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Forbes
13-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
The Steinberg Playwright Awards: Celebrating Writers Illuminating The Future Of American Theater
From left: Mfoniso Udofia and Christina Anderson 'What do you do for joy?' Mfoniso Udofia was a student at Wellesley College, firmly convinced she was on the lawyer track, when an insightful dean posed that simple, yet enlightening, question. And Udofia's universe shifted in a colossal way. 'That question changed everything,' says the playwright whose plays like Sojourners, runboyrun, Her Portmanteau and In Old Age have been developed and performed throughout the United States. 'I believe the subtext was: What if the thing that brings you joy could also be your career?' She started singing, then acting, then writing. 'Just saying 'yes' to what felt right,' says Udofia. Although the seed was planted, it still took time to discover she had to be an artist. 'Even after writing my first play, the Grove, I didn't fully claim the title of 'writer,' says Udofia who graduated in 2009, in the midst of the Great Recession, and was terrified of not going to law school nor choosing a 'traditional' career, especially when she had no money nor idea how to make this life work. 'It took years. I was doing the work long before I ever let myself say, I'm a writer. The realization wasn't a lightning bolt—it was a slow burn.' While Udofia's entry into playwriting was 'a slow burn,' her artistry caught fire. A first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator, her plays have been seen at New York Theatre Workshop, American Conservatory Theater, Playwrights Realm, Magic Theater, National Black Theatre, The Huntington, Round House Theatre, Strand Theater, and Boston Court. She has written for the shows 13 Reasons Why, A League of Their Own, Pachinko, Little America and Lessons in Chemistry. She has also developed films for HBO, Legendary, and Amazon. Most recently, Udofia—along with acclaimed playwright Christina Anderson—received the 2024 Steinberg Playwright Award. Presented by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, each year the 'Mimi' Awards are given to early and mid-career playwrights with compelling voices who display artistic excellence and illuminate American theater. Devoted to nurturing playwrights, the trust has given over $100 million to theater organizations, with a particular focus on new play commissions, development, and production. 'The Steinberg Trust is dedicated to shining a light on distinctive and powerful voices, and to investing in the future of American playwriting,' said Steinberg trustee Carole Krumland who went on to add that Anderson and Udofia are 'two brilliant playwrights whose transcendent and transformative work will continue to inspire and inform the future of this art form.' For Anderson, a prolific playwright whose work has been performed at The Acting Company, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Geva Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Baltimore Center Stage, Kansas City Repertory Theatre and Yale Repertory Theatre, the award has been seismic. 'In these uncertain times, the Steinberg Playwright Award is a life-changing gift of freedom and artistic stillness to create and dream,' said Anderson. In addition to writing plays like the Ripple, the Wave That Carried Me Home, How to Catch Creation, Man in Love, Good Goods, the Ashes Under Gait City, Hollow Roots, Blacktop Sky, and pen/man/ship, Anderson is also a gifted TV writer and screenwriter who produces hip hop instrumentals. And now, more than ever, the 'Mimi' Awards seem particularly vital. Especially when it's harder to be an artist. 'These awards ensure that those who document our humanity—who help us make sense of it, who remind us, and call us to our greater selves—can afford to keep doing so,' says Mfoniso. 'Security and certainty are rarely reliable, but those elements feel especially tenuous now,' shares Anderson. 'This award is a stable force that helps an artist stay the course.' As Mfoniso observes, the world needs storytellers. 'Theater artists hold a mirror to the world, especially in the most topsy-turvy of times. And we are in the midst of some of the strangest—and potentially most dangerous—moments in history,' she says. 