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Written by Jocelyn Bioh
Directed by Whitney White
The Yard
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding
Written by Jocelyn Bioh
Directed by Whitney White
The Yard
Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes (no intermission)
Additional Credits
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is a co‑production of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse
Presented in association with Madison Wells Live and LaChanze
Critics Pick: “HOT & HILARIOUS”
–New York Times
“TERRIFIC ACTORS…leaning into the laughs, which are many”
–Chicago Tribune
“SUPERB…90 minutes of pure joy”
–Let’s Play Theatrical Reviews
Straight from a twice-extended Broadway run, making its Regional Premiere. Welcome into Jaja’s, a bustling Harlem hotspot where West African immigrant braiders work their magic on the locals’ locks. Amidst the lively buzz of a scorching summer day, pull up a chair with Marie, Bea, Miriam, Aminata, and Ndidi as love blossoms, dreams flourish, and secrets are revealed. But uncertainty simmers below the surface, and this tight-knit community must confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home. Written by Tony-nominated Ghanaian-American playwright Jocelyn Bioh (School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play) and directed by Chicago’s own award-winning director Whitney White, this laugh-out-loud comedic gem “is equally affecting as it is hilarious,” hails Entertainment Weekly.
Premiere Production Sponsors
Lead Production Sponsors
Student Matinee Ticket Access for JaJa’s African Hair Braiding is provided by Dove, a proud co-founder of the CROWN Coalition.
Run Time: Approximately 90 minutes (no intermission)
Additional Credits
Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is a co‑production of Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Arena Stage, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse
Presented in association with Madison Wells Live and LaChanze

JAN 26 Audio Description

JAN 29 Open Captioning

JAN 30 ASL Interpretation
Video: Trailer
Video: Meet the Stylists
Video: A Word with the Cast
Gallery: On Stage
Gallery: In Rehearsal
Video: Trailer
Video: Meet the Stylists
Video: A Word with the Cast
Gallery: On Stage

Bisserat Tseggai as Miriam and Mia Ellis as Jennifer from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

The cast of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Melanie Brezill in Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Tiffany Renee Johnson as Aminata from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Production photo from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Production photo from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Awa Sal Secka as Bea from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Production photos from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.

Production photos from Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Photo Credit: T Charles Erickson.
Gallery: In Rehearsal

(L to R) Mia Ellis, Yao Dogbe, Victoire Charles, and Melanie Brezill in rehearsal.

(L to R) Yetunde Felix-Ukwu, Jocelyn Bioh, Whitney White, and Manna-Symone Middlebrooks in rehearsal.

Whitney White in rehearsal.

Yao Dogbe in rehearsal.

Bisserat Tseggai in rehearsal.

Whitney White in rehearsal.
“GLORIOUS! The cast sparkles & shines… a true ensemble piece.”
–Around the Town Chicago
“Director Whitney White brings out the richness & soul of each character.”
–Let’s Play Theatrical Reviews
“An overwhelmingly affectionate portrait of Black female joy.”
–TheaterMania
“Laugh-out-loud hilarious, authentic and engaging”
–DC Theater Arts
“An overwhelmingly affectionate portrait of Black female joy.”
–TheaterMania
“Laugh-out-loud hilarious, authentic and engaging”
–DC Theater Arts
Artists

Melanie Brezill
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: The Comedy of Errors, As You Like It, Seussical, Willy Wonka. CHICAGO: Stokely: The Unfinished Revolution, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, Man in the Ring, Caroline, or Change (Court Theatre); Beautiful, Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Marriott Theatre); The Comedy of Errors at Shepperton, Nina Simone: Four Women (Northlight Theatre); Little Shop of Horrors (Drury Lane Oakbrook Theatre); Crowns (Goodman Theatre); The MLK Project (Writers Theatre). BROADWAY/NATIONAL TOUR: The Book of Mormon, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Mamma Mia!. TELEVISION: Empire. FILM: Reporting for Christmas. Brezill is the creator of The Grandmother Project and Pearls & Pocketbooks series on YouTube.

