Full Cast Revealed For JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING

The full cast has been announced for the world premiere of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, written by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Whitney White. The cast of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding will feature Brittany Adebumola (“The Other Black Girl”), Maechi Aharanwa (The Misanthrope), Rachel Christopher (for colored girls who have considered suicide/…), Kalyne Coleman (“So Help Me Todd”), Somi Kakoma (Dreaming Zenzile), Lakisha May (Skeleton Crew), Nana Mensah (“Presumed Innocent”), Michael Oloyede (Inanimate), Dominique Thorne (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever) and Zenzi Williams (Mobile Unit of Henry V).

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding will begin previews on Tuesday, September 12 and open on Tuesday, October 3, 2023 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre (261 West 47th Street).

This dazzling world premiere welcomes you into Jaja’s bustling hair braiding salon in Harlem where every day, a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women. During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed. The uncertainty of their circumstances simmers below the surface of their lives and when it boils over, it forces this tight-knit community to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home. This extraordinary new play is by the award winning Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play) and will be directed by Obie winner Whitney White (Our Dear Dead Drug Lord).

The creative team for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding will include David Zinn (Scenic Design), Dede Ayite (Costume Design), Jiyoun Chang (Lighting Design), Justin Ellington (Original Music & Sound Design), Stefania Bulbarella (Video Design), Nikiya Mathis (Hair & Wig Design), Dawn-Elin Fraser (Dialect & Vocal Coach), Caparelliotis Casting, Kelly Gillespie, & Erica Hart (Casting) and Melanie J. Lisby (Production Stage Manager). 

The 2022-23 season marked Lynne Meadow’s 50th Anniversary as Artistic Director of MANHATTAN THEATRE CLUB. Meadow was joined in summer 2023 by Chris Jennings, MTC’s new Executive Director. MTC’s mission, which Meadow created in 1972 and has implemented over five decades of award-winning theatrical productions, is to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most promising new as well as seasoned, accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights. Since 1989, MTC Education, which uses the power of live theatre and playwriting to awaken minds, ignite imaginations, open hearts, and change lives, has also been an important corollary to MTC’s work, reaching thousands of students and educators worldwide each season.

Biographies

BRITTANY ADEBUMOLA (Miriam) is a New York-based actor who will next be seen starring in the upcoming Onyx Collective / Hulu series “The Other Black Girl”, based on the critically acclaimed novel. Previously, Brittany starred in one of the lead roles in the CW series “4400”, and was also seen in the Netflix series “Grand Army” and the Paramount+ series “Guilty Party”. She also will be seen in the upcoming series “Demascus” which premiered at SXSW. She graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in Acting.

Maechi Aharanwa (Ndidi). Off-Broadway credits include: The Misanthrope (Moliere In The Park), Mothers (Playwrights Realm), If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka (Playwrights Horizons), Bully (Clubbed Thumb), The Winter’s Tale, An Octoroon (TFANA), The Old Settler (Billie Holiday Theatre), Sweet, Facing Our Truth - Night Vision, No More Monsters Here (NBT). Regional credits include: The Mountaintop, The Call, Seven Guitars, Antigone. Television/film credits include: “Elementary” (CBS), “Show Me a Hero” (HBO), “Person Of Interest” (CBS), “30 Rock” (NBC), Intrusion, Boy In A Backpack, Maybe There’s A Tree. Training: Juilliard. Princess Grace Award Recipient, The Actors Center Company Member. www.maechi.net

Rachel Christopher (Jennifer). Broadway: for colored girls who have considered suicide/… Select theater: What To Send Up When It Goes Down (BAM/Playwrights Horizons); Bad News!...(Skirball); King Philip (Clubbed Thumb); Sonic Life of a Giant Tortoise (The Play Company); Minor Character (UTR-Public Theater), An Iliad (Long Wharf Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Shakespeare and Company); The Winter’s Tale (Shakespeare Festival St. Louis); Detroit ’67 (PlayMakers Rep); Disgraced (Rep. Theatre St. Louis); By the Queen (Trinity Rep). TV/Film: Girl on the Train, The Upside, “Billions”, “Madame Secretary”, “Blindspot”, “Instinct”, “Elementary”. Awards: 2019 Connecticut Critics Circle Award (Outstanding Solo Performance), 2022 Chita Rivera Award (Outstanding Ensemble) @rachel_e_christopher.

Kalyne Coleman (Chrissy/Michelle/Laniece) was born and raised in Richmond, VA. She can be seen in a major recurring role on AMC's hit drama series “Interview with the Vampire”, based on the acclaimed film of the same name and written by Rolin Jones. She can be seen in guest star roles on CBS' hit series “So Help Me Todd” and “Evil”. Kalyne is a University of Pennsylvania alum and a recent graduate of Brown/Trinity Rep's MFA Acting program. In the fall of 2020, Kalyne was chosen to participate in ABC’s Discovers Showcase. Her Off-Broadway credits include: Four, What To Send Up When It Goes Down (BAM), Lorraine H. & Nikki G., Lessons in Survival (Vineyard Theatre); and Leigh, America v. 2.1: The Sad Demise and Eventual Extinction of the American Negro (Barrington Stage). She sends unbounded gratitude to her incredible parents, family, and friends for their unconditional love and support.