'As certain sectors of our community struggle to negotiate what 'the truth' actually is, as cruelty becomes the currency du jour, and as portions of society willfully forget that our humanity is something to be tendered and cultivated—instead of nurturing empathy, a skill and ultimate goal, not a weakness—artists become both the memory and the chroniclers of pathways forward.' Jeryl Brunner: Can you share when you got word that you won the Mimi Steinberg award? Mfoniso Udofia: I was actually out of the country with my partner and some friends when I got the email. It was from Deb [Deborah] Martin, who introduced herself as the Administrative Director of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Trust, asking if I had five to ten minutes to talk. My stomach dropped—in the best way—because you don't get emails like that unless they're really good. My partner saw my face as we stood in this overseas clothing store, and I just froze. I was cycling through every emotion—excitement, overwhelm, absolute joy—while also trying to steady myself. But I replied immediately because, yes, I had 5–10 minutes. In fact, I had 30. I had an hour. I had the whole that day, Deb and I got on the phone, and she told me the news. After I hung up, I screamed, fully leaning into the moment and letting the feeling take over. Christina Anderson: When I received the call, I thought it was an invitation to be on the selection panel—which I was super excited to say yes to. It never occurred to me that I may have won anything. Deborah was like, 'the panel has already convened, and they've selected you!' I stood in my living room, speechless. Brunner: How will this award help you continue to be an artist? Anderson: It provides the breathing room to explore dream projects. I've already written a play that I don't think I would've written before receiving this award. I've carried the idea for almost ten years. But there's always this quiet pressure to write something marketable and fairly accessible. So, I'd gravitate towards other ideas in that lane. But this most recent play is a true passion project. This award ushers in what I hope to be a new phase in my writing. Udofia: Theater—God bless it—is my heart, but it does not always pay well. I'm currently mounting all nine plays of my Ufot Cycle in the Boston area over the next two years. It's a huge undertaking, and I feel incredibly blessed to have productions happening. But practically speaking? This money will help me sustain. It gives me breathing room to focus on the work. Brunner: What is some of the best writing advice you have received? Anderson: Paula Vogel told me, 'Be your own adjective.' It's maverick speak, and I love it. It's just an awesome piece of advice because there's freedom in it and power and strength. A Christina Anderson play is its own adventure. It's inspired by the things that inspires me. I define what's lifted up. Who's lifted up. My theatrical sensibility is filled with curiosity, poetry, possibility, and I try to instill that vision into each play I write. That sensibility also nourishes me to write the next one, and the next one, and the next. Brunner: Mfoniso, in the New York Times, you said that you are determined to show the nuances of African immigrant experiences—'that the continent isn't tragic, and its people aren't broken.' Can you share more? Udofia: I often teach from Binyavanga Wainaina's How to Write About Africa, a satirical takedown of how the continent is often depicted in literature. The first time I read it, I laughed—and then realized I was bleeding. Because so much of what I had seen followed that same tired script. I'm not afraid to write about pain—several of my plays tackle difficult themes—but I'm also invested in joy. In laughter. In eros, when sparks fly between two people and a whole new world begins. In healing, when trauma doesn't remain the defining factor in a character's life. I'm drawn to the African everyman—the Nigerian immigrant whose struggles, triumphs, and everyday moments are deeply human. The nuances might be different, but the core of the story? It's something we all recognize. Brunner: Christina, can you talk more about the book you are working on that explores playwriting as an accessible artistic life practice? Anderson: Being a Black woman writing the type of plays that I write, it's been a tricky journey navigating people's assumptions and expectations of how my stories should move and breathe on stage. I'm definitely not inventing the wheel, but I am stretching my ideas about how to move a story forward, how to capture and manipulate time on stage, how do we explore an immense history in an intimate theatrical setting. I braid the speculative and evidential into the lives of my characters to hopefully ignite conversation at a molecular level, a nuance level. And I'm also really committed to telling a good story. Can we see ourselves and see the world in these plays, on this stage. My plays, my playwriting practice is my activism that has made me a lifelong scholar. I'm writing a book that will explore this way of writing and, again, hopefully, encourages others to consider writing plays for their communities, their families, their circles, themselves.