Leovina Charles
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Young Nala in The Lion King. REGIONAL: Lempicka (La Jolla Playhouse); I Am Antigone (Theatre for a New City); The Waterfall (Thrown Stone); Twelfth Night, In the Red and Brown Water (UC San Diego). FILM: Soñadora (Amazon Prime). EDUCATION: MFA in acting, UC San Diego; BFA in musical theatre, Howard University. Leovinacharles.com

Victoire Charles
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. OFF BROADWAY: Golden Age, Ruined (Manhattan Theatre Club). REGIONAL: Ruined (Intiman Theatre, Geffen Playhouse); Moby Dick Rehearsed, The Tempest (The Acting Company, Group 35); Intimate Apparel (Portland Stage Company); The Trojan Women (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); The Comedy of Errors (Shakespeare Theatre Company, DC). TELEVISION: New Amsterdam, recurring on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit as Judge Stella McRae (NBC); FBI (CBS); Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin, Pretty Little Liars: Summer School (HBO Max). EDUCATION: Fordham College at Lincoln Center, New York University Grad Acting Program.

Yao Dogbe
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Richard III, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Macbeth. OFF BROADWAY: The Doctor (Park Avenue Armory); Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater). REGIONAL: Topdog/Underdog, Nollywood Dreams, Ohio State Murders (Round House Theatre); King Lear (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Fences (American Players Theatre); Fly (Capital Repertory Theatre); Intimate Apparel (Northlight Theatre); Routes (Remy Bumppo Theatre Company); Cymbeline (Utah Shakespeare Festival). TOURS: Othello (Montana Shakespeare in the Parks). TELEVISION: nationwide AutoZone commercial. EDUCATION: MFA in acting, University of Houston. @yaonation

Mia Ellis
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. REGIONAL: The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company); Fairview, The Mountaintop, Intimate Apparel, Ragtime (Trinity Repertory Company); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Alabama Shakespeare Festival); A Raisin in the Sun (Seattle Rep); Hamlet (Santa Cruz Shakespeare). TELEVISION: The Good Fight, Elementary, Person of Interest, Welcome to the Blumhouse Live. FILM: Louder Than Words, Lavender Men. EDUCATION: Tougaloo College; MFA in acting, Brown University/Trinity Rep. Ellis is also a teaching artist, writer, producer, and a member of the Acting Company at Trinity Rep.
@ellismia09 miaellis.com

Tiffany Renee Johnson
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Red Velvet. CHICAGO: Blues for an Alabama Sky, Passage (Remy Bumppo Theatre, Core Ensemble Member); Chlorine Sky (Steppenwolf Theatre Company); School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Goodman Theatre); The Garbologists (Northlight Theatre); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, A Doll’s House (Writers Theatre); Flyin’ West (American Blues Theatre); Vanya; Or, That’s Life (Rasaka Theatre); A Nativity Story (Congo Square Theatre); Hairspray (Drury Lane Theatre). TELEVISION: Shameless, The Chi (Showtime); Chicago PD, Chicago Med (NBC); Soundtrack (Hulu). FILM: Range Runners, North of the 10 (Amazon Prime). EDUCATION: BFA in theater arts, Howard University. @tiffanyreneej_ tiffanyreneejohnson.com

Jordan Rice
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. TELEVISION: Jackie Carson in Swagger (Apple TV+); Esme in DC Universe’s Doom Patrol. FILM: Dylan in One True Loves, Ava DuVernay’s Selma. AWARDS: 2020 YoungArts Theatre Finalist and Winner, 2021 U.S. Presidential Scholar in the Arts Semifinalist. @actressjordanrice #ThatGirlBeActing

Awa Sal Secka
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. REGIONAL: Sassy in After Midnight (Paper Mill Playhouse); Zawadi in Goddess (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Sarah in Ragtime (Signature Theatre); Joanne in Rent (Kennedy Center); Mayme in Intimate Apparel (Theater J); Baker’s Wife in Into the Woods (Ford’s Theatre); Ama in School Girls, Dottie in Caroline, or Change (Round House Theatre). AWARDS: Helen Hayes Award-winning actor and a co-writer for the 2023 MacArthur Award-winning show The Joy That Carries You.

