Step into the salon for ‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’ at Speakeasy Stage
Hair salons are notorious for being more than just beauty parlors. They’re safe spaces, a place to gossip and vent and transform into another version of yourself. In “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” a Tony-nominated play by Jocelyn Bioh running at Speakeasy Stage, the audience spends a day with the stylists and customers at the salon, learning their dreams, their hopes and their fears.
On a hot day in Harlem, hours before the shop owner Jaja is set to get married, women gather at the salon for their treatments. Jaja’s daughter Marie is a DREAMer who hopes to attend college, but for now she runs the floor at the salon. The atmosphere is high spirited and humorous, until frightening news arrives and throws the day off kilter.
The play is set in 2019, but Marie’s status as a DREAMer feels increasingly relevant in a precarious and unsettling moment for immigrants in the United States. As the play unfolds, that connection hits home hard.
“This play, not only does it humanize the immigrant experience, but it also puts a highlight on immigrants from places that are not normally highlighted,” says MaConnia Chesser, who plays Jaja. “We have immigrants from all over the world who are here and who are contributing to our society, who are good people. People who personify the American dream.”
Hair is, of course, a central theme in the production.
Director Summer L. Williams in rehearsal for “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” PHOTO: TAYLOR ROSSI PHOTOGRAPHY
“I think the hair represents the magic of transformation,” says director Summer L. Williams. “And it also represents the magic of connecting, because that’s what allows them to come together in that space.”
The play requires a bit of what Williams describes as “theater magic” when it comes to the hairstyling. The show takes place over the course of one long day so the hairstyles being worked on will need to progress over time. Stylist Nadja Vanterpool is using her expertise with wigs to make that magic happen. Without giving too much away, Williams promises a few hair surprises during the course of the show.
Chesser says the play reminds her of early childhood experiences going to her local in-home salon in Mississippi to get her hair pressed.
“It’s really a celebration of Black hair in its natural state and in the many creative ways that Black women have come up with to style their hair,” says Chesser. “It’s a celebration of Black beauty.”
“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” gets its New England premiere with Speakeasy Stage Company May 2-31 at the Boston Center for the Arts in the South End. Tickets start at $25.
The play is both riotously funny and deeply moving. Williams hopes both notes strike a chord.
“I people to feel implicated,” says Williams. “I want them to feel welcomed in this world. I want them to fall in love with everybody they meet, and then I want them to feel ready to go out and fight for everybody that they meet.”
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