-layered individuals, each one beautifully developed by the excellent cast…Playwright Bioh strikes an even-handed balance between the everyday ups and downs of the workers — the tension of their interactions, the concerns each has for her own life’s trajectory — and ultimately finds a way to quietly, delicately, dramatize their sisterhood.

Local News Matters

Step into the vibrant world of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, a beloved Harlem hotspot where West African immigrant braiders work their magic on the locals’ locks. Amidst the lively buzz of a scorching summer, love ignites, dreams soar, and secrets unravel. But beneath the surface lies a current of uncertainty, pushing this close-knit community to confront the challenges of being outsiders in their own neighborhood. From the pen of Tony Award-nominated Ghanaian American playwright Jocelyn Bioh (Goddess, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play) and directed by Tony Award nominee and Obie Award winner Whitney White, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is “a play that is equally affecting as it is hilarious,” hails Entertainment Weekly.

Production information

Runtime: 90 minutes; no intermission

Age recommendation: Suitable for ages 10 and up

Stage effects advisory: Haze and herbal cigarettes

Content advisory: Mentions of sexual harassment

Resource guide

Want to learn how you can uplift the Bay Area’s African diaspora and Black immigrant communities? Explore this resource guide, curated by In Dialogue, which features concrete, approachable calls to action from our community partners. Join us in building a more equitable future for all.

Cast
(in alphabetical order)

Melanie Brezill | Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

Leovina Charles | Vanessa, Sheila, Radia

Victoire Charles | Jaja

Yao Dogbe | James, Franklin, Olu, Eric

Mia Ellis | Jennifer

Tiffany Renee Johnson | Aminata

Jordan Rice | Marie

Awa Sal Secka | Bea

Aisha Sougou | Ndidi

Bisserat Tseggai | Miriam

Understudies
(in alphabetical order)

Kevin Aoussou | For James, Franklin, Olu, Eric

Renea S. Brown | For Jennifer, Vanessa, Radia, Sheila

Debora Crabbe | For Marie, Ndidi, Aminata

Mia Ellis | For Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

Yetunde Felix-Ukwu | For Jaja, Bea, Miriam

Nollywood Dreams actors

Onye Eme-Akwari

Morgan Scott

Creative team

Jocelyn Bioh | Playwright

Whitney White | Director

David Zinn | Set Design

Dede Ayite | Costume Design

Jiyoun Chang | Lighting Design

Justin Ellington | Original Music and Sound Design

Stefania Bulbarella | Video Design

Nikiya Mathis | Hair and Wig Design

Manna-Symone Middlebrooks | Associate Director

Yetunde Felix-Ukwu | Dialect and Vocal Coach

Erica A. Hart, CSA | Casting

Kelly Gillespie, CSA | Casting

David Caparelliotis, CSA | Casting

Mandisa Reed | Stage Manager

Brillian Qi-Bell | Assistant Stage Manager

The actors and stage managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional stage actors and stage managers in the United States