Boston Globe
09-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
The Ufot Family Cycle comes away with 18 Elliot Norton Award nominations
American Repertory Theater landed 19 nominations, including three in the new script category, for Kate Hamill's 'The Odyssey,' Martyna Majok's 'Gatsby,' and Ayodele Casele's 'Diary of a Tap Dancer.' They'll compete in that category against Zoë Kim's 'Did You Eat? (밥먹었니?),' as well as Udofia, who's nominated for 'The Grove.' Other companies earning multiple nominations for one show include SpeakEasy Stage, whose ' Advertisement The ceremony will also honor Kathy St. George with the 2025 Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence, for her body of work, including productions in Boston and on Broadway. She also appeared in Daigneault's 'A Man of No Importance.' For tickets to the ceremony and more information, visit Outstanding Play, Large 'The Grove,' The Huntington 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company 'Sojourners,' The Huntington 'Toni Stone,' The Huntington 'The Winter's Tale,' Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Outstanding Play, Midsize 'Ain't No Mo',' SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective 'Her Portmanteau,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective 'The Hombres,' Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project 'Romeo and Juliet,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Outstanding Play, Small 'Did You Eat? (밥먹었니?)' CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre 'My Dinner With André,' Harbor Stage Company 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston 'Touching the Void,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Outstanding Musical 'Diary of a Tap Dancer,' American Repertory Theater 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater 'A Little Night Music,' Sullivan Rep 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Large Jennifer Mogbock, 'Toni Stone,' The Huntington Nael Nacer, 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company Joshua Olumide, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Advertisement Abigail C. Onwunali, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Abigail C. Onwunali, 'Sojourners,' The Huntington Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Midsize Jade Guerra, 'Her Portmanteau,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Ricardo 'Ricky' Holguin, 'The Hombres,' Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea Karen MacDonald, 'Pru Payne,' SpeakEasy Stage Bill Mootos, 'Network,' The Umbrella Stage Company Omar Robinson, 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Outstanding Lead Performance in a Play, Small Andrey Burkovskiy, 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre Sehnaz Dirik, 'The Lion in Winter,' Theater UnCorked Parker Jennings, 'Hedda Gabler,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Robert Kropf, 'My Dinner With André,' Harbor Stage Company Patrick O'Konis, 'Touching the Void,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Large Asha Basha Duniani, 'Sojourners,' The Huntington Kate Hamill, 'The Odyssey,' American Repertory Theater Patrice Johnson Chevannes, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Joshua Olumide, 'Sojourners,' The Huntington Valyn Lyric Turner, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Midsize Grant Evan, 'Ain't No Mo',' SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective Arthur Gomez, 'The Hombres,' Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea Anthony T Goss, 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Jade Guerra, 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project 'ranney,' 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Outstanding Featured Performance in a Play, Small Lauren Elias, 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston Kody Grassett, 'Touching the Void,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Deb Martin, 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre Brooks Reeves, 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston Laura Rocklyn, 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston Outstanding Lead Performance in a Musical Ayodele Casel, 'Diary of a Tap Dancer,' American Repertory Theater Sherée Marcelle, 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Advertisement Paul Melendy, 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' Lyric Stage Boston Jeremy Radin, 'Fiddler on the Roof,' North Shore Music Theatre Eddie Shields, 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage Outstanding Featured Performance in a Musical Cortlandt Barrett, 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Diego Cintrón, 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Aimee Doherty, 