Jaja's African Hair Braiding

In This Program

• A Welcome from the Artistic and Managing Directors
• Theatrical Powerhouse: Jocelyn Bioh talks with us about Jaja’s
• Hair Story/History/Here Story
• Show Program: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
• Artist Bios
• Making Theatre
• Print Edition
• More about Berkeley Rep

Theatrical Powerhouse

Jocelyn Bioh talks with us about Jaja’s

On the Origin Story of Jaja’s...

Braids are a big part of my life. I’m from New York. I grew up in Washington Heights, and I went to the hair braiding shop since I had hair long enough to braid.

When I became a professional writer, I realized how right it was for a play setting. I knew [the story] would center somewhat around immigration; we were in a much different administration at that time. There was a lot of conversation about immigrants, and who immigrants were and why they were coming to our country, if you will. I wanted to have a response to that.

What was the development process of Jaja’s?

I was offered a commission by Williamstown [in 2018], to write a play. The Artistic Director at the time said that I could write whatever I wanted...and I thought: I want to write a play about braids and a hair braiding shop. I went away and wrote the initial draft of Jaja’s within a couple of months. We were on the development track to do it at Williamstown, then a little thing called COVID happened. A lot of things shifted, and after a very, truly, long story, the play ended up at MTC. I asked them to consider it for their Broadway house because I actually felt the play, what it required (the cast size), it felt on the scale of a Broadway production. The trajectory of the play in terms of it being written to when it was produced was about four years, but in terms of the development of it, it felt pretty fast for me because I never had an opportunity to have many readings - one reading on Zoom, another reading in person (for MTC), and then MTC scheduled it.

And then we had this moment in the development process where I had the opportunity to involve Nikiya Mathis, our Wigs Designer (See Making Theatre, p30). I had to involve her in the development process because I had to understand if what I was writing and how I was writing it was going to even be possible to do. Can we jump three hours in time from scene to scene and for these braids to still be able to be done? How can we do that in the wig design? I found myself for the first time collaborating with a designer as I was developing the show, which was really unique.

I was learning on my feet with this particular play, but I was up for the task.

How did you feel about making your Broadway debut?

I don’t mess around. I think people don’t know that about me until they’re in a setting with me and understand that I’m working just as hard as everybody else.

I didn’t feel super intimidated by Broadway. I think it just made me feel, ‘Okay, well, they’ve committed to doing it on this big platform, and now the work ethic that I’ve built over nearly the last decade will be on full display.’ It made everybody sit up straighter, I think. There was no, ‘Can I just try it out, and then we’ll clean it up when we move to Broadway.’

No, we’re doing it live. We’re doing it live. It made everyone show up with their A-game – not that I think they wouldn’t have in any other capacity.

There was a lot of history that was involved with the play, too. It was the first play by a Black playwright that was premiering ‘cold’ on Broadway since 1991. And we had so many Broadway debuts: it was my Broadway debut as a playwright; Whitney’s Broadway debut as a director; and most of the cast had never been on Broadway before. So, it all felt extremely historic.

Why is Harlem an important setting for you?

Most of my work centers Black people and Black diasporic realms. Settings are very important for me because they contextualize for the audience and, maybe, help them understand – we’re centering work and the people that we’ve never really seen on stage before, and settings help audiences familiarize what is known to them.

Harlem was important for two reasons: it was one of the few times — outside of my adaptation of Merry Wives — that I set a play that was in America; and two, I wanted [Jaja’s...] to feel like it was the epicenter of something culturally specific. People have an idea of the different cultures that exist in a Harlem hair braiding shop, especially if all the people look the same or are of the same diasporic cultural connections; and people have an idea of what Harlem looks like, but now, it has a new face. To expand on that: people always talk about America being a melting pot of different cultures; and, I would say, Harlem is a melting pot of different African cultures. It’s unique that these hair braiding shops have people that are not just from one country. I’ve been to every hair braiding shop under the sun. There are some that have all women from Senegal; there are some that have women from various parts of Nigeria; but the shops that I mostly frequent tend to be eclectic with people from various African countries.

Showing that version of New York is really important. We’ve seen New York in so many ways, especially in film and TV. We rarely really see Harlem, and certainly not this shop. When I was doing research of other comparative narratives, anything that existed in even film or TV, I found there’s nothing. There’s nothing. There are little one-off 10-minute documentaries, here and there, about getting your hair braided or an immigrant experience or Harlem, but there’s nothing that centers what I’m crafting in the play, which made the world building need to be succinct and perfect.

I’m also from New York, so I felt a real responsibility that if I’m going to show Harlem, I want it to be the most Harlem Harlem that ever Harlem’ed.

On working with Director Whitney White...

Whitney is a new collaborator that I... this won’t... will not be our last collaboration. We are already discussing at least two other projects that we will be working on together. She keeps me pulled, even reluctantly, into the theatre. What is very special about Whitney is that she’s...the best way I can describe it is: a wholesale collaborator.

When we’re looking at what we’re working on, she’s thinking about how the design of it is going to look, how the set is going to look, how the costumes are going to feel, what the music is going to be – all infused in it. At the same time, she’s really making sure that I’m getting what I need and having the conversations that I need with her – so dramaturgically, what needs to be happening in the play is there. She understands that it’s not just one person who makes all of this happen.

In her email signoffs or after a big meeting, she will literally say, “Thank you all for your work. I know what you’re doing is really hard but thank you all for your work.”

That’s a great way to sum up the kind of collaborator she is.

Hair Story / History / Here Story

by Otis Ramsey-Zöe

In Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, within the arc of a single day, Jocelyn Bioh threads many lives from varying origin points on the globe into a stunning, unified tapestry.

For each braider, it took a whole lot of trying just to get up that hill. Each worker in Jaja’s shop earned her spot through determination, skill, and the ability to navigate hostile systems. This “a day in the life of” story centers not on one individual but on an entire community invested in perpetual works of service, esteem-building, citizenship, self-making, and heritage preservation. According to Bioh, from an interview with legendary playwright Lynn Nottage, “There’s something really powerful about when the story is the main character, or the place is the main character.”

