Review: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding at Samuel Friedman Theatre – ‘A Paean to the Immigrant Experience’

The 1980s television program “Cheers” was not really about beer and wine, nor was it about the bar which carried the name “Cheers.” Rather, it was about the people who, like Dr. Otternschlag in the movie “Grand Hotel,” more or less lived a good part of their daily lives there.
The same could be said about the new play, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” Jaja’s is a melting pot where everyone knows your name, as immigrants from West Africa navigate the daily rituals of working in or patronizing a Harlem salon while in the midst of change in their cultural environment.
Just don’t expect Sam or Diane to show up.
The shocking pink house curtain and nondescript storefront that greets the audience is miles away from the Old State House look of the Cheers bar but it certainly sets the tone for Jaja’s.
The cast of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Indeed, we don’t actually meet Jaja (Somi Kakoma), the title character of Jocelyn Bioh’s new play, but, by the time we do, we know almost exactly who she is.
In the course of a seemingly endless day in 2019 at the Harlem African hair braiding shop over which she presides – even in absentia – we see a portrait emerge.
To Bea (Zenzi Williams, who is everyone’s demanding auntie) and Aminata (Nana Mensah), Jaja is a super-demanding salon owner although it’s clear she overlords with love.
Meanwhile, Marie (portrayed brilliantly by Dominique Thorn), Jaja’s daughter, minds the shop in her mother’s absence and keeps the wheels of commerce spinning.  Marie attended a private school where she had been the valedictorian of her class but she is limited by her immigration status.  Despite her towering intellectual status, she may not be able to attend university as she, too, was born in Senegal but is thoroughly American otherwise, except for the fact that she uses the name and I.D. of a cousin whom she’s never met.

Bea and Aminata mock how Jaja pronounces the name of her fiancé, Steven, a well-off sounding white man, while our title character is an undocumented immigrant from Senegal.
The day is Jaja’s wedding day but Marie won’t be in attendance.  She has persistent nagging doubts about the nuptials.  Something seems wrong but she can’t put her finger on it, but she knows one thing: She won’t convey her approval by being in attendance.
Marie wants to become a writer, something she confides to Miriam (Brittany Adebumola in an extremely moving performance), a braider from Sierra Leone, but Jaja – like many parents of first-generation Americans – wants her to become a doctor.
Although there’s no revolving door on the front of the shop, multiple hair-braiding clients revolve in and out, portrayed by Kalyne Coleman and Lakisha May.  These talented actresses present us with true customer service challenges: One customer is incredibly rude, another incredibly brusque, another who simply falls asleep in the chair with her head to one said, a true challenge to anyone doing hair.  These vignettes give us the flavor of the neighborhood, giving us the voices, faces, and gestures of those who would pass by the hallowed portals of a real Jaja’s in Harlem.
Of course, Jaja does storm in towards the end, en route to City Hall for her wedding, and perhaps to give Mayor Adams a piece of her mind about immigration policies.
Her soliloquy is a paean to the immigrant experience.
“What kind of perfect immigrant are they looking for, eh?” When it comes to us, the rules are alllllways changing!,” Jaja exclaims, with a nod policy changes by the administration in Washington, D.C. at the time.  “This country is fine with taking. They are even fine with us giving, but the moment we ask for something? Hey! That’s it. Who are you? Dirty Africans! Get out of our country! Go back to your . . . “shat-holes.” . . . “
“Okay, so you want me to go? Fine, I will go. But when do you want me to leave? Before or after I raise your children? Or clean your house? Or cook your food? Or braid your hair so you look nice-nice before you go on your beach vacation?! . . . So now that’s it. Today, I will be on their level.
The ending, though abrupt and not fully resolved, nonetheless shows the strength of the tightly woven family that the dwells in the shop and it was an ending that truly made my heart stop for a moment.
THE DETAILS
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Performances from November 14 through November 19 will be available via live-streaming
Samuel Friedman Theatre
261 W 47th Str.
New York, N.Y. 10036
Running time : One hour and 30 minutes (no intermission)
www.manhattantheatreclub.com
(Photo: Accura Media Group)