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage Alaina Mills, 'Fiddler on the Roof,' North Shore Music Theatre Solea Pfeiffer, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Outstanding Musical Direction KB Bickford, 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Wiley DeWeese and Kimberly Grigsby, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Milton Granger, 'Titanic,' North Shore Music Theatre Paul S. Katz, 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage Jenny Tsai, 'A Little Night Music,' Sullivan Rep Outstanding Choreography Rachel Bertone, 'An American in Paris,' Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston Ayodele Casel, 'Diary of a Tap Dancer,' American Repertory Theater Larry Sousa, 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' Lyric Stage Boston Sonya Tayeh, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Ebony Williams, 'Toni Stone,' The Huntington Outstanding Director, Large Rachel Chavkin, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Kevin P. Hill, 'Titanic,' North Shore Music Theatre Carey Perloff, 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company Dawn M. Simmons, 'Sojourners,' The Huntington Awoye Timpo, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Outstanding Director, Midsize Paul Daigneault, 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage Christopher V. Edwards, 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Pascale Florestal, 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective Armando Rivera, 'The Hombres,' Gloucester Stage and Teatro Chelsea Dawn M. Simmons, 'Ain't No Mo',' SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective Advertisement Outstanding Director, Small Bryn Boice, 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston Danielle Fauteux Jacques, 'Hedda Gabler,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Danielle Fauteux Jacques, 'Touching the Void,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Igor Golyak, 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre Kiki Samko, 'Rosemary's Baby Jesus,' Gold Dust Orphans Outstanding Scenic Design, Large Jason Ardizzone-West, 'Sojourners,' The Huntington Jason Ardizzone-West, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Yuki Izumihara and Ken MacDonald, 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company Junghyun Georgia Lee, 'The Triumph of Love,' The Huntington Mimi Lien, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Outstanding Scenic Design, Midsize or Small Justin Lahue, 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston Joseph Lark-Riley, 'Touching the Void,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Saskia Martinez, 'The SpongeBob Musical,' Wheelock Family Theatre Afsoon Pajoufar, 'Network,' The Umbrella Stage Company Jon Savage, 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Outstanding Lighting Design, Large Reza Behjat, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Alan C. Edwards, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Maximo Grano De Oro, 'The Winter's Tale,' Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Jeanette Oi-Suk Yew, 'The Odyssey,' American Repertory Theater Robert Wierzel, 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company Outstanding Lighting Design, Midsize or Small Jeff Adelberg, 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre Isaak Olson, 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Karen Perlow, 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage Deb Sullivan, 'Romeo and Juliet,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Lawrence A. Ware, 'The SpongeBob Musical,' Wheelock Family Theatre Outstanding Sound Design, Large Alex Berg, 'Titanic,' North Shore Music Theatre Michael Bodeen and Rob Milburn, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Lucas Clopton and Aubrey Dube, 'Toni Stone,' The Huntington Tony Gayle, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Sharath Patel, 'Diary of a Tap Dancer,' American Repertory Theater Outstanding Sound Design, Midsize or Small Advertisement Gage Baker and Peter DiMaggio, 'The SpongeBob Musical,' Wheelock Family Theatre Arshan Gailus, 'The Fig Tree, and the Phoenix, and the Desire to Be Reborn,' Boston Playwrights' Theatre Jesse Hinson, 'Romeo and Juliet,' Actors' Shakespeare Project Joseph Lark-Riley, 'Touching the Void,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Fedor Zhuravlev, 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre Outstanding Costume Design, Large Fabian Fidel Aguilar, 'A Christmas Carol,' Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Alex Jaeger, 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company Junghyun Georgia Lee, 'The Triumph of Love,' The Huntington Rachel Padula-Shufelt, 'The Winter's Tale,' Commonwealth Shakespeare Company Sandy