Aisha Sougou
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Beehive, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus (Marriott Theatre). EDUCATION: School of Drama at The University of North Carolina School of the Arts, Class of 2023. @_aisha_marie_

Bisserat Tseggai
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. REGIONAL: The Jungle (St. Ann’s Warehouse, Curran Theatre); For All the Women Who Thought They Were Mad (Soho Rep). TELEVISION: The Accidental Wolf, Seven Seconds, Succession, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Orange Is the New Black, Billions, Alternatino with Arturo Castro, Luke Cage, Rival Speak. @bisserat

Onye Eme-Akwari
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. THEATER: Spirits to Enforce (Vernal & Sere); Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Manhattan Theatre Club). TELEVISION: FBI: Most Wanted, Bob Hearts Abishola (CBS); The Good Doctor, Will Trent (ABC); Random Acts of Flyness (HBO); Outer Banks (Netflix). EDUCATION: MA in industrial/organizational psychology, University of Georgia. Eme-Akwari has performed in and taught numerous marching bands, indoor drum lines, and worldclass touring drum corps. He teaches at the Robert Mello Studio in Atlanta, GA and the Terry Knickerbocker Studio in Brooklyn, NY.

Morgan Scott
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. THEATER: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Manhattan Theatre Club); MUD; or when things get messy and how we live with it (SheNYC Festival). EDUCATION: 2022 graduate of Juilliard; British American Dramatic Academy. @morganmscott_

Kevin Aoussou
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Henry V. CHICAGO: Inanimate (Theater Wit); Moby Dick (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Routes (Remmy Bumppo). REGIONAL: Berkley Repertory Theatre, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Theater at Monmouth, The Hedgerow Theatre, The Rogue Tucson, Cardinal Stage, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte. EDUCATION: MFA in acting, Northwestern University; National Theater Institute MXAT; BFA in theatre performance, Winthrop University. @ayokev247

Renea S. Brown
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. REGIONAL: Sojourners, The Mountaintop, Nollywood Dreams (Round House Theatre); Metamorphoses, Our Verse in Time to Come, A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Folger Theatre); Tempestuous Elements, Change Agent (Arena Stage); The Tempest, Macbeth, As You Like It, (Shakespeare Theatre Co); The Wolves (McCarter Theatre); Covenant (Theatre Alliance); Othello, Sense and Sensibility, Twelfth Night (Island Shakespeare Festival); Much Ado About Nothing, A King and No King (American Shakespeare Center). TEVEVISION: Godfather of Harlem, Law and Order. AWARDS: 2024 Helen Hayes Outstanding Lead Performer for The Mountaintop. EDUCATION: MFA, Academy of Classical Acting. @Therealdarklady @TheLocallabco

Debora Crabbe
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. REGIONAL: Katie Smalls in The Victorian Ladies’ Detective Collective (Washington Stage Guild); Iphigenia in Iphigenia (We Happy Few); Mercy in School Girls (Round House Theatre); Rosalind in As You Like It (Keegan Theatre, Helen Hayes Award – Outstanding Lead Performer); The Bus Driver in Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical! (Kennedy Center TYA National Tour). EDUCATION: BFA in performance, Virginia Commonwealth University. @dcdebbiecakes