Jaja’s is a particularly rewarding work because it is layered and dramatizes interior and exterior complexities. Walking in, the title signals that this is a hair story, but it is also a here story infused with deep culture and history.

Hair story.

It’s a quiet and hot Summer morning on 125th and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem. The hair braiding shop owned by Jaja, like so many hair salons and barbershops in Black and immigrant communities, functions as a community center, as a hub for information, commerce, and image-making.

Physical appearance and presentation are not mere vanity. Despite progress on all fronts social, political, legislative, and the like, the way a person’s appearance is read by another can determine how they are treated. In the lexicon of social codes, hair functions as a key ethnic signifier because, compared with bodily shape or facial features, it can be changed more easily.

Even mogul Oprah Winfrey has encountered numerous incidents of racial profiling while out shopping. Following one occurrence, comedian Paul Mooney joked, “Oprah should’ve combed her hair,” which recognizes that Black women face an inordinate amount of stigma, judgment, and assumptions based on how they wear their hair. Art historian Kobena Mercer asserts, “all black hairstyles are political in that they each articulate responses to the panoply of historical forces which have invested this element of the ethnic signifier with both social and symbolic meaning and significance.” Since hairdos function within systems of codes, values, and meanings, clients in Jaja’s shop are selecting a story to embody; they are negotiating which aspects of themselves and culture to highlight, curb, fabricate, explore, honor, and project. Of course, a persistent aspect of history and historical forces is the reality of their ever presence.

History.

History is capacious. It is not simply written down or spoken. History may also be embodied. History shows up in our body movements, actions, and even apparel.

Bioh expertly and slyly signals an entire history lesson at the very top of the show by indicating that a character carries a particular accessory. Marie, Jaja’s daughter, enters hauling supplies in large once-nameless, checkered, woven matted bags. Immediately recognizable and abundant even here in the United States, these bags acquired the name “Ghana must go” bags following the 1983 expulsion of Ghanaians from Nigeria. Today, the bags have many names including Efiewura suame (by Ghanaian, which means “help me carry this load”), Anyi N’Aga (Igbo for “we are going”), and refugee bags. The bags have become symbols of migration as carriers for possessions, as stand-ins for immaterial things like culture, heritage, and memories that are also being carried, and as reminders of dispossession and forfeiture.

Within the play, these bags are a tiny detail that reveals Bioh’s investment in astutely infusing the characters and story with layers of meaning, history, backstory, tensions, anxieties, dreams, and every manner of the complications that arise from living and striving towards citizenship in a nation that holds opportunities and inhospitality in equal measure. Jaja’s is infused with more meaningful and layered details than can be absorbed in a single viewing, and Bioh crafts a play that feels both timeless and rooted in a very specific time and place. 

Here story.

Set on a very hot day in July of 2019 in Harlem, which was declared a Black mecca in 1925 during the Harlem Renaissance, Jaja’s is an immigrant story, yes, but that is also the story of this nation. America has always been seen and represented itself as a “golden door” long before “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus was penned or inscribed onto the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty, arguably the world’s most recognizable symbol of welcome to immigrants. 2019 found the country embroiled in fierce debates about the status of and place for immigrants in this country. In 2018, one year before the play takes place, the then-sitting US President expressed in vulgar terms his belief that not all immigrants should be welcomed in these United States. Such debates continue to this day, but questions around how we as a nation handle immigration mirror the dilemma of selecting a hair style. Both are operating within tensions between who we say we are by the image we project (our exterior) and who we show we are based on our actions (our interior). Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is not just about the immigrants represented by the women and men we see on stage in the shop; it is about each inhabitant of this country who either themselves or their ancestors came here from someplace else.

Berkeley Repertory Theatre
Johanna Pfaelzer, Artistic Director | Tom Parrish, Managing Director

A co-production with Arena Stage, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and La Jolla Playhouse in association with Madison Wells Live and LaChanze

presents

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding

By
Jocelyn Bioh

Directed by
Whitney White

Set Design
David Zinn

Costume Design
Dede Ayite

Lighting Design
Jiyoun Chang

Original Music and Sound Design
Justin Ellington

Video Design
Stefania Bulbarella

Associate Director
Manna-Symone Middlebrooks

Hair and Wig Design
Nikiya Mathis

Dialect and Vocal Coach
Yetunde Felix-Ukwu

Casting
Erica A. Hart, CSA
Kelly Gillespie, CSA
David Caparelliotis, CSA

Stage Manager
Mandisa Reed

Assistant Stage Manager
Brillian Qi-bell

Director of Marketing and Audience Development
Voleine Amilcar

Associate Producer  New Work
victor cervantes jr 

General Manager
Sara Danielsen

Finance Director
Jared Hammond

Director of Production
Audrey Hoo

Director of the School of Theatre
Anthony Jackson 

Director of Development
Ari Lipsky

Associate Artistic Director
David Mendizábal 

Director of Human Resources and Diversity
Modesta Tamayo

Director of Operations
Amanda Williams O’Steen

World premiere produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club (Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director; Chris Jennings, Executive Director) and Madison Wells Live with LaChanze & Taraji P. Henson at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 12, 2023

Commissioned by Williamstown Theatre Festival (Mandy Greenfield, Artistic Director), Williamstown, MA

Jaja's African Hair Braiding is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service imprint. dramatists.com

SEASON PRESENTING SPONSORS

Anonymous
Stephen & Susan Chamberlin
Yogen & Peggy Dalal
Bruce Golden & Michelle Mercer
Jonathan Logan & John Piane
The Strauch Kulhanjian Family
Gail & Arne Wagner

SEASON SPONSORS

Frances Hellman & Warren Breslau
Wayne Jordan & Quinn Delaney
Gisele & Kenneth F. Miller
Jack & Betty Schafer

