Overview
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding in Harlem is a salon full of funny, whip-smart, talented women ready to make you look and feel nice-nice. On this particularly muggy summer day, Jaja’s rule-following daughter Marie is running the shop while her mother prepares for her courthouse, green-card wedding... to a man no one seems to particularly like. Just like her mother, Dreamer Marie is trying to secure her future; she’s just graduated high school and all she wants to do is go to college. While Marie deals with the customers’ and stylists’ laugh-out-loud drama, news pierces the hearts of the women of the salon, galvanizing their connections and strengthening the community they have longed to make in the United States.
Centered on a community of vibrant Black craftswomen, all of whom shine with lived-in warmth and well-observed qualities, Jocelyn Bioh’s Tony-nominated play tells these women’s stories with delicacy and dignity. A show for anyone who’s ever had braids or wondered about the stories of these pillars of the Black community.