Powell, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Outstanding Costume Design, Midsize or Small Sasha Ageeva, 'The Dybbuk,' Arlekin Players Theatre Seth Bodie, 'The Drowsy Chaperone,' Lyric Stage Boston Johnny Cagno and Brian Simons, 'South Pacific,' Reagle Music Theatre of Greater Boston Chloe Moore, 'The SpongeBob Musical,' Wheelock Family Theatre Rachel Padula-Shufelt, 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage Outstanding Solo Performance GiGi Buddie, 'Where We Belong,' The Umbrella Stage Company Parker Jennings, 'Every Brilliant Thing,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Zoë Kim, 'Did You Eat? (밥먹었니?)' CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions Cristhian Mancinas-García, 'Cada Cosa Maravillosa,' Apollinaire Theatre Company Jenece Upton, 'Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill,' Merrimack Repertory Theatre Kathryn Van Meter, 'The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe,' Merrimack Repertory Theatre Outstanding New Script Ayodele Casel, 'Diary of a Tap Dancer,' American Repertory Theater Kate Hamill, 'The Odyssey,' American Repertory Theater Zoë Kim, 'Did You Eat? (밥먹었니?),' CHUANG Stage and Seoulful Productions Martyna Majok, 'Gatsby,' American Repertory Theater Mfoniso Udofia, 'The Grove,' The Huntington Outstanding Ensemble 'Ain't No Mo',' SpeakEasy Stage and Front Porch Arts Collective 'Diary of a Tap Dancer,' American Repertory Theater 'Fiddler on the Roof,' North Shore Music Theatre 'Leopoldstadt,' The Huntington in association with Shakespeare Theatre Company 'A Man of No Importance,' SpeakEasy Stage 'Next to Normal,' Central Square Theater and Front Porch Arts Collective 'The Piano Lesson,' Actors' Shakespeare Project 'Tartuffe,' Hub Theatre Company of Boston 'Titanic,' North Shore Music Theatre 'Toni Stone,' The Huntington Lisa Weidenfeld can be reached at
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Homeless advocates ask public for help
Feb. 12—MOSCOW — Sojourners Alliance, the housing nonprofit in Moscow, is asking for the public's help to assist its efforts in curbing homelessness on the Palouse. Director Casey Bolt is anticipating federal grant funding, including American Rescue Plan Act funding that was started during the COVID-19 pandemic, to run out this year. That means Sojourners Alliances needs to find other ways of financing its transitional and emergency housing services. "It's in the public interest to not have people out on the streets, to have people housed, to have people getting opportunities to be housed and apply for jobs," he said. Last year, Sojourners Alliance helped 165 people find emergency shelter through motel vouchers. It also helped 61 people find transitional housing and 27 people find permanent housing. Sojourners board member Dale Gentry said on any given day, approximately 40 or more people have shelter thanks to Sojourners Alliance. "We kind of fly under the radar because a lot of what we do isn't visible to the public," Gentry said. "All the people that we keep from becoming homeless are not visible to the public. All the people that we keep off the streets here in Moscow are not visible to the public. It's good work, but it's not noticeable work."
Boston Globe
06-02-2025
- Entertainment
- Boston Globe
‘The Grove,' asks if you can be true to yourself and part of the collective
When Udofia, a Southbridge native, first started writing 'The Grove' around 2009, she was fresh out of the acting program at the American Conservatory Theater and trying to make ends meet. She was also struggling with some deeply personal questions about what it meant to pursue her own dreams and individuality, despite coming from a collectivist Nigerian culture where values of family and community take primacy. Advertisement At the time, the questions percolating in Udofia's mind felt 'really close to the bone,' she said in a recent Zoom interview. 'What does it mean to be from a collectivist culture but want to self-identify? That was causing tensions inside of me. How does it feel to be both Nigerian and queer? And that intersection can be tough because there's a lot out there that says you can't be both things. So I couldn't see the forest from the trees inside of this play and decided to put it away.' Advertisement Actress Abigail C. Onwunali at a rehearsal of Huntington Theatre's "The Grove." Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff The story she envisioned, and continued to refine over the years, follows Adiaha (Abigail C. Onwunali), the first American-born daughter of a Nigerian immigrant, Abasiama (Patrice Johnson Chevannes), the central character of 'Sojourners.' Adiaha is the product of Abasiama's marriage to fellow Nigerian immigrant Disciple Ufot (Joshua Olumide), who she met in 1970s Houston in 'Sojourners.' 