Review: JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING at Chicago Shakespeare Theater
by Rachel Weinberg - Jan 21, 2025
With JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING, Jocelyn Bioh pulls off a challenging theatrical feat: She makes a slice-of-life play consistently engaging and entertaining. Set in Harlem at a hair salon of the same name, JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING follows a group of West African immigrant women working there — along with some of their customers. Bioh has populated her play with a cast of big personalities and peppers in just enough of the stylists’ backstories to allow us to learn more about them.
Interview: Theatre Life with Katie Kleiger
by Elliot Lanes - Dec 16, 2024
I often say that certain things in the theatre are a total mystery to me. Today’s subject Katie Kleiger is currently living her theatre life as Jacqueline de Bellefort in a true mystery of the theatre Agatha Christie’s Death On The Nile. The show runs through December 29th in Arena’s Kreeger Theater space.
Review: DEATH ON THE NILE at Arena Stage
by Mary Lincer - Dec 9, 2024
With Ken Ludwig's adaptation of Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile, Arena Stage's new Artistic Director, Hana S. Sharif, debuts as Director. The sumptuousness of the production may not quite balance with the slightness of the script, but as amusement during the holiday season, Death on the Nile offers fine performances, the fun of puzzling out a mystery, and stunningly beautiful visual elements.
Review: THE OTHER AMERICANS at Arena Stage
by David Friscic - Nov 4, 2024
An obvious labor of love by all concerned, actor and writer John Leguizamo’s The Other Americans is an extremely well-written and highly ambitious play that delineates the tragedy of a man’s fatal flaws ripping apart his family at the seams.
Berkeley Rep to Present the West Coast Premiere of JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING
by Chloe Rabinowitz - Sep 25, 2024
Direct from a twice-extended run on Broadway, Berkeley Rep will present the West Coast premiere of Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony Award-winning new comedy, JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING. Amidst the lively buzz of a scorching summer, love ignites, dreams soar, and secrets unravel. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.
Photos: JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING At Arena Stage
by A.A. Cristi - Sep 18, 2024
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is presenting the Manhattan Theatre Club production of Jocelyn Bioh's, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. See photos from the production!
Review: Take Yourself Out to to the Huntington to See a Crackerjack TONI STONE
by R. Scott Reedy - May 28, 2024
It’s baseball season in a baseball town, Red Sox caps are sprouting like spring flowers, and the Huntington is getting in on the act, too, with a crackerjack production of “Toni Stone,” a play about the first woman to play professional baseball on a men’s team, which will run through June 16 at the Huntington Theatre in its New England premiere.
Review: HADESTOWN at Ed Mirvish Theatre
by Samantha Wu - May 21, 2024
Back by popular demand for a limited time is the multiple Tony and Grammy Awards winning new musical Hadestown - music, lyrics, and book by Anaïs Mitchell, directed by Rachel Chavkin - for a limited run at the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre until May 26. This modern, politically relevant tale combines two classic Greek legends - the stories of Hades and Persephone; and Orpheus and Eurydice - that is sure to lure in audiences like a siren song.