“JAJA’S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING” : A POWERFUL COMEDY... TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY.

 As someone who owned a hair salon with my daughter for over thirty years, Jaja’s African Hair braiding Salon is a world apart and a mile different. 

Kicking off the la jolly playhouses 42nd season by mounting  Ghanaian-American Playwright Jocelyn Bioh’s award winning comedy Jaja’s African Hair braiding” (she also wrote “The Curious Incident of the Dog In The Nighttime”) as directed by Whitney White, hits all the right notes of joy, fear and expectation, especially in today’s climate of immigration paranoia and dread of deportation. 

Jaja’s salon is located in Harlem where most of the  women working there are West African immigrants with the exception of Jaja’s daughter Marie (Jordan Rice) who is a Dreamer. 

Victorie Charles and cast

The customers all consider Jaja’s a sacred and safe place where they can come sometimes, for the whole day, and when they leave, feel special oft times looking  like a new person with braids cascading down their backs. 

As for the ‘stylists’’ they come with  different personalities, from different countries, backgrounds and accents. They worry about being deported, but mostly, they work long hours in Jaja’s making a living to make ends meet. 

Set on a ghastly  hot summer day in 2019, Jaja’s daughter, high school graduate Marie, is running the salon as her mother is getting primped for her wedding day which  happens to be this particular day. 

Tiffany Renee Johnson, Bisserat Tseggai, Jordan Rice and Aisha Sougou

Not everyone in the salon, including Marie, is thrilled about Jaja’s choice of a new husband whom they do not trust (and for good reason which will be revealed, but no spoilers here). Jaja hopes that with this wedding she will be able to get her green card, her daughter can attend any college of her choice and deportation would be a thing of the past.

In the meantime , customers come and go, all with their own stories especially one wanting to look like  Beyoncé. 

The stylists work their fingers to the bone turning the customers’ hair from dowdy to cornrows, to jumbo box braids to cornrows to micro braids.

Tiffany Renee Johnson and Claudia Logan

Over the course of the day, this eclectic group of braiders laugh, dance, argue about which customers belong to who, watch African TV soaps, deal with jewelry hawkers peddling their wares, chide the skilled Aminata (Tiffany Renee Johnson), for giving her hard earned money to her lazy, out of work husband. And the beat goes on. 

To the letter, there isn’t a weak link in the ensemble which includes…stunning Jaja (Victorie Charles) who makes a brief but eye popping entranced in her wedding gown, Bea (Claudia Logan), Ndidi (Aisha Sougou) , Onye Eme- Akwari who plays several male roles and stylist Miriam ( Bisserat Tseggai), whose client (Mia Ellis) is a journalist.  Miriam is the only stylist whose story we hear about. 

Obie award winner and director, Whitney white, keeps the pace on the fast track, missing nary a beat. From braiding to sparring to dancing to having affection for one another, Jaja’s in Harlem is the place to be. 

David Zinn’s colorful set design is authentic looking from cans of hairspray on the shelves to two hanging tv sets to roll about chairs, mirrors on the walls and individual bags of hair looking like they are waiting to be braided.

Claudia Logan and Melanie Brezill, Jordan Rice in background

I couldn’t help but be blown away by Dede Ayite’s richly colored costumes( she became the first black woman to win a tony award for best costume design in a play) and Nikiya Mathis’ wig and hair design with Jiyoun Chang’s lighting.

Aisha Sougou (left) and Melanie Brezill

All of these women call America ‘home’ but in today’s world, they are outsiders. For Jaja and her followers, sadly, deportation is staring them in the eyes. 

Enjoy.

See you at the theatre.

When: Runs through June 15. 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 1 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: La Jolla Playhouse,  Mandell Weiss Theatre, 

2910 La Jolla Village Drive, UC San Diego.

Photo: Rich Soublet II)

Tickets: $30-$90

Info: 858-550-1010

Online: lajollaplayhouse.org