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Boston Globe

‘Her Portmanteau' grapples with the pains of separation and connection in family

Advertisement In the Ufot Cycle's second drama Advertisement But what about Iniabasi? For the past 36 years, as we learn in 'Her Portmanteau,' Iniabasi (Jade A. Guerra, 'The Piano Lesson') has been living in Nigeria with her father, and hasn't seen her mother in person in more than 20 years. She has a 6-year-old son of her own, Kufre. But her father has now died, and she's arrived in the States looking for help—and a connection—with her mother, Abasiama (Patrice Jean-Baptiste). Dawn Simmons, co-artistic director of the Front Porch Arts Collective, at rehearsal for "Her Portmanteau." Nile Scott Studios Tasia A. Jones, the play's director, says Abasiama had resolved to return to Nigeria, but life got in the way. Before she knew it, she was putting down roots. 'Abasiama's intention was always to go back or bring her child back with her. It was not meant to be a forever departure from each other, and she's been struggling for the last 36 years to find her way back to her daughter.' While Abasiama has kept in touch with Iniabasi and has been sending her money after Ukpong's passing, she's also dealing with a strained marriage due to Disciple's deteriorating mental state. The Cycle's third play 'runboyrun,' to be released as a podcast this spring, chronicles Disciple's unraveling and its roots in a traumatic childhood in war-torn Africa. ''Runboyrun' is Disciple's backstory, which helps you understand what makes a man like this,' Udofia said in a Zoom interview. 'You'll wonder where your empathy lies with him and where your boundaries are with him.' Udofia, who grew up in Southbridge and went to Wellesley College, was mulling over the idea of birthright in writing 'Her Portmanteau.' 'What is each woman owed?' she asks. 'What does each woman think they know about history and the history of their family?' Advertisement Indeed, Iniabasi has no idea of the challenges Abasiama endured when she was pregnant with her, alone in a foreign country with an absentee husband. Even Adiaha, who's now in her early 30s, can't fathom 'the emotional reality of what it means to be in Abasiama's position,' Udofia says. 'So these three women are sitting on narratives and assumptions and histories that need to be drawn out. And they're duking it out about who has first position, who has primacy, and what does it mean to have two eldest daughters. So that they can then go, 'Well, how do we take a step forward?' Set inside Adiaha's New York City apartment, the play finds the three women together for the first time in more than two decades. The story heaves with subtext and barely concealed pain, anger, resentment, and sadness. 'There's so much happening underneath the surface with these three people,' Jones explained, 'so much unspoken history between them and unanswered questions, all of this stuff that's just hanging in the air that they're not talking about. Then when they finally do start to talk about it, it can be explosive.' The title's dual meaning refers to both the old-fashioned red suitcase that Iniabasi totes with her to America and the combination of Abasiama's two 'eldest daughters,' whose lives shaped her own and gave it meaning and remain at the heart of their blended family. For Lorraine Victoria Kanyike ('Chicken and Biscuits'), who plays Adiaha in 'Her Portmanteau,' 'There's a lot of push and pull between the two of us of who's really in charge here, who's really the eldest daughter in Mom's eyes.' Advertisement In 'The Grove,' Kanyike pointed out, Abasiama tells her, 'You are the 'Adiaha' I could keep here.' I had to send my other one away.' So I think Abasiama is reckoning with all of her life choices.' Indeed, a through-line through all of the Ufot Cycle plays, Kanyike said, is 'the theme of sacrifice and the rewards or the consequences of your sacrifices. Iniabasi is both a reward and a consequence but also a person that Abasiama holds a lot of shame and pain around.' Meanwhile, Jones explained, Inibiasi, 'is hurting, and she doesn't know how to express the hurt. So she lashes out a little bit. She doesn't know how to express what she's been feeling for so many years.' With 'Her Portmanteau' and 'runboyboy,' which was presented in two recent public readings, the Ufot Cycle is now moving beyond the Huntington mothership. Five more plays are still to come over the next year and a half. Lee Mikeska Gardner, artistic director of Central Square Theater, says a project of this scope could only Advertisement The Ufot Cycle also has the potential to boost the Boston theater scene's profile nationally. Simmons says she's heard from playwrights around the country that there's buzz about this major citywide undertaking. 'They're like, 'Whoa, this is epic.' What does it mean for the future that an entire community can rally behind a writer like this? This is a big opportunity.' HER PORTMANTEAU By Mfoniso Udofia, co-produced by Central Square Theater and the Front Porch Arts Collective. At: Central Square Theater, March 27-April 20. Tickets: from $25; 617-576-9278;