“Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” recently competed for Best Play at the Tony Awards in June.
This Friday, the acclaimed Broadway comedy hits Arena Stage in D.C. now through Oct. 13.
WTOP caught up with the Nikiya Mathis, who won a Special Tony for her hair and wig design.
“I was blessed this year to win a historic Tony because there actually is no category for hair and wig makers, so I am actually the first person ever to win a Tony for my wig design,” Mathis told WTOP. “They actually announced it before the awards so I was fortunate enough to know that I was going to the Tony Award and I could tell my mom, ‘I’m winning.’ … That was freaking amazing, but I was still nervous to hear what other categories we might win.”
In addition to Mathis’ special award, the show earned five other Tony Award nominations, including the top prize of Best Play (Jocelyn Bioh), Best Direction (Whitney White), Best Scenic Design (David Zinn), Best Sound Design (Stefania Bulbarella and Justin Ellington) and a victory for Best Costume Design (Dede Ayite).
“I feel like all of those people should have won,” Mathis said. “We could have totally swept across the board because there are some amazing collaborators on this project. Jocelyn wrote such an amazing show, Whitney really created an atmosphere that we all thrived in. … I feel like we all worked really closely in tandem.”
Written by Bioh, the show is set in Harlem following the escapades of Marie, Bea, Miriam, Aminata, Ndidi, Jaja and others as they navigate life, laughter, cultural identity and the American dream in Jaja’s bustling hair salon.
“You really see a day in the life of these hair braiders, which is exciting because no play like this has ever been written,” Mathis said. “The life of a hair braider, especially for Black women or any woman who has gone to a hair salon, knows what it is to have so many different personalities. … One hair braider or stylist, you might go to one, but then you see that you like the work of another. … We’ll have a little drama amongst the hair braiders.”
The salon is the perfect setting for hilarious banter as a gathering place for the community.
“When you rub one personality that is completely opposite of another personality against each other, that is just space for comedy, especially when people don’t hold back their opinions when they should,” Mathis said. “We also have character work being done and there are people playing various characters, so that’s always fun trying to navigate accents and character transformations. There’s just a lot of jokes and a lot of laughter in the play.”
When you’re not busy laughing, you’ll be marveling at the stage magic of constant hairstyle changes.
“You’ll see the magic of Black women going from their natural hair to, let’s say, micro braids, corn rows — how the heck does that happen?” Mathis said. “That’s really the magic of the show. It’s the magic of the character work and comedy, but also the magic of how do we transform hair to completely different styles without leaving the stage?”
Listen to our full conversation here.
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