Review: Letting It All Hang Out

"Jaja’s African Hair Braiding," Mark Taper Forum, Los Angeles, Oct. 1 – Nov. 9, 2025

 

Oct. 9, 2025 | By Bruce R. Feldman

In Brief: Jocelyn Bioh’s uninhibited comedy soars with prickly wit, sharply etched characters, indelible performances, underlying dramatic tension, and a timely message. Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is a 90-minute masterclass in outstanding writing, acting, and directing. Superb!

The company of Jaja's African Hair Braiding at the Mark Taper Forum. (Photo: Javier Vasquez/Center Theatre Group.)

It’s a hot, muggy July day in Harlem. The aging air conditioner that keeps Jaja’s humble beauty salon cool is having a hard time keeping up. The animated West African immigrant hair braiders on duty are firing on all cylinders, however.

They gossip, bicker, and chide each other, as they await their regulars or squabble over who will get, or get stuck with, the walk-in customers. Sometimes their banter is playful. Often it’s scornful. Either way, playwright Jocelyn Bioh’s inspired writing guarantees that their revelations and ripostes are always hilarious.

These scrappy women – the resentful Bea (Claudia Logan), romantic Aminata (Tiffany Renee Johnson), steady-handed Miriam (Bisserat Tseggai), and newcomer Ndidi (Abigail C. Onwunali) – share bonds of sisterhood, common struggle to make a living, and parallel dreams of gaining citizenship, or at least permanent residency, to build a better life in America.

From left: Jordan Rice, Abigail C. Onwunali, and Leovina Charles and Tiffany Renee Johnson (Photo: Javier Vasquez/Center Theatre Group.)

Jaja’s brainy, recent high-school graduate daughter Marie (Jordan Rice) oversees the shop, because on this day her mother is downtown marrying a man no one likes. Jaja (Victoire Charles) doesn’t care what they think because the marriage is a way for her to get a green card and legalize her status.

Dramatist Bioh makes the most of the provocative setting and Jaja’s dicey situation, prompting her opinionated characters to weave a rich tapestry of immigrant life, resilience, and the humanity that ultimately transcends their frustrations and fears.

The entire cast is wonderful, not only the voluble shop workers, but their different customers, as well, all six of whom are played extremely skillfully by just two actresses (Melanie Brezill and Leovina Charles).

Four men make brief appearances in the shop, and, again, one actor (Michael Oloyede) memorably brings them to life, though each is on stage for just a few minutes.

All the technical credits are first rate, including David Zinn’s evocative set, Dede Ayite’s snappy costumes, and Justin Ellington’s pulsing score.

Credit director Whitney White with moving the hijinks along at a fast pace and then choreographing a seamless transition to final moments of grace, compassion, and clarity.

Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is funny as hell, until it punches us in the gut, leaving us both entertained and emotionally fulfilled. It's marvelous. See it.

“Jaja's African Hair Braiding,” Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 628-2772, www.centertheatregroup.org