Jajas African Hair Braiding Broadway, Samuel J Friedman Theatre, 2023

Table Of Content

• Jaja’s African Hair Braiding review – wildly entertaining but overstuffed
• The Broadway Review: ‘Patriots’ is a bullish new play that doesn’t reach its epic ambitions
• Story
• 'Challengers' Heats Up: How Zendaya's Star Power and a Sexy Love Triangle Could Give Gen Z Its Next Movie Obsession
• Jaja's African Hair Braiding - 2023 - Broadway History , Info & More

As the women begin setting up, the audience learns that this isn’t just another summer day. Through her marriage, the shop owner hopes to solidify American citizenship for herself and Marie. The playwright’s lifelong commitment to interwoven hairdos inspired “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a Broadway comedy about a day in the life of a hair braiding salon. It’s most likely the first Broadway play to shine a spotlight on Black women’s hair, and what it takes to style it. We have our flagship event, which is our Black Women on Broadway Awards celebration that happens every June, usually the week before the Tony Awards.

Broadway's Jaja's African Hair Braiding Is Going on Tour - Playbill

Broadway's Jaja's African Hair Braiding Is Going on Tour.

Posted: Tue, 09 Apr 2024 17:54:21 GMT [source]

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding review – wildly entertaining but overstuffed

Now, audiences get the chance to see it through Nov. 19 and see what all the buzz is about. Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) has partnered with League of Live Stream Theater (LOLST) to bring its first live streaming production to at-home audiences. Bioh’s braided world of teeth sucking, sideways comments and dance breaks is rapturous. But Bioh also attempts to highlight a rolodex of problems facing African women immigrants. Jaja’s marriage to secure her immigration status – the play’s central event – is wedged alongside whispers of Trump, forged immigrant documentation and other trials. The play attempts to needle in additional subplots around lost love, particularly the fluttering romance of Sierra Leone hair braider Miriam (Brittany Adebumola) and a flame back home.

The Broadway Review: ‘Patriots’ is a bullish new play that doesn’t reach its epic ambitions

She was the valedictorian of her class, but now that she’s graduated she might not be able to go to college—she uses the name and the I.D. Born in Senegal but an American in every way except in the eyes of the law since she was four years old, Marie is walking a tightrope that’s been thrown across the Atlantic and feeling the sharp winds to either side. Her future—at least as far as she can perceive it—depends on the marriage between her mother and Steven, but some small, nagging thought tells her she can’t trust that it’s all going to work out. Jaja wants Marie to be a doctor, or, as a backup, an engineer.

Story

Bioh’s comedic skills are masterful, ballooned further by a talented ensemble. Mensah, in particular, brings a bracing dry humor, an excellent complement to the cast’s energetic antics. But the urge to sink into drama, particularly in the play’s last moments, is unnecessary. It’s a needed counterbalance to African stories that reek of debasement (often puppeteered by white people), and the increasing number of first-gen comedies committed to mocking the immigrant experience for a chortle.

But—like so many young people in so many plays—Marie wants to be a writer. She writes short stories in notebooks, and shares them with Miriam (Brittany Adebumola), a braider from Sierra Leone. All live stream tickets are $69, which includes the $9 service fee.

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In this video, watch as she checks in with BroadwayWorld's Candace Cordelia to chat about bringing Bioh's incredible new work to Broadway. The styles in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” in previews on Broadway, require a wig designer, several braiders, some synthetic hair and lots of patience. “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” is a play where the Black women in the audience are the ones who feel most at home. Nothing says comedy to me like hot pink, and pink doesn’t get much hotter than the pink of the house curtain that greets you at the beginning of “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” by Jocelyn Bioh. In the pale and staid Samuel J. Friedman Theater, a fuchsia drop depicting dozens of elaborately woven hairstyles — micro braids, cornrows, “kinky twists” and more — tells you, along with the bouncy Afro-pop music, to prepare for laughter.