Dorcas Sowunmi
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Lady Macduff, understudy Lady Macbeth in Short Shakespeare! Macbeth. CHICAGO: Trust (Lookingglass Theatre Company); Teddy Ferrara reading (Goodman Theatre, New Stages Amplified). TOUR: To Kill a Mockingbird. REGIONAL: Old Globe Theatre, Syracuse Stage, Cherry Lane Theatre, Luna Stage, Classical Theatre of Harlem, Stratford Shakespeare Festival, The Alley Theatre, Indiana Repertory Theatre, Oscar Brockett Theatre, B. Iden Payne Theatre, The Laboratory Theatre, Austin State Theatre, SHSU Main Stage Theatre. TELEVISION: New Amsterdam, The Blacklist Collector (NBC); Holiday In Harlem (Hallmark Channel); The Last OG, Search Party (TBS); Happy! (Syfy Network); Modern Love (Amazon Studios); Chicago Code (20th Century Fox). EDUCATION: MFA in acting, University of Texas at Austin, The School at Steppenwolf, Stella Adler Actor Studio, Birmingham Conservatory at Stratford Shakespeare Festival.
Manna-Symone Middlebrooks
Associate Director
Yetunde Felix-Ukwu
Dialect and Vocal Coach
Sierra Young
Intimacy Consultant
Dwaine Potts
Associate Sound Designer
Manna-Symone Middlebrooks
Associate Director
Yetunde Felix-Ukwu
Dialect and Vocal Coach
Sierra Young
Intimacy Consultant
Dwaine Potts
Associate Sound Designer
Jocelyn Bioh
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. THEATER: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Manhattan Theater Club) which premiered on Broadway in 2023 and was nominated for five Tony Awards including Best Play; Merry Wives (Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park, PBS Great Performances) which won the 2022 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation; Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater); book writer for the Broadway-bound musical Goddess (Berkeley Rep); multi-award-winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (MCC Theater) gone on to have over 65 regional productions and premiered in the UK in 2023. TELEVISION: Russian Doll, Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It (Netflix); Tiny Beautiful Things (Hulu); new Star Wars series The Acolyte (Disney+). AWARDS: 2017 Tow Playwriting Fellow, Dramatists Guild’s HullWarriner Prize Award twice, Steinberg Playwright Award, Lortel Award, Drama Desk Award. Bioh is also writing the live screen film adaptation of the Broadway musical Once on This Island for Disney.
Whitney White
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf Theatre Company). BROADWAY: The Last Five Years (upcoming), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Marvin’s Room. OFF BROADWAY: Jordans, What to Send Up When It Goes Down (Public Theater); Soft (MCC Theater); On Sugarland, Othello (New York Theatre Workshop); If I Forget (Roundabout Theatre Company), Vineyard Theatre, The New Group, Page 73, The Playwrights Realm, Julliard, Trinity Rep, The Drama League, and others. INTERNATIONAL: The Secret Life of Bees (Almeida Theatre); Sundance. REGIONAL: The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company); An Illiad (Long Wharf Theatre); Canyon (IAMA Theatre Company); World-premiere of Jump (PlayMakers Repertory Company); Trinity Repertory Company. ORIGINAL WORKS: Semblance, Definition, Macbeth in Stride. EDUCATION: MFA in acting, Brown University; BA, Northwestern University. AWARDS: Obie, Lilly, Tony Nomination for direction, writing, and music, two-times New York Times Critic’s Pick, LA Times Critics Choice, Elliott Norton for Outstanding Musical Performance, Susan Stroman Directing, Herb Alpert, Jerome Fellowship. White is an Artistic Associate (Roundabout Theatre Company), an Associate Artistic Director (Shakespeare Theatre Company), and former staff writer on Boot’s Riley’s I’m a Virgo
David Zinn
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: The Notebook. BROADWAY: set design for Stereophonic, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, The Notebook, Kimberly Akimbo, Funny Girl, The Minutes, Diana, Torch Song, The Humans; costume design for An Enemy of the People, A Doll’s House Part 2, Other Desert Cities, The Vibrator Play, Xanadu; set and costume design for Sondheim’s last musical Here We Are (The Shed); SpongeBob Musical, Fun Home, Choir Boy, Amélie, The Last Ship. NEW YORK: Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club, New York Theatre Workshop, Lincoln Center Theater, Second Stage, The Public. REGIONAL: American Conservatory Theater, American Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Guthrie, The Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, Seattle Rep, Santa Fe Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago. INTERNATIONAL: National Theatre, Young Vic, The Hampstead (UK), Berlin Staatsoper, Theater Basel. AWARDS: Tony, Drama Desk, Hewes, and Obie awards.
