‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’s’ Jocelyn Bioh on Becoming the First Black Woman Playwright Nominated for a Tony: ‘It’s For Every Single Black Woman Who Has Put Pen to Paper’

variety.com:

Angelique Jackson April 30 was a “great day” to be Jocelyn Bioh, playwright of the hit Broadway show “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.” Bioh was up to watch the Tony Awards nominations — “Me, my husband and my 10-month-old had a rare morning watching television,” she tells Variety over the phone hours later — but she wasn’t particularly anxious about what might or might not happen. “With all the rejection and all of the things I’ve experienced in my life as an artist, I’m prepared for anything,” she explains. “I was like, ‘I stand by the beautiful work that we did on the play, and if that gets recognized, wonderful.

and if that doesn’t, it doesn’t diminish what work the play did and how much it impacted people.” The play is set in a Harlem hair braiding shop run by a group of West African immigrant women and takes place over the course of one sweltering summer day as the braiders and their clients unpack their lives — discussing the latest gossip, their romantic exploits and education woes, much of it made more difficult by the lack of immigration papers.

In 2019, Bioh, who is Ghanian-American, was inspired by her regular 10-hour sits in the chairs of hair braiders and the tensions caused by the Trump administration’s policies about immigration to write a first draft of a play that would get to the heart of this all-too relatable conversation.

The play, produced by LaChanze and Taraji P Henson, premiered on Broadway to rave reviews, strong ticket sales and two extensions in its run, which ended in November after 56 performances.