Cast SSet For SOJOURNERS at the Huntington

The Huntington will kick off the nine-play Ufot Family Cycle and has announced the cast and creative team of Sojourners, the moving and heartfelt play written by Mfoniso Udofia and directed by Dawn M. Simmons (K-I-S-S-I-N-G at The Huntington). The first play in Boston’s epic 9-play Ufot Family Cycle, Sojourners runs at The Huntington from Thursday, October 31 – Sunday, December 1, 2024 at the Huntington Theatre (264 Huntington Avenue).

When Artistic Director Loretta Greco joined The Huntington in 2022, she brought with her a longstanding partnership and friendship with playwright Mfoniso Udofia, and a vision for producing the complete Ufot Family Cycle in the Boston area – a festival marked by radical collaboration with an unprecedented scale and scope across our city. After two years of planning and leadership from The Huntington, all nine of the Ufot Family Cycle plays will be produced in Greater Boston by 30+ partners over two seasons, starting with this Huntington production of Sojourners.

“Sojourners launches a city-wide Cycle of plays with a host of thrilling colleagues who have come together for this one-of-a-kind, two-season celebration,” says Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco. “We are over the moon to finally re-introduce the extraordinary Mfoniso Udofia to Boston through this gorgeous piece of writing, the first of nine astounding Ufot Family Cycle plays, and to welcome back the marvelous Dawn M. Simmons who will direct.”

In Sojourners, marriage, migration, and the pursuit of education collide with surprising humor when a young and brilliant Nigerian couple arrives in Houston in 1978, looking to earn their degrees and bring insights back to their home country. But when Abasiama discovers that her husband has been seduced by Motown records and American culture, she begins a surprising friendship with a local woman named Moxie. Director Dawn M. Simmons helms the lively and nuanced Sojourners at the historic Huntington Theatre following her acclaimed production of K-I-S-S-I-N-G at the Calderwood Pavilion.

“Sojourners serves as the origin story within the 9-play Ufot Family Cycle,” says playwright Mfoniso Udofia. “Here, we’re introduced to Abasiama, the Ufot matriarch – a dynamic and forward-thinking woman from whom an entire Nigerian lineage in America will emerge.”

Called “moving and powerful” by The New York Times and a “deeply beautiful and complex play” by WNYC, Sojourners was developed at the 2013 Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at the Sundance Resort as part of the Martha Heasley Cox Virgin Play Series 2014 at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco, California (while now Huntington Artistic Director Loretta Greco was at the Magic as Producing Artistic Director); and also developed through The Playwrights Realm Writing Fellowship and Page One Residency. The piece premiered Off Broadway in 2016 and was produced by New York Theatre Workshop in association with The Playwrights Realm in 2017.

The cast of Sojourners includes:

Abigail C. Onwunali as Abasiama, a Nigerian student at an American university, 8-months pregnant. Credits include: JaJa’s African Hair Braiding on Broadway, and The Half-God of Rainfall and for the honey you gotta say when at New York Theater Workshop.

Asha Basha Duniani as Moxie, a young, quick-witted and hard-edged woman looking for a new job. Credits include: Furlough’s Paradise at Alliance Theatre, Cullud Wattah at Actor’s Express, and Eclipsed at Synchronicity Theatre.

Nomè SiDone as Ukpong, a charismatic young Nigerian man in love with life and America. Credits include: Richard II, The Heart of Robin, and The Sea Maid Music at Hudson Valley Shakespeare.

Joshua Olumide as Disciple, an intense, brilliant, and driven young man with a lot of dreams. Credits include: The Winter’s Tale at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, A Raisin in the Sun at New Rep, and the film American Fiction.

Understudies include: Aisha Akorede, Malik Mitchell, and Kiera Prusmack.

The creative team for Sojourners includes scenic design by Jason Ardizzone-West (K-I-S-S-I-N-G at The Huntington), costume design by Sarita Fellows (Joy and Pandemic at The Huntington), lighting design by Aja M. Jackson (John Proctor is the Villain at The Huntington), original music and sound design by Rob Milburn and Michael Bodeen (A Doll’s Houseat The Huntington), and hair, wig, and makeup design by Earon D. Nealey (Toni Stone at The Huntington). The dramaturg is Christine Mok, with additional dramaturgical support provided by Katherine Kovner. The language consultant is Emmanuel Sylvester, the fight director and intimacy coach is Brandon G. Green, and the dialect coach is Dawn-Elin Fraser. The associate director is Kelsey Fonise. The production stage manager is Emily F. McMullen and the stage manager is Lauren J. Burke.

Connecting with different communities across the city has been a top priority for Greco, so The Huntington is also planning free pop-up performances of Sojourners outside the city and in Boston neighborhoods including East Boston with ZUMIX, Roxbury with Roxbury Community College, and Hyde Park with Riverside Theater Works. (East Boston has the highest percentage of foreign-born residents of any Boston neighborhood; Hyde Park is home to the Yoruba Community of Massachusetts, whose programs improve and enhance Yorubas and Nigerian immigrants’ social and economic well-being; and Roxbury has been known for being the center of Black life in Boston for decades). In addition, The Huntington will partner with Prior Performing Arts Center at College of the Holy Cross to bring the production to Central Massachusetts, where Udofia grew up and where one in five Worcester residents are immigrants.

This Cycle marks the first time all nine plays will be complete and performed in their intended order. In addition to producing the first three plays, The Huntington will also serve as a motherboard of resources and connection to bolster the creative process and success of the remaining six productions that will be mounted through 2026 by and with arts organizations, universities, social organizations, non-profits, and a host of community activation partners.

Each of the productions will be professionally filmed by partner Kligerman Productions to expand the reach of the Ufot Family Cycle and preserve it in perpetuity, allowing the Ufot Family Cycle to be taught in educational settings as part of the American theatrical canon.

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