Jocelyn Bioh’s wickedly entertaining comedy, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” opens on Broadway
Lakisha May, seated with hand mirror, and Nana Mensah, looking into wall mirror, in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. NEW YORK — Writing what you know works out wonderfully well for playwright Jocelyn Bioh in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a sparkling ensemble comedy as tautly woven as one of the intricate hairdos in Jaja’s Harlem salon.
Just enough of the salon workers’ personal stories are elucidated to accommodate our inquiring minds: Aminata and her troubled marriage; Miriam , who had to leave her daughter in Sierra Leone; Ndidi , forced out of her old salon by a fire. Other customers, all played to the hilarious hilt by Kalyne Coleman and Lakisha May, are running jokes about the absurd expectations, highhanded demands and short fuses clients bring with them.
Bioh’s comedy is in service, though, of the more affecting characteristics shared by the women of “Jaja’s”: a stubborn resilience, a Chekhov-echoing faith that their taxing handiwork will pay off. This bittersweet facet of the play seems to betoken Bioh’s not-so-sunny perspective, which emerges as the 95 minutes of “Jaja’s” wind down, when she introduces a harsher reality.
It is Jaja herself, in the person of the effervescent Somi Kakoma, who bears the brunt. You sense in her fate the dramatist’s anger, as she pulls the rug of joy out from under “Jaja’s” and forces us to confront a colder truth about the dangers immigrants face. The customers’ braids may hold, it seems, even when the braider’s life unravels., by Jocelyn Bioh. Directed by Whitney White.
Style is where The Washington Post covers happenings on the front lines of culture and what it all means, including the arts, media, social trends, politics and yes, fashion, all told with personality and deep reporting. For more Style stories,Private calls, public praise: Inside the unusual Trump-Ramaswamy dynamic
Indonesia Berita Terbaru, Indonesia Berita utama
Similar News:Anda juga dapat membaca berita serupa dengan ini yang kami kumpulkan dari sumber berita lain.
Exhibit recognizes one of Mobile’s oldest African-American communities“Remembering the Avenue” is an exhibit in the newly renovated historical cultural center on Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue.
Baca lebih lajut »
BLUETTI Aims To Power Up A Continent With Its Lighting An African Family InitiativeCleanTechnica attended RE+ this year in Las Vegas and we were able to spend a ton of time with BLUETTI at the show.
Baca lebih lajut »
African farmworkers fighting back against pesticides banned in EUThe European Union and Britain exported banned pesticides to Brazil, South Africa, Kenya and others, a research by the Heinrich Boll Foundation found.
Baca lebih lajut »
WHO recommends malaria vaccine, roll out in early 2024 in some African countriesThe World Health Organization (WHO) recommended on Monday the use of a second malaria vaccine to curb the life-threatening disease spread to humans by some mosquitoes.
Baca lebih lajut »