SPONSORS

Jack Klingelhofer

ASSOCIATE SPONSORS

Gary & Noni Robinson

SETTING

Harlem, New York, 2019

CAST

(in alphabetical order)

Melanie Brezill
Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

Leovina Charles
Vanessa, Sheila, Radia

Victoire Charles
Jaja

Yao Dogbe
James, Franklin, Olu, Eric

Mia Ellis
Jennifer

Tiffany Renee Johnson
Aminata

Jordan Rice
Marie

Awa Sal Secka
Bea

Aisha Sougou
Ndidi

Bisserat Tseggai
Miriam

UNDERSTUDIES

(in alphabetical order)

Kevin Aoussou
For James, Franklin, Olu, Eric

Renea S. Brown
For Jennifer, Vanessa, Radia, Sheila

Debora Crabbe
For Marie, Ndidi, Aminata

Mia Ellis
For Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

Yetunde Felix-Ukwu
For Jaja, Bea, Miriam

NOLLYWOOD DREAMS ACTORS

Onye Eme-Akwari, Morgan Scott

Understudies never substitute for listed performers unless a specific announcement or notice is made at the time of appearance.

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.

Musicians in this production are members of Musicians United Local 6, American Federation of Musicians.

This theatre operates under agreement with the League of Resident Theaters, Actors’ Equity Association (the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States), the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and United Scenic Artists.

Opening Night: November 13, 2024

Peet's Theatre

Run time is 90 minutes with no intermission

For This Production

Assistant Director
Manon McCollum (Bret C. Harte Artistic Fellow)

Associate Scenic Designer
Teresa L. Williams

Assistant Costume Designer
Chris Hynds

Associate Lighting Designers
Caroline Ortiz Herrera, Jacob Zedak

Assistant Lighting Designers            
Catherine Girardi, Renata Taylor-Smith (Electrics Fellow)

Associate Sound Designer
DJ Potts

Assistant Sound Designer
Kaileykielle Hoga (Harry Weininger Sound Fellow)

Associate Hair and Wigs Designers
Janera Rose, Shereese Lynn-Cromartie

Production Assistant
Emily Betts

Deck Crew
James McGregor (Head Stage Technician), Julia Formanek, Micheal Boomer, Isaac Jacobs

Wardrobe Crew
Barbara Blair (Wardrobe Supervisor), Kamaile Alnas-Benson, Hanna Chylinski

Hair and Wigs Crew
Tinika Sadiku (Wig Supervisor), April Tillies (Assistant Wig Supervisor), Chynah Gayton

Lighting Programmer/Board Operator
Desiree Alcocer

Sound and Video Show Crew
Angela Don

Scenery, Costumes & Properties originally fabricated by Arena Stage

Scenery Load In Crew
Carl Martin, Maggie Wentworth, Isaac Jacobs, Cameron Edwards, Caleb Knopp, Cassidy Carlson (Scenic Construction Fellow)

Additional Scenic Artists
E Wayman, Kenzie Bradley, Caitlyn Brown (Scenic Art Fellow)

Additional Props Artisans
Brittany Watkins, Kate Fitt, Jason Joo (Props Fellow)

Additional Costume Shop Crew
Chris Weiland, Breanna Bayba, Moose Gavin, Amanda Geyer (Costumes Fellow)

Lighting Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Lighting Department

Additional Lighting Technicians
Amy Abad, Angelina Costa, Brittany Cobb, C. Swan-Streepy, Charlie Mejia, A. Chris Hartzell, Emma Buechner, Frankie Aranguren, Hannah Linaweaver, Jack Grable, Jacob Hill, Matthew Sykes, Nori-Hayden Quist, Shy Baniani, Taylor Rivers

Sound and Video Services provided by Berkeley Repertory Theatre Sound and Video Department

Additional Sound Technicians
Courtney Jean, Camille Rassweiler, Olivia Vazquez, C. Swan Streepy

Production Manager
Kali Grau

Assistant Production Manager
Rhea Mehta (Production Management Fellow)

Interim Company Manager
Ryan Duncan-Ayala

Assistant Company Manager
Katie Anthony (Company Management Fellow)

Associate Casting Director
Karina Fox

Medical Consultation for Berkeley Rep provided by
Agi E. Ban DC, John Carrigg MD, Cindy J. Chang MD, Christina Corey MD, Neil Claveria PT, Patricia I. Commer DPT, Kathy Fang MD PhD, Steven Fugaro MD, Olivia Lang MD, Allen Ling PT, Liz Nguyen DPT, Christina S. Wilmer OD, and Katherine C. Yung MD

Melanie Brezill

Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

is thrilled to make her Berkeley Rep debut! Broadway/National Tour: The Book of Mormon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Mamma Mia!. Select Regional: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage); for colored girls...; Caroline, or Change (Court Theatre); Beautiful (Marriott Theatre); As You Like It (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Nina Simone: Four Women (Northlight Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre); Crowns (Goodman Theatre). TV/Film: Reporting for Christmas, Empire. Melanie is the creator of The Grandmother Project and Pearls & Pocketbooks series on YouTube. She would like to thank her family, friends, and Stewart Talent for their support! Instagram: @shinegirlshine @thegrandmotherproject

Leovina Charles

Vanessa, Sheila, Radia

is a Haitian-American multidisciplinary artist born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. Making her professional theatre debut as Young Nala in The Lion King on Broadway, she has long believed in the transformative power of storytelling and has a passion for stepping into the shoes of those whose stories often go untold. She is thrilled to be making her Berkeley Rep debut and thanks her family and friends for their unending support! Select credits: Lempicka (La Jolla Playhouse), I Am Antigone (Theatre for a New City), The Waterfall (Thrown Stone), Soñadora (Amazon Prime), In the Red and Brown Water (UCSD). MFA Acting, UC San Diego. BFA Musical Theatre, Howard University. leovinacharles.com

Victoire Charles

Jaja

Theatre: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Broadway); Golden Age (MTC); Ruined (MTC, Intiman, Geffen Playhouse); Moby Dick Rehearsed, The Tempest (The Acting Company, Group 35); Intimate Apparel (Portland Stage Company); The Trojan Women (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company). TV: New Amsterdam (NBC); FBI (CBS); Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (HBO Max); and an upcoming episode of Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC). Training: Fordham College at Lincoln Center and the NYU Grad Acting Program.