Somi Kakoma (Jaja) is the daughter of immigrants from Uganda and Rwanda. Known in the jazz world simply as ‘Somi’, her nomination for Best Jazz Vocal Album made her the first African woman ever nominated in any of the Grammy’s jazz categories. A recipient of two NAACP Image Awards for Best Vocal Jazz Album, the Doris Duke Artist Award, and the inaugural Jazz Music Award for Best Vocal Performance, Somi is also a Soros Equality Fellow and United States Artist Fellow. Last season, she wrote and starred in the Off-Broadway production of Dreaming Zenzile - an original musical based on the life of Miriam Makeba. Somi's performance was nominated for Drama League, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and AUDELCO Awards. She holds degrees in Cultural Anthropology and African Studies from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Master’s in Performance Studies from Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, and is currently working on a PhD at Harvard University. www.somimusic.com // @somimusic   

Lakisha May (Vanessa/Radia/Sheila) is an actor, producer, and advocate. Lakisha's theater credits include Skeleton Crew on Broadway (MTC), originating roles in Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Everybody, Mfoniso Udofia's Sojourners, Robert Askins' The Squirrels and others. Her TV/Film credits include “City on a Hill”, “Boardwalk Empire”, “Law and Order: SVU”, and others. She has created work that has screened at the Pan African Film Festival, Center Theater Group's digital stage, and other festivals. She is one of three co-founders of CCC (Color Conscious Collective), a collective of artists who have built an investment apparatus to galvanize resources for artists. Additionally, Lakisha has taught drama students at Spelman College and NYU. Her advocacy work includes being the chair of the Leadership Awards Committee at the James Beard Foundation. She serves as vice chair of the board at Space on Ryder Farm, a non-profit residency program and organic farm in Brewster, New York. Lakisha has her MFA in acting from The American Conservatory Theater and her BA from Spelman College.

Nana Mensah (Aminata) is a Ghanaian-American actor, writer and director. She recently wrapped the limited series “Presumed Innocent”, opposite Jake Gyllenhaal (Apple TV+). Queen of Glory, her debut feature which she wrote, directed and starred in, premiered at the 2021 Tribeca Film Festival where she won the Best New Narrative Director award and earned a 2022 Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best First Feature. Recent credits include Netflix's “The Chair” opposite Sandra Oh, Ekwa Msangi’s Farewell Amor (IFC), Judd Apatow’s King of Staten Island, and the A24 film After Yang starring Colin Farrell. She starred in Jocelyn Bioh’s Nollywood Dreams at MCC Theater, Tracy Letts' Man From Nebraska at Second Stage Theatre (Lucille Lortel Nomination, Outer Critics Circle Nomination), as well as Clare Barron’s hit Obie Award-winning play, I’ll Never Love Again. Nana is currently shooting the second season of Netflix’s hit show “The Diplomat”, reprising her role as Billie Appiah.

Michael Oloyede (James/Sock Man/DVD Man/Jewelry Man) (he/him) is excited to be making his Broadway debut in Jaja's African Hair Braiding. Selected theater credits include: Scraps, NYT Critic's Pick Inanimate (The Flea Theater), Eco Village (Theater at St Clements).  Film/TV: BET's award-winning digital series “Brooklyn.Blue.Sky.”, Netflix’s “Maniac", Curtis (Sundance Now). Michael is also proud to have helped birth the Webby Award-Winning Creative Collective & CultureCon where he serves as the Art & Editorial Director & is a co-founder of The Lay Out.

Dominique Thorne (Marie) is an actress and visionary who made her feature film debut in Academy Award-winning If Beale Street Could Talk. The film received critical acclaim, including the NAACP Image Award for “Outstanding Independent Motion Picture.” She next starred in Judas and the Black Messiah, as Judy Harmon. Judas was nominated for five Academy Awards. Her work garnered her a spot on Variety’s 2021 Power of Young Hollywood List. In 2022, Thorne debuted in the Marvel Universe as Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, in Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, which set astounding records in box offices and on Disney+. Set to release in 2024, Dominique stars as Riri in Marvel’s “Ironheart”, where she builds her own version of the Iron Man suit in her MIT dorm. Ironheart succeeds Tony Stark, Marvel fanatics' favorite, Iron Man. Dominique recently wrapped production for Freaky Tales in which she stars alongside Pedro Pascal and Jay Ellis.

Zenzi Williams (Sista Bea). Theater credits include the title role of The Public Theater’s Mobile Unit of Henry V, directed by Robert O’Hara, The Crucible (Broadway), RunBoyRun (New York Theater Workshop), The Homecoming Queen (Atlantic Theater Company), Mother Courage and Her Children (Classic Stage Company). Television credits include “American Rust”, “Chicago Fire”. Film: Christmas With You, Black Panther. Williams has an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and studied at the British American Dramatic Academy. Upcoming: “American Rust”, S2.

Jocelyn Bioh (Playwright) is an award-winning Ghanaian-American writer/performer from New York City. Her written works for theatre include: Merry Wives (Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park, PBS Great Performances), Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater), Goddess the musical which is currently playing its world premiere at Berkeley Rep, and the multi-award-winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play which was originally produced at MCC Theater in 2017/2018 and has gone on to have over 50 regional productions. She is a former TOW playwriting fellow (2017) and has been commissioned by MTC, Atlantic Theater Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Second Stage. Jocelyn has also written for TV on “Russian Doll,” Spike Lee's “She's Gotta Have It,” the upcoming Hulu series “Tiny Beautiful Things” and is also writing the live screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Once On This Island for Disney+. She was this year's recipient of the Outstanding Adaptation Drama Desk Award.

Whitney White (Director) is an Obie Award and Lily Award-winning director, writer, and performer. Recent directing includes: Soft (MCC Theater, NYT Critic's Pic), On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations for Outstanding Direction), Semblance (NYTW), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theater and Second Stage), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (The Movement Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, A.R.T., The Public Theater). Whitney was previously a staff writer on the Boots Riley series “I’m a Virgo” for Amazon/Media Res and recently wrote and performed in her original piece Macbeth in Stride at the American Repertory Theater (Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress). She is a recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award, is part of the Rolex Protegé and Mentorship Arts Initiative, is an Associate Director at Shakespeare Theatre Company and an Associate Artist at The Roundabout. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University.