Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, 24 October 2023

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding magnificently highlighted the diversity of the community that gets lumped together as African American immigrant women, as well as the hardships of that experience that, regrettably, unite this community.

The bulk of the show is hilariously witty, and showcases cultural differences within the hair salon employees. The women ran a spectrum from shy and reserved Miriam (Brittany Adebumola) to bold and boisterous Jaja (Somi Kakoma). Their interactions became increasingly hostile as they got on each other’s nerves with their competing philosophies on life, all further complicated by their competition for customers and business because braiding hair was their livelihood and only means of survival.

These women were all unbelievably strong of spirit, and though there was often a bite behind their needling jokes and plenty of actual hurt and frustration with their quality of life in Harlem, when push came to shove, and Jaja was taken to an ICE detention center at the end of the play, leaving behind her daughter, Marie, it didn’t matter who was stealing clients from whom or who believed what about one another’s love life. In the final moments of the play, all of the hair braiding salon drama was, in an instant, rendered meaningless, because most of these women were in the same kind of danger and their strongest instinct was to protect one another and to protect the next generation from this fear and pain.

The first half of the show humanized these women as culturally unique and special, wanting the same basic things: love, citizenship, customers, and hope. The petty arguments that individuated them and kept the audience laughing humanized a population that the typical Broadway theatergoing demographic tends to homogenize and deliberately sculpted each character into someone we recognized, knew, even loved. Even though the characters presented a united front at the end, it seemed more remarkable to the audience because we had just gained an understanding of how drastically different each woman was. We found ourselves looking at a single unit, but also seeing the individuals within it and just how courageous they all were simply through their act of existing.

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding was truly transformative not only in the tightness of the script but also in the things unsaid, in the way each actress continued to be engaged in their work and their personal perspective while other characters were having their featured moments. The stage was always bustling with activity, and the activity was always aligned with the character, not just busy work because the ensemble had to be on stage. The most moving aspect of this show for me was the simple reminder that people are both individuals and a collective. Marginalized groups that we treat as a collective are comprised of individuals who are deeply harmed by political policies that most of the country is completely indifferent to (I might even venture to say unaware of). This show was timely, meaningful, and absolutely beautiful in what it created onstage, as well as the compassion and reflection it fostered in the audience. Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is truly a masterpiece.

I did not attend this performance on a press pass.