Yao Dogbe

James, Franlkin, Olu, Eric

is overjoyed to be making his debut at Berkeley Rep. Off-Broadway: The Doctor (Park Avenue Armory); Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater). Regional: Richard III, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Macbeth, (Chicago Shakespeare Theater); Fences (American Players Theatre); Fly (Capital Repertory Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); Routes (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Cymbeline (Utah Shakespeare Festival). Tours: Othello (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks). Yao is a first-generation Ghanaian American actor and an activist for African cultural and dialectical authenticity on stage and film for the African diaspora. TV/Film: Yao currently has an AutoZone commercial nationwide. Everett D. Mitchell Documentary. MFA Acting, University of Houston. Instagram: @yaonation

Mia Ellis

Jennifer; u/s Michelle, Chrissy, LaNiece

is elated to be making her Berkeley Rep debut. Select Regional: The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Fairview, The Mountaintop, Intimate Apparel, Ragtime (Trinity Rep); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); A Raisin in the Sun (Seattle Rep); Hamlet (Santa Cruz Shakespeare). TV/Film: The Good Fight, Elementary, Person of Interest, Welcome to the Blumhouse Live, Lavender Men, The Surrender. Mia received her MFA in acting from Brown University/Trinity Rep and is also a narrator, writer, producer, and member of the Trinity Rep Acting Company. She sends a special thanks to Linda, Semoune, and L.B. Instagram: @ellismia09. Website: miaellis.com.

Tiffany Renee Johnson

Aminata

is excited to make her Berkeley Rep debut! She’s a proud Chicago native, repped by Gray Talent Group. Regional credits: Jaja's African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage), Blues for an Alabama Sky (Remy Bumppo Theatre — Core Ensemble Member), Chlorine Sky (Steppenwolf Theatre), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Goodman Theatre), Red Velvet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater), The Garbologists (Northlight Theatre), Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and A Doll's House (Writers Theatre). TV/Film credits: Shameless and The Chi (Showtime); Chicago PD and Chicago Med (NBC); Soundtrack (Hulu); and Range Runners (Amazon Prime). Education: Theatre BFA, Howard University. To God be the glory. Instagram: @tiffanyreneej_ Website: tiffanyreneejohnson.com

Jordan Rice

Marie
(she/her)

is thrilled to join the cast of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Jordan can currently be seen as a recurring guest star on Swagger on Apple TV+, and in the feature film One True Loves starring Simu Liu and Phillipa Soo. At age 11, Jordan made her feature debut in Ava DuVernay’s Selma and has loved creating ever since. Jordan is a 2020 National YoungArts Winner in Theatre, and a 2021 US Presidential Scholar Semifinalist. Additionally, she recently completed an intensive acting training course at LAMDA (UK). To follow her journey, follow her on Instagram: @actressjordanrice #ThatGirlBeActing

Awa Sal Secka

Bea

is elated to be back at Berkeley Rep! You may have seen her last as Zawadi (Goddess). Regional credits include Sarah (Ragtime) at Signature Theatre, Joanne (Rent) at The Kennedy Center, Mayme (Intimate Apparel) at Theater J, The Baker’s Wife (Into the Woods) at Ford’s Theatre, Ama (School Girls) and Dottie (Caroline, or Change) at Round House Theatre. Awa is a Helen Hayes Award-winning actor, and a co-writer for the 2023 MacArthur Award-winning show The Joy That Carries You. She is immeasurably grateful for her incredible agents at Nicolosi & Co., for her fiancé and all her wonderful friends, family, and supporters, and especially for her mother, Fatou, who would be so proud to see her playing an African woman on stage. Graduate of Montgomery College. Instagram: @_kujichagulia_

Aisha Sougou

Ndidi
(she/her)

is elated to be making her Berkeley Rep debut with this story. She was born and raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, and is the daughter of immigrants from Senegal. Past credits include Beehive, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, and Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (The Marriott Theatre). She graduated from the School of Drama at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Class of 2023. She radiates love and gratitude for her friends and family, especially her mother and sisters, who taught her everything she knows about respect and self-worth. So much love for Stewart Talent and the faculty at UNCSA. Go Pickles! Instagram: @_aisha_marie_

Bisserat Tseggai

Miriam

is an Eritrean-American actor whose work in theatre includes The Jungle at St. Ann’s Warehouse and the Curran Theatre, and For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad at Soho Rep. Her television credits include The Accidental Wolf, Seven Seconds, Succession, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Orange Is the New Black, Billions, Alternatino with Arturo Castro, Luke Cage, and Rival Speak. You can follow her @bisserat on all social media platforms.

