Eight students and three teachers headed to Broadway to watch “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” at Manhattan Theatre Club on October 21. 

The play illustrates the experiences of immigrant women coming from Africa to America. It takes place in a hair braiding salon located in Harlem, run by West African immigrant women. With a sad twist at the ending, the story works to demonstrate the struggles of these hardworking women, what they had to endure throughout their lives, and how the issues still persisted, even when they thought they’d finally reached a successful point in life.

I attended the workshop and play with Fahima Akter, Jomayra Amparo, Hashan Chowdhury, Tahmina Marjan, Natalia Mann, Abul Miah and Amone Torres. At the workshop, students and teachers from across NYC had a chance to interact with each other as they explored the play’s themes. 

 Fahima thought the play was wonderful.  “I liked the relation they put on stage and their colorful clothes. The play brought up many realities that people struggle with,” she says. “The trip itself was also cool. I had a lot of fun because I was able to connect with and meet other people.”

“I like that the activities we did there were based on the play,” Jomayra said.

“The play was really nice and detailed,” said Hashan.  “I like how it represented real life situations,”

“It was very fascinating and pretty comedic,”  added Tahmina.  “It showed different aspects to how someone can suffer from immigration. I found it funny, which gave light to the unexpected ending. I got emotional.” 

Livestream option.  Manhattan Theatre Club in partnership with the League of Live Stream Theater (LOLST) will stream all performances from Tuesday, November 14 through Sunday, November 19. For ticket info:

https://www.lolst.org/jaja?utm_source=wordfly&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FY24MKTJAJALiveStream&utm_content=version_A