Dede Ayite
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. SELECT BROADWAY: Othello, Our Town, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony Award Winner); Hell’s Kitchen, Appropriate, Topdog/ Underdog, Slave Play. OPERA: X: The Life and Times of Malcolm X (Metropolitan Opera). SELECT OFF BROADWAY: ; Merry Wives (The Public); Buena Vista Social Club, Days of Wine and Roses (Atlantic Theater Company). SELECT REGIONAL: Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Arena Stage. TELEVISION: Netflix, Comedy Central. AWARDS: TDF/Kitty Leech Young Master Award, Obie, multiple Drama Desk, Henry Hewes, Lucille Lortel, Helen Hayes, Theatre Bay Area, Audelco, and Joseph Jefferson Awards.
Jiyoun Chang
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Stereophonic, The Cottage, KPOP, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, Slave Play. NEW YORK: The Public, Roundabout, New York Theatre Workshop, MCC Theater, Signature Theatre Company, Guggenheim. REGIONAL: Alley Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, CalShakes, Guthrie, Old Globe, Oregon Shakespeare Festival. AWARDS: multiple nominations for Tony, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, Henry Hewes Awards; recipient of an Obie Award and Suzi Bass Award.
Justin Ellington
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Home, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Tony Award nomination), for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf (Tony Award nomination), Topdog/Underdog, Pass Over, Clyde’s. OFF BROADWAY: New York Theatre Workshop, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater. AWARDS: multiple Obie, Audelco, and Henry Hewes Design Awards, recognized by ASCAP and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Ellington is currently a Lecturer in Sound Design at the David Geffen School of Design at Yale University.
Stefania Bulbarella
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. BROADWAY: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (Manhattan Theatre Club). OFF BROADWAY: Space Dogs (MCC Theater); Travels (Ars Nova); A Bright New Boise, The Watering Hole (Signature Theatre); Semblance (New York Theatre Workshop); amongst others. AWARDS: 2024 Tony Award nominee for Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle nominee for Outstanding Video/Projection Design for Space Dogs; HOLA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Design for Vámonos!. stefaniabulbarella.com
Nikiya Mathis
Nikiya Mathis is a multi-hyphenate actress and wig designer. She has originated roles in world-premiere plays including Blood Quilt at Arena Stage; Off Broadway premieres including Tarell McCraney’s The Brother/Sister Plays, Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew, Kirsten Greenidge’s Milk Like Sugar; and Lynn Nottage’s NY revival of Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine. She currently recurs as N’Kiyah Franklin in Power Book III: Raising Kanan on Starz. Nikiya is the first wig designer to ever receive a special Tony Award for her design of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. She is an Obie Award winner, Drama Desk Award winner, Black Women on Broadway Award winner, and Henry Hewes Award winner. Nikiya’s Broadway credits include Home, The Heart of Rock and Roll, Once Upon a One More Time, Death of a Salesman, Topdog/Underdog, and Chicken & Biscuits. Her Off Broadway credits include the current re-envisioning of Cats: The Jellicle Ball, among others. Instagram:
@our_black_tresses @nikiyamathis
Erica A. Hart, CSA
Broadway: Chicken & Biscuits, Pass Over, Death of a Salesman, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Television: Black Mirror, A Black Lady Sketch Show (Artios winner), That Damn Michael Che, Bust Down, The Girls on the Bus, The Equalizer, Survival of the Thickest. Film: The Surrogate (Artios winner), We Strangers (SXSW), Cupids (Tribeca). Music video: “Fight for You” by H.E.R. Thanks Jocelyn Bioh, Whitney White, Kelly Gillespie, David Caparelliotis, and the Jaja’s African Hair Braiding family!