Kevin Aoussou

u/s James, Franklin, Olu, Eric

Berkeley Rep debut. Chicago: Henry V (Chicago Shakespeare); Inanimate (Theater Wit); Moby Dick (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Routes (Remmy Bumppo). Regional: The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Theater at Monmouth, The Hedgerow Theatre, The Rogue Tucson, Cardinal Stage, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. Education: MFA in Acting, Northwestern University. National Theater Institute MXAT, BFA in Theatre Performance, Winthrop University. Instagram: @ayokev247

Renea S. Brown

u/s Jennifer, Vanessa, Radia, Sheila

Berkeley Rep Debut; Regional Productions: Sojourners, The Mountaintop, Nollywood Dreams (Round House Theatre); Metamorphoses, Our Verse in Time to Come, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Folger Theatre); Tempestuous Elements, Change Agent (Arena Stage); The Tempest, Macbeth, As You Like It, (Shakespeare Theatre Co); The Wolves (McCarter Theatre); Covenant (Theatre Alliance); Othello, Sense and Sensibility, Twelfth Night (Island Shakespeare Festival); Much Ado About Nothing, A King and No King (American Shakespeare Center) and more. Film/TV: Godfather of Harlem, Law and Order. Awards: 2024 Helen Hayes Outstanding Lead Performer (The Mountaintop). MFA: Academy of Classical Acting. Instagram/TikTok: @Therealdarklady

Debora Crabbe

u/s Marie, Ndidi, Aminata

Berkeley Rep debut. Regional: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (Kennedy Center TYA), School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Round House Theatre), A Christmas Carol (Ford’s Theatre), Gloria: A Life (Theater J), The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective (Washington Stage Guild), As You Like It (Keegan Theatre), Iphigenia, The Dog in the Manger (We Happy Few). Honors/Awards: Helen Hayes — Outstanding Lead Performer in a Musical (2019), Outstanding Ensemble (2020). Education: BFA – VCU. Instagram: @dcdebbiecakes

Yetunde Felix-Ukwu

u/s Jaja, Bea, Miriam; Dialect and Vocal Coach

makes her Berkeley Rep debut. Selected acting credits include Jaja's African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage); Nollywood Dreams (Round House Theatre); A Christmas Carol (TheatreSquared); Babel (Unicorn Theatre); and School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Kansas City Repertory Theatre). As a Dialect Coach selected credits include Sinners by Ryan Coogler (Warner Bros.), Time Bandits (Apple TV+), and Metamorphoses (Folger Shakespeare Library). More information can be found on all social media platforms @yetundelive and at yetundelive.com.

Onye Eme-Akwari
Nollywood Dreams Actor

is a Nigerian-born actor, producer, musician, and educator. He has performed in and taught numerous marching bands, indoor drum lines, and world-class touring drum corps. Recent theatre credits include the regional premiere of Spirits to Enforce (Vernal & Sere) as well as the five-time Tony-nominated Jaja’s African Hair Braiding on Broadway (Manhattan Theatre Club). Recent TV/Film credits include guest star and recurring appearances in FBI: Most Wanted (CBS), The Good Doctor (ABC), Bob Hearts Abishola (CBS), Will Trent (ABC), Random Acts of Flyness (HBO), and Outer Banks (Netflix). Onye teaches at the Robert Mello Studio in Atlanta, GA, as well as the Terry Knickerbocker Studio in Brooklyn, NY. He also holds an MA in Industrial/Organizational Psychology from the University of Georgia. Instagram: @onye.emeakwari

Morgan Scott
Nollywood Dreams Actor

is a 2022 graduate of Juilliard, originally hailing from Greenville, South Carolina. Morgan also trained at the British American Dramatic Academy. Recent New York theatre credits include Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Broadway) and MUD; or when things get messy and how we live with it (SheNYC Festival). She would like to express her utmost gratitude for her Heavenly Father, her family, and her hair braider of six years, Mrs. Deborah, on 125th St. in Harlem. Instagram: @morganmscott_

Jocelyn Bioh
Playwright

is an award- winning, Tony Award-nominated Ghanaian- American writer/performer from New York City. Her written works for theatre include Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC) which premiered on Broadway in 2023 and was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play; Merry Wives (Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, PBS Great Performances) which won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation; Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater); book writer for the Broadway-bound musical Goddess (Berkeley Rep); and the multi-award winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play which was originally produced at MCC Theater in 2017/2018 and has gone on to have over 65 regional productions and premiered in the UK in 2023. Jocelyn was a 2017 Tow Playwriting Fellow and has won several playwriting awards, including being awarded the Dramatists Guild’s Hull-Warriner Prize twice, Steinberg Playwright Award, Lortel Award, and Drama Desk Award, and is the winner of the 2024 Horton Foote Prize. Jocelyn has also written for TV on Russian Doll, Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix), Tiny Beautiful Things (Hulu), and the new Star Wars series The Acolyte (Disney+).

Whitney White
Director

is an Obie Award and Lilly Award-winning, as well as a Tony Award-nominated, director, writer, and musician. She was a staff writer on Boots Riley’s I’m a Virgo and is a believer of multi-disciplinary work and collaborative processes. Recent directing includes Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Broadway), Jordans (The Public Theater), The Secret Life of Bees (The Almeida, UK), Soft (MCC, New York Times Critic’s Pick), On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (New York Times Critic’s Pick), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre DC), An Iliad (Long Wharf), Canyon (IAMA, LA Times Critic’s Choice), Jump (PlayMakers Rep, National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere), and The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf Theatre). Original works include Semblance (NYTW), Definition (Bushwick Starr), and Macbeth in Stride (American Repertory Theater, Under the Radar Festival at The Public Theater) for which she won an Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance. Her four-part cycle deconstructing Shakespeare’s women is currently in development with American Repertory Theater (Boston, MA) and the Royal Shakespeare Company (UK). Whitney has developed work with Sundance, Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, The Vineyard, The New Group, Page 73, Playwrights Realm, Juilliard, Trinity Rep, NYU Tisch, Luna Stage, SUNY Purchase, Princeton University, Atlantic Theater Company Acting School, The Drama League, South Oxford, Jack, The Tank, New York Musical Theatre Festival, The Lark, and others. She also has been an Associate to Sam Gold (Othello, New York Theatre Workshop), Daniel Sullivan (If I Forget, Roundabout), and Anne Kauffman (Marvin’s Room, Broadway). Whitney is a part of the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative and is a recent recipient of the Susan Stroman Directing Award, Herb Alpert Award, and Jerome Fellowship. She is an Artistic Associate at the Roundabout and an Associate Artistic Director at Shakespeare Theatre DC. Past residencies and fellowships include Colt Coeur, The Drama League, Roundabout, and the 2050 Fellowship at the New York Theatre Workshop. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University. Whitney will direct the upcoming Broadway production of The Last Five Years featuring Nick Jonas and Adrienne Warren.

