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.
It is promising when a theater set gets its own round of applause, and David Zinn’s vibrant and ingenious imagining for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, booking to Nov. 5) on Broadway deservedly gets just that when the full interior glory of the imagined hair braiding shop in Harlem just off 125th Street reveals itself. Along with its bustling set of chairs, hair model posters, a Ghanian flag, and much, much Barbie-ish pink, Jocelyn Bioh’s play, set in the pre-pandemic summer of 2019 and produced by Manhattan Theatre Club, has all the energy and rich character interplay that her excellent award-winning 2017 play, School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, possessed.
And at the end of the day, despite some narrative clunkiness, Jaja offers plenty to celebrate. It's the Broadway debut of Bioh as a writer, White as a director, and six of the eight cast members. It's a passionate portrayal of Black womanhood in Harlem and all the diverse experiences that encompasses. And it's a love letter to the artistry of hair braiding, a millennia-old form of artistry that allows its participants to express themselves even as they transform themselves. Much like theatre.
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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