Jocelyn Bioh's ‘JaJa's African Hair Braiding’ Is a Love Letter to Black Hairstyling

We are dedicated to providing exceptional customer service while creating stunning and unique braided hairstyles that showcase the richness and diversity of African culture. Our goal is to be the premier destination for African hair braiding, where our clients feel valued, respected, and inspired. Performances begin on September 6, 2024 at Arena Stage, November 8 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre and January 14, 2025 at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. BroadwayWorld is bringing you Words From the Wings, a new series of interviews that take fans behind the scenes of some of their favorite Broadway stars' backstage routines! Today we're chatting with Brittany Adebumola from Jaja's African Hair Braiding. An incredible ensemble of actors makes up the cast of Broadway's most exciting new play- Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

Mostly I think I was thrilled by the audience that was coming. I think most of us that work in the theatre, onstage, behind the scenes, or around it in any sort of way, know what the typical Broadway theatre audience is, and Jaja’s African Hair Braiding did not have the typical Broadway audience. We were able to reach so many people I think because, like me, they also shared and had some sort of ownership of this story. They related to it in some way, whether they’ve been a customer at a hair braiding shop as many times as myself, or just once, or they knew people affiliated with one, or knew people like the characters in the play. It was kind of the definition of a term that has been used over and over again now, representation mattering.

Jaja's African Hair Braiding - 2023 - Broadway History , Info & More

But a bond is forged as many gather for the singular purpose of a fresh hairstyle, with all its cultural and cosmetic magic. There is a lot of talk these days about Black women leaning into softness, and while it’s a beautiful sentiment for many and even achievable for some, it’s not remotely realistic for others. “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” celebrates business owners like Jaja and the ladies who work for her. It’s also a portrait that illustrates everything it takes for Black women, especially immigrants, to survive in this country. Amid the sacrifices and the tears, the play showcases the community these women build among themselves and how they care for each other when no one else will.

The world premiere of Jocelyn Bioh's Jaja’s African Hair Braiding completes its extended run at Manhattan Theatre Club's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre November 19. The play began previews September 12 and officially opened October 3. Unlike the Ghanaian private school students in Bioh’s “School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play” and the star-struck Nigerians in her “Nollywood Dreams,” the stylists at Jaja’s are independent contractors. I don’t just mean financially, though they negotiate their prices privately and pay Jaja a cut. They also operate independently as dramatic figures, their plots popping up for a while, momentarily intersecting with the others’, then piping down to make room for the next.

Cast members, who braid hair onstage, practiced during rehearsals on wigs she designed for the performance. The story turns into one of those fascinating narratives—quick love, poignant loss, uncertain paternity, distant voyages—which only someone like Miriam, with a big, if unheralded, life, lived across continents, can tell. Jennifer, a budding journalist who’s in the shop to get microbraids—a day-spanning, finger-busting experience—is a happily captive audience for Miriam’s one-woman show. Watching a Broadway show has never been easier, thanks to League of Live Stream Theater.

One’s incredibly rude; one’s a school friend of Marie’s; one’s the aforementioned Michelle, who ignites the fire of battle between Bea and Ndidi. A limited number of $35 rush tickets for each performance are available the day of the show at TodayTix.com. For those who desire instant length, versatility, or protective styling options, we offer hair extensions and wigs. Our braiders can expertly install extensions or customize and style wigs to achieve your desired look.

The play, a vibrant, funny, and meaningful look into a day in the life of the West African immigrant hair braiders in a hair braiding shop in Harlem, was just nominated for three Drama League Awards, and two Outer Critics Circle Awards. Over the course of the play, its cast also conjures up some serious hair magic onstage, seamlessly transforming their clients' hair into several different Black hairstyles, from jumbo box braids to cornrows to micro braids. As their day progresses, theatergoers will uncover a powerful tale about joy, dreams, societal and familial expectations, community, politics, loss, and sisterhood. The award-winning playwright who brought you School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play debuts on Broadway with JaJa’s African Hair Braiding.

I think only in the case of me having a hard deadline to follow is when I’m the most disciplined [laughs]. To Jaja’s daughter, Marie (Dominique Thorn), who minds the shop and tends to its administrative business, Jaja is a mother with high standards. Marie went to a private school, where she got great grades and ran circles around her more stably situated peers.

Bioh’s play, informatively titled “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” opened cold on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Friedman Theatre on October 3, 2023. The comedy chronicles a single day in a Harlem braid spot, populated by the stylists (many of whom are African immigrants) and their assorted clientele. The production marked Bioh’s Broadway debut, though she has been an acclaimed and decorated playwright since the premiere of her “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play” in 2017.

From Nov. 14 through 19, audiences everywhere can purchase a ticket at LOLST.org and tune into a live performance of Jaja's African Hair Braiding from home. The play runs for 90 minutes with no intermission and is streamed live from the stage — not recorded. That means you will need to watch at a scheduled performance time (of your choosing).