David Zinn
Set Design

Recent work on Broadway includes set design for Stereophonic, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, and The Notebook; costume design for An Enemy of the People; and set and costume design for Sondheim’s last musical Here We Are (The Shed, NY). Other Broadway includes scenery for Kimberly Akimbo, Funny Girl, The Minutes, Diana, Torch Song, and The Humans; scenery and costumes for the SpongeBob Musical, Fun Home, Choir Boy, Amélie, and The Last Ship; and costumes for A Doll’s House, Part 2, Other Desert Cities, The Vibrator Play, and Xanadu. He’s also designed at Playwrights Horizons, MTC, NYTW, Lincoln Center, Second Stage, The Public, A.C.T., A.R.T., Berkeley Rep, The Guthrie, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, National Theatre, Young Vic, The Hampstead (UK), Berlin Staatsoper, and Theater Basel. He’s received Tony, Drama Desk, Hewes, and Obie awards for his work.

Dede Ayite
Costume Design

is a Tony Award-winning costume designer. Recent: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X at the Metropolitan Opera. Select Broadway: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony Award), Hell’s Kitchen, Appropriate, Topdog/Underdog, Slave Play. Select Off-Broadway: Merry Wives (Public), Buena Vista, Days of Wine and Roses (Atlantic). Select Regional: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage. Television: Netflix, Comedy Central. Awards: TDF/Kitty Leech Young Master Award, Obie, Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, Audelco, Jeff awards.

Jiyoun Chang

Lighting Design

is honored to be back at Berkeley Rep since Aubergine and An Octoroon. She loves to work on new stories and adaptations that connect her to communities around her and share a deep understanding of them with the audience. Her credits on Broadway are Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Stereophonic, The Cottage, KPOP, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, and Slave Play. Her other credits are from the Noël Coward Theatre at West End, Arena Stage, The Public, Roundabout, NYTW, MCC, Signature, ATC, Guggenheim, Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Cal Shakes, Guthrie, Old Globe, and OSF. She has been nominated numerous times for Tony, Drama Desk, and Lucille Lortel awards. She is a recipient of the Henry Hewes Design Award ‘24, Obie Award, and Suzi Bass Award.

Justin Ellington
Original Music and Sound Design

is thrilled to make his Berkeley Rep debut. His impressive portfolio spans theatre, film, and radio, with Broadway credits including Home, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony nomination), for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (Tony nomination), Topdog/Underdog, Pass Over, and Clyde’s. Off-Broadway he’s contributed to productions at New York Theatre Workshop, Lincoln Center, and The Public Theater. Justin has earned awards like the Obie, Audelco, and Henry Hewes Design, and has been recognized by ASCAP and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He is currently a Lecturer in Sound Design at the David Geffen School of Design at Yale University.

Stefania Bulbarella
Video Design

is a projections designer from Argentina based in NY. Broadway: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC). Off-Broadway: Space Dogs (MCC); Travels (Ars Nova); A Bright New Boise, The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre); Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop); amongst others. Nominations: 2024 Tony nominee for her work in Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee for Outstanding Video/Projection Design for Space Dogs. Awards: HOLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design for Vamonos!. stefaniabulbarella.com

Nikiya Mathis
Hair and Wig Design

is a multi-hyphenate actress and wig designer. She has originated roles in world-premiere plays including Blood Quilt at Arena Stage; Off-Broadway premieres including Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays, Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar; and Lynn Nottage’s NY revival of Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. She currently recurs as N’Kiyah Franklin in Power Book III: Raising Kanan on Starz. Nikiya is the first wig designer to ever receive a special Tony Award for her design of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She is an Obie Award winner, Drama Desk Award winner, Black Women on Broadway Award winner, and Henry Hewes Award winner. Nikiya’s Broadway credits include Home, The Heart of Rock and Roll, Once Upon a One More Time, Death of a Salesman, Topdog/Underdog, and Chicken & Biscuits. Her Off-Broadway credits include the current re-envisioning of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, among others. Instagram: @our_black_tresses @nikiyamathis

Manna-Symone Middlebrooks
Associate Director

Recent work on Broadway includes Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She was the assistant director at Arena Stage for Indecent and Turn Me Loose. Recent directing credits include The Tempest, sandblasted, Precious Little, and The Revenger’s Tragedy at Northwestern University. Other regional associate and assistant director credits include The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf); The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company, DC); All’s Well That Ends Well (Chicago Shakespeare); Henry IV, Part I, Amadeus (Folger Theatre); The Wolves, Skeleton Crew, Translations (Studio Theatre); and BLKS (Woolly Mammoth). Instagram: @mannasymone

Erica A. Hart, CSA
New York Casting

Broadway: Chicken & Biscuits, Pass Over, Death of a Salesman, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Television: Black Mirror, A Black Lady Sketch Show (Artios winner), That Damn Michael Che, Bust Down, The Girls on the Bus, The Equalizer, Survival of the Thickest. Film: The Surrogate (Artios winner), We Strangers (SXSW), Cupids (Tribeca). Music video: “Fight for You” by H.E.R. Thanks Jocelyn Bioh, Whitney White, Kelly Gillespie, David Caparelliotis, and the Jaja’s African Hair Braiding family!

Kelly Gillespie, CSA
New York Casting

has been on the casting staff at Manhattan Theatre Club for 17 seasons. Favorite MTC projects include Prayer for French Republic (Broadway and Off-Broadway), Mary Jane, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, The Best We Could, Skeleton Crew, Ink, Choir Boy, and The Explorers Club. Other credits include Bite Me, Sancocho, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, What We’re Up Against, Sundown Yellow Moon, Ironbound (WP Theater); Melancholy Play, A Map of Virtue, The Zero Hour, Monstrosity (13P); Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry and Public Theater); Photograph 51 (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Exclusion, POTUS (Arena Stage); Age of Innocence, Trouble in Mind (The Old Globe); Two Sisters and a Piano (Two River Theater); and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America, Residence, Seven Guitars, 4000 Miles, Dot, The Roommate, and Eat Your Heart Out (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Gillespie also was resident casting director for several seasons for the Off-Broadway companies TACT and Keen Company. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan.

