This dazzling world premiere from Jocelyn Bioh 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.
Jaja’s can sometimes veer a little formulaic or presentational: In the single-scene appearance of Jaja herself, Kakoma spends most of her time standing directly downstage center (in, not to spoil anything, an absolute battleship of a wedding gown), facing out and delivering a rousing monologue about her right to call America “my country.” It rings clear and true, though I wonder how the same speech would have felt had White oriented Jaja as much toward her fellow characters as toward us, or what its effect might have been in a theater space without such a flat, front-on relationship with the audience. But this isn’t subtle stuff, and it’s not meant to be. Instead, it’s bright, generous, and forceful, and those currents carry the day. As Miriam says, perhaps speaking partly for her playwright, “No more time for quiet. I want to be loud, yeah? … Yeah. Very loud.”
The beauty of “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” is the play’s ability to bring life to a seemingly mundane space. On the set designed by David Zinn, the salon’s walls are painted a deep, robust pink, with bags of braiding hair hanging along the walls. The television screen propped near the ceiling displays Afrobeats music videos or a Nollywood movie more enticing than anything seen in the theaters recently. Carts full of combs, braiding gel and oil sheen sliding over the floor feel familiar to any Black woman who has spent a good portion of her life in those worn leather chairs. Still, the play moves beyond the intricate hairstyles—though many are displayed here (the hair and wig design is by Nikiya Mathis)—to highlight the women at the heart of these shops. These are women boasting bold laughs and heavy hearts, who twist and manipulate hair until their fingers swell from the effort.
2023 | Broadway |
Manhattan Theatre Club Original Broadway Production Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play | Brittany Adebumola |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Play | Jocelyn Bioh |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | Nikiya Mathis |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Distinguished Performance | Zenzi Williams |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Direction of a Play | Whitney White |
2024 | Drama League Awards | Outstanding Production of a Play | Jaja’s African Hair Braiding |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding Costume Design (Broadway or Off-Broadway) | Dede Ayite |
2024 | Outer Critics Circle Awards | Outstanding New Broadway Play | Jocelyn Bioh |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Costume Design of a Play | Dede Ayite |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Direction of a Play | Whitney White |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Play | Jocelyn Bioh |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Scenic Design of a Play | David Zinn |
2024 | Tony Awards | Best Sound Design of a Play | Justin Ellington |
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