Jaja's African Hair Braiding Reviews
Los Angeles Times- Highly Recommended
"...The Harlem hair salon at the center of "Jaja's African Hair Braiding," Jocelyn Bioh's exuberant workplace comedy, is bursting with gossip, petty fights, audacious fashion, dazzling hair styles, full-body dancing and uncensored truth about the vulnerable lives of immigrant workers."
Stage Scene LA- Highly Recommended
"...The double-Tony-winning Broadway hit Jaja’s African Hair Braiding has arrived at the Mark Taper Forum, the nationally touring production treating L.A. audiences to Jocelyn Bioh’s potent mix of hilarity, humanity, and heart."
LA Theatrix- Highly Recommended
"...The power of a play with a single setting is the sense of urgency and dramatic tension it gives the action on stage, as if the characters are trapped in one location and can't escape. As a result, the "plot" ends up being not so much about what happens as about illuminating the relationships among characters, and how that speaks to the human condition. Such plays can also provide a window into a world that theatregoers don't usually experience in their daily lives, and one not often showcased onstage."
Stage Raw- Highly Recommended
"...Bioh, who is herself American Ghanian, approaches her material from an intensely personal perspective. Set in a Harlem hair-braiding salon in 2019, the play unfolds against the backdrop of Trump-era ICE raids - crackdowns that left many immigrant communities living in daily fear. (Of course, the first months of the current Trump administration have seen those raids amped up to flagrantly unlawful levels, with the undocumented and American citizens alike snatched off the streets without habeas corpus or legal representation.)"
Ticket Holders LA- Highly Recommended
"...Shout out to Whitney White for the incredible direction of this important story. She makes daring choices from the very beginning, including having the players deliver lines directly out to the audience, thus breaking the fourth wall."
Larchmont Buzz- Highly Recommended
"...The Jaja of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, a Harlem beauty shop, does not make an appearance until well into the show that bears her name. But Jaja’s presence permeates the proceedings. Her business serves the local community, and has created its own community of African immigrants from Sierra Leone, Senegal, Ghana and Nigeria, who make a living styling and braiding hair. They bond and bicker, efficiently managed by Jaja’s college-age daughter Marie (Jordan Rice)."
The Hollywood Times- Highly Recommended
"...This production of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding is more than just a workplace comedy. It’s a powerful and humorous look at West African immigrant women discovering dignity and freedom through their work. The play highlights the intersection of truth and laughter in the daily challenges faced by immigrant women, who weave beauty into survival through their craft."
Broadway World- Highly Recommended
"...Under the direction of Whitney White (who has helmed every previous major staging of JAJA'S from the Manhattan Theatre Club to this five-stop co-pro), the Taper's production is as funny and satisfying as it is timely. We spend 90 wonderful minutes as welcome captives of these fabulous ladies, seeing them gossip and snipe at each other, but rarely complaining to their customers as they work their artistic magic into their scalps."