David Caparelliotis, CSA
New York Casting

Select Broadway/Off-Broadway: Good Night and Good Luck (upcoming); Mary Jane; Prayer for the French Republic; Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; 2:22 A Ghost Story; Grey House; Summer, 1976; The Comeuppance; Ohio State Murders; Cost of Living; Macbeth; The Minutes; Skeleton Crew; Ink; Letters From Max; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Waverly Gallery; Boys in the Band. Select theatres: Signature NYC, Atlantic, Ars Nova, The Old Globe. TV/Film: New Amsterdam (NBC, series casting), The Boys in the Band (Netflix, original casting).

Mandisa Reed
Stage Manager

Select Broadway and Regional credits include: Jitney (Broadway National Tour), Skeleton Crew (MTC), Topdog/Underdog (Golden Theatre), Kimberly Akimbo (Booth Theatre), Sweeney Todd (Lunt-Fontanne Theatre), Home (Roundabout Theatre Company), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Arena Stage). Mandisa Reed, a Saginaw, Michigan native, is a proud graduate of Dillard University in New Orleans (BA) and the University of California San Diego (MFA).

Brillian Qi-Bell
Assistant Stage Manager
(she/her)

Brillian is passionate about making positive changes in her industry and community. She has participated in advocacy programs such as the Cody Renard Richard Scholarship, Beyond the Stage Door (Baseline Theatricals), and the Harriet Tubman Effect. Previous work includes A Thousand Maids (ASM, Two River Theater); Bees & Honey (ASM, MCC Theater); 38th Marathon of One Act Plays (ASM, Ensemble Studio Theater); El Otro Oz (PSM Sub, Atlantic Theater Company); & Juliet (ASM Sub, National Tour); Funny Girl (ASM Sub, National Tour); The Harder They Come (ASM Sub, Public Theater); Hell’s Kitchen (PA, Public Theater); Suffs development (PA, 101 Productions); Jagged Little Pill (PA, First National Tour).

Arena Stage

The first racially integrated theatre in our na-tion’s capital and a pioneer of the regional the-atre movement, Arena Stage was founded in 1950 in Washington, D.C. Today, under the leadership of Artistic Director Hana S. Sharif and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to American voic-es and artists. We produce plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep, and dangerous in the American spirit, and present diverse and groundbreaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Consistently contributing to the American theatrical lex-icon by commissioning and developing new plays, Arena Stage impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement and serves a di-verse annual audience of more than 300,000.arenastage.org

Chicago Shakespeare Theater

a Regional Tony Award recipient, produces a bold and innovative year-round season that includes Shakespeare, original plays, musicals, family programming, and international theatrical events. CST is committed to serving as a cultural center across its three stages—the 700+ seat Yard, 500 seat Jentes Family Courtyard Theater, and the 200 seat Carl and Marilynn Thoma Theater Upstairs as well as in classrooms, neighborhoods, and venues around the world. CST has a deep commitment to education and lifelong learning with robust programming for students, teachers, and lifelong learners, and engagement with communities across the city. Onstage, in classrooms and neighborhoods across the city, and in venues around the world, Chicago Shakespeare is a multifaceted theatre—inviting audiences, artists, and community members to share powerful stories that illuminate the complexities, ambiguities, and wonders of our world. chicagoshakes.com

La Jolla Playhouse

is a place where artists and audiences come together to create what’s new and next in the American theatre, from Tony Award-winning productions, to imaginative programs for young audiences, to interactive experiences outside our theatre walls. Founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, the Playhouse is currently led by Tony Award winner Christopher Ashley, the Rich Family Artistic Director of La Jolla Playhouse, and Managing Director Debby Buchholz. The Playhouse is internationally renowned for the development of new plays and musicals, including mounting 120 world premieres, commissioning 70 new works, and sending 36 productions to Broadway, garnering a total of 42 Tony Awards, as well as the 1993 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. lajollaplayhouse.org

Madison Wells Live

is the live entertainment arm of Madison Wells, Gigi Pritzker’s award-winning, independent production company who believes in telling stories by, and about, badass women, as well as people who love pushing boundaries. Led by Executive Producer Jamie Forshaw, Madison Wells Live focuses on producing purpose-driven projects through collaboration with partners who are aligned in the belief that great storytelling can provoke, inspire, and move audiences around the world. Broadway credits include Swept Away, Water for Elephants (Tony nomination), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony nomination), Shucked (Tony nomination), Company (Tony Award for Best Revival), The Old Man and The Pool, Pass Over, Hadestown (Tony Award for Best Musical), The Inheritance (Tony Award for Best Play), Million Dollar Quartet (Tony nomination). West End: Kathy & Stella Solve a Murder!, The Motive and the Cue (Laurence Olivier nomination), and The Ocean at the End of the Lane (Laurence Olivier nomination). Off-Broadway: We Live in Cairo, Seven Deadly Sins (Drama Desk Award for Unique Theatrical Experience). For more information about Madison Wells Live, visit madisonwellsmedia.com.

