
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, the 2023 Tony nominated play by Jocelyn Bioh now on the Yard Stage at Chicago Shakes, is an anthropologist's Steel Magnolia’s for our fraught time. Centered on immigrant women’s lives, it revels and reveals sisterhood as few stories on stage right now do. Its refreshing to see the men as auxiliary characters. And this show that elevates an immigrant experience and the American Dream is chillingly timely as we undergo the inauguration of a group of authoritarians who separated families the last time around. Bioh importantly sets the play in 2019.
Women the world over and for generations have gathered and told their stories in beauty salons. And hair braiding salons require a woman to commit to a painfully long day in the chair to achieve results. Jaja’s is a typical Harlem enclave, filled with women trying to make it in this country of dreams. If we are unfamiliar with this female focused market and economy, Bioh’s snappy dialogue educates us. Jaja ( the fabulous Victoire Charles who was in the Broadway production) is herself a self made woman who rose from cleaning houses to having her own business. The show takes place over a single day: as her high school aged daughter Marie ( young earnest and smart Jordan Rice) runs the shop, JaJa is off preparing to marry Steven, a white man, in order to get a green card. Marie does not like or trust Steven and we will never meet him. The braiders and their clients tell their life stories, tales of struggle and always a wish for better days, and in the afternoon an absolutely fabulous Jaja arrives to check in on things and show off her gown. She is also trying to get Marie to attend the wedding, but Marie is unenthusiastic about the marriage and declines. Marie’s premonition that this marriage is a bad idea will come shockingly true in an ending that leaves us asking more questions than we have answers to.
This is a play that hits every emotion in the continuum of comedy to tragedy. Director Whitney White has gathered a talented and skilled ensemble that portrays these stories without cliche, and makes us cheer for every character. This is a don’t miss it show for this cold cruel season.
In addition to the show, the lobby features a stunning exhibition of hair braiding including a video about it’s history and social significance. As we head into Black History Month a deep dive into Hair is a great place to start.
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is playing Tuesday through Sunday only until February 2, 2025 at the Yard at Chicago Shakespeare on Navy Pier. For tickets and information go to https://www.chicagoshakes.com/productions/jajas-african-hair-braiding/
For more reviews go to https://www.theatreinchicago.com
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