Kelly Gillespie, CSA
Kelly Gillespie, CSA has been on the casting staff at Manhattan Theatre Club for 17 seasons. Favorite MTC projects include Prayer for French Republic (Broadway and Off Broadway), Mary Jane, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, The Best We Could, Skeleton Crew, Ink, Choir Boy, and The Explorers Club. Other credits include Bite Me, Sancocho, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, What We’re Up Against, Sundown Yellow Moon, Ironbound (WP Theater); Melancholy Play, A Map of Virtue, The Zero Hour, Monstrosity (13P); Good Person of Szechwan (Foundry and Public Theater); Photograph 51 (Ensemble Studio Theatre); Exclusion, POTUS (Arena Stage); Age of Innocence, Trouble in Mind (The Old Globe); Two Sisters and a Piano (Two River Theater); and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Angels in America, Residence, Seven Guitars, 4000 Miles, Dot, The Roommate, and Eat Your Heart Out (Actors Theatre of Louisville). Gillespie also was resident casting director for several seasons for the Off Broadway companies TACT and Keen Company. She holds a BA from the University of Michigan.
David Caparelliotis, CSA
Select Broadway/Off Broadway: Good Night and Good Luck (upcoming); Mary Jane; Prayer for the French Republic; Jaja’s African Hair Braiding; 2:22 A Ghost Story; Grey House; Summer, 1976; The Comeuppance; Ohio State Murders; Cost of Living; Macbeth; The Minutes; Skeleton Crew; Ink; Letters From Max; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; The Waverly Gallery; Boys in the Band. Select theatres: Signature NYC, Atlantic, Ars Nova, The Old Globe. TV/Film: New Amsterdam (NBC, series casting), The Boys in the Band (Netflix, original casting).
Melanie J. Lisby
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. CHICAGO: Red Dog Theatre. BROADWAY: Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Tina–The Tina Turner Musical, Grand Horizons, On the Twentieth Century. OFF BROADWAY: Dark Disabled Stories, american (tele)visions, Our Dear Dead Drug Lord, Hurricane Diane, Wild Goose Dreams, Jersey Boys, Pacific Overtures, Dead Poets Society, Mobile Unit’s Hamlet, Once Upon A Mattress. REGIONAL: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre, Williamstown Theater Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Two River, Pig Iron, Gulfshore Playhouse, The Barnstormers, Crossroads Rep. EDUCATION: Indiana State University. Lisby has also worked on numerous showcases, readings, galas, and events.
Brillian Qi-Bell
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE: Debut. NEW YORK: ASM for Bees & Honey (MCC Theater); PSM sub for El Otro Oz (Atlantic Theater Company); ASM sub for The Harder They Come, PA for Hell’s Kitchen (The Public Theater); PA for Suffs development (101 Productions); ASM for 38th Marathon of One Act Plays (Ensemble Studio Theater). REGIONAL: ASM for A Thousand Maids (Two River Theater). NATIONAL TOUR: ASM sub for & Juliet, ASM sub for Funny Girl, PA for Jagged Little Pill. Qi-Bell has participated in advocacy programs including the Cody Renard Richard Scholarship, Beyond the Stage Door (Baseline Theatricals), and the Harriet Tubman Effect.
Spotlight

Take Action to End Race-based Hair Discrimination

Hair Story / History / Here Story
Explore the stunning, unified tapestry of culture and community that Jocelyn Bioh has woven into Jaja’s African Hair Braiding in this essay by Otis Cortez Ramsey-Zöe.

Get to Know our Ambassadors
In celebrating women entrepreneurship and the art of hair braiding, we’re grateful to the organizations and individuals who have joined us by serving as production ambassadors.

Black-Owned Maker’s Market
On Saturday, January 25 in conjunction with Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, Chicago Shakespeare hosted a pop-up market highlighting 10+ Black-owned Chicago businesses and beauty makers.

FREE Pre•Ambles
Before the Sunday matinee performance on January 26, audiences joined us for a scholarly conversation led by Deon Custard that examined the play & interpretive choices made by the director & creative team.