LaChanze

Broadway: Celie in The Color Purple (Tony Award), Ti Moune in Once on This Island (Tony Award nomination), Trouble in Mind (Tony Award nomination), Summer: The Donna Summer Musical (Tony Award nomination), A Christmas Carol, If/Then, The Wiz, Company, Ragtime, and Dreamgirls. Off-Broadway: The Secret Life of Bees, The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, The Vagina Monologues, and Cabin in the Sky at New York City Center Encores!. TV: Handel’s Messiah Rocks: A Joyful Noise (Emmy Award), East New York, The Blacklist, HBO’s The Night Of, Law & Order: SVU, The Good Fight, Sex and the City. Film: The Help, Melinda, and Disney’s Hercules among other titles. As Director: Alice Childress’ Wine in the Wilderness at Classic Stage Company next season. As Producer: The Outsiders, adapted from S.E. Hinton’s classic novel (Tony Award), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh (Tony Award nomination), Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim along with the 20th Anniversary of Suzan-Lori Parks’ acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog (Tony Award) and Jeanine Tesori and David Lindsay-Abaire’s new musical, Kimberly Akimbo (Tony Award), both co-produced with David Stone. President of Black Theatre United, a community dedicated to awareness, accountability, and advocacy. Proud mother to Celia Rose and Zaya LaChanze. She resides in Westchester, New York with her three cats and gardening hats.

Johanna Pfaelzer
Artistic Director

Johanna joined Berkeley Rep in 2019 as its fourth artistic director, following 12 years as artistic director of New York Stage and Film (NYSAF), a New York City-based developer of new works for theatre, film, and television. Johanna is proud to have developed work by notable established and early career writers like Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda; Goddess by Saheem Ali, Michael Thurber, and Jocelyn Bioh; The Humans by Stephen Karam; Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell; The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe; The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar; A 24-Decade History of Popular Music by Taylor Mac; The Homecoming Queen by Ngozi Anyanwu; The Great Leap by Lauren Yee; Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; The Fortress of Solitude by Michael Friedman and Itamar Moses; The Jacksonian by Beth Henley; and Green Day’s American Idiot. Johanna previously served as associate artistic director of American Conservatory Theater and is a graduate of Wesleyan University and the Actors Theatre of Louisville Apprentice Program. She lives in Berkeley with her husband, Russell Champa, and their son, Jasper.

Tom Parrish
Managing Director

Tom has served as a theatre leader and arts administrator for over 20 years, with experience in organizations ranging from multi-venue performing arts centers to major Tony Award-winning theatre companies. Prior to Berkeley Rep, he served as executive director of Trinity Repertory Company, Geva Theatre Center, and Merrimack Repertory Theatre and as associate managing director/ general manager of San Diego Repertory Theatre. His work has been recognized with a NAACP Theatre Award for Best Producer and “Forty Under 40” recognition in Providence, Rochester, the Merrimack Valley, and San Diego. He received his MBA/MA in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University; BA in Theater Arts and Economics from Case Western Reserve University; attended the Commercial Theater Institute, National Theater Institute, and Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management; and is certified in Leading Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion by Northwestern University. He and his husband live in Berkeley.

Making Theatre

Meet the artisans who build our showsby DC Scarpelli

The central artisanal element in Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is, of course, the hair. And Nikiya Mathis’ stunning hair and wig designs aren’t just beautiful — they in many ways shape the show. Mathis was showered with accolades for her work, including a 2024 Drama Desk Award and a 2024 Special Tony Award.

Berkeley Rep audiences will also remember Mathis’ creations for the hit musical Goddess in our 2021/22 Season.

Jocelyn Bioh has shared with us how your designs were integral to how the play is structured, in terms of what could be accomplished, hair-wise, on stage. Can you briefly describe how you worked with her and with director Whitney White?

Jocelyn gave a very clear road map. In fact, she described the styles in the text of the play, e.g.,  “large box braids” or “micro braids,” etc. So I gathered a bunch of images of those styles, and then I would go to her and Whitney to see if the image that I pulled was what she had in mind. And with the micro braids, I actually braided some different sizes, and had them choose which size felt right, to make sure that we were on the same page.

We also held braiding classes for the actors, which was so much fun. Jocelyn and Whitney would pop into those classes and take a try at the braiding as well. It created an amazing sense of community, in a way that I hadn’t experienced on other shows. It showed just how special this show was.

I would then pop into rehearsals to help guide the actors on some of the hair braiding magic.

Jocelyn had written what the style was, but it was up to me to determine what the magic was, and then up to Whitney to orchestrate that magic. This was the first time that, as a wig designer, I got to collaborate closely with the writer and director on parts of the staging. Usually, it’s taboo for anyone except the writer or director to have a say in what’s going on on stage, unless they ask for it. But, they both gave me the freedom to give my braiding expertise — and even to give notes to the cast — in such an open way.

What’s your favorite look in the show in terms of how it fits the character?

That’s so hard to say! But I think it’s Jaja’s hairstyle.

Dede Ayite, the costume designer, and I were initially thinking of something a bit more afrofuturistic for her, because we wanted her to walk on stage and have everyone’s jaws drop. But Jocelyn really felt strongly that Jaja would have braids that felt more traditional. I’m really really glad that we found a meeting point. The braids are more traditional, but I still really feel excited every time I see Jaja enter!

How about in real life? What’s your favorite hair look, period or contemporary?

OMG! I personally always wear wigs. Every once in a while I’ll wear my natural hair out, and people will say “Nikiya, I’ve never seen your real hair before!” But I do it for convenience.

Wigs are really an accessory to me, like a cute pair of earrings. I’ll decide on a long one, a short one, a brown one, or a blonde one, depending on what mood I’m in. But I think my favorite era is old Hollywood glam... You can never go wrong with vintage waves and curls.

Is there anything you want audiences to take away regarding the politics and community surrounding Black hair, the salons and barber shops where it’s styled, and the folks who style it?

Yes! There is so much culture and history inside Black hair salons and barber shops. It is “sanctuary.” It is “church.” It is “therapy.” It is “community.” It is where boys learn to be men, and where girls learn to be women. You can learn so much in barber shops and salons, because so many different kinds of people enter and exit, and they all have a story. It’s really the epitome of “if these walls could talk...” And it’s also a laying on of hands. In an almost-holy way.

It’s similar to being baptized: when you walk out of the shop, you feel like a new woman. That’s why it’s so sacred.

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