'The Grove' unfolds decades later, in 2009. Having completed her master's degree in creative writing, Adiaha has returned to Worcester to visit her family, which includes siblings Toyoima and Ekong, for a graduation party thrown by her parents. But she's carrying heavy psychic baggage. She's been involved in a romantic relationship with childhood friend Kimberley (Valyn Lyric Turner), an artist with whom she shares a small Brooklyn apartment, but was recently outed to her mother, who's displeased and upset. Her father remains unaware, and Adiaha is on edge. She's always been the good daughter who made her parents proud. But she now feels torn about her future and anxious that her Nigerian roots clash with her burgeoning queer self-awareness. 'She's in love with her best friend, and she's now dealing with her queerness in a way that she probably hasn't ever verbalized,' Onwunali said, at the Calderwood on a rehearsal break. 'And if her parents find out her truth, it would completely rip up their vision of who she is. So she's at a breaking point.' While she's home, Adiaha is haunted by the Shadows, mysterious ancestral forces from the spiritual realm who've walked similar paths to the one Adiaha is facing. They're portrayed in the play by actors who speak only in Ibibio, one of the indigenous languages of Nigeria. No English subtitles are provided. Instead, movement and choreography animate the story of the Shadows, each with their unique narratives, as they try to connect with Adiaha. Advertisement That part of 'The Grove,' Udofia said, 'operates more like a musical. So physicality and stylized movement must tell the story of what's happening.' In Adiaha's childhood bedroom, the ancestors come to her armed with a mission, which she struggles to understand. 'The Shadows are her lineage, all of these women who have loved like Adiaha has loved,' Onwunali said. 'They tell her that she doesn't have to feel like you're different or feel like you have to hate yourself. They tell her, 'We were always here.'' In earlier drafts of the play, Udofia said, 'The Shadows worked as antagonistic forces.' She credits Valerie Curtis-Newton, a director who worked with her on the play in Seattle, with forcing her to interrogate her assumptions about the Shadows' intent. It got her researching the effects of colonialism, which brought homophobia and repression on tribal African societies. 'So I changed the way the ancestors behaved and made it like they are inside of Adiaha, but she can't understand what they're saying. And it becomes the ancestors' job to figure out how to reach her.' Awoye Timpo, who's directing 'The Grove' at the Huntington, said that exploring how and when the Shadows emerge from the blackness and how they operate onstage has been challenging. 'It's really exciting for all of us, the design team and the actors,' she said, 'to think about how to bring to life multiple dimensions on stage at the same time.' Advertisement Onwunali, who plays Adiaha and portrayed the younger Abasiama in 'Sojourners' at the Huntington last fall, believes that the play is doing something 'revolutionary' in blending naturalism with a heightened theatricality. She's long been a fan of Udofia's work. At the Yale School of Drama, she used a monologue from 'Sojourners' as audition material, and the two women were taught by the same acting instructor (Udofia at ACT, Onwunali at Yale). 'He was trying to teach us opposite things,' Onwunali recalled. 'He was trying to get her to be more expressive, and he was trying to teach me to be more internal.' It's been thrilling to get to portray both Abasiama and her daughter, Onwunali said, 'because they are rooted in my blood.' Her parents are Nigerian immigrants, and as the first-born daughter, she relates deeply to Adiaha's sense of responsibility. 'You have the weight of the world on you to keep the family in balance, but there's no space left for yourself,' she said. She also praised Udofia for capturing the reality of 'this really specific experience of what it feels like to be right in between, to be not American enough, not Nigerian enough. You're navigating a new world with these generations coming together and clashing, and it's a tornado.' The questions that Adiaha is grappling with in 'The Grove' were the same questions that Udofia herself was wrestling with when she started writing the play 16 years ago. But in order to finish it, Udofia had to return to the beginning and channel her younger self. 'It's really tricky to go back as your adult self dang near 20 years later and explore those questions … and edit inside your past writing, because you can't change the way your past self walked.' Advertisement Just like Udofia had to listen to the vibrations of 'the young woman I once was,' Adiaha must listen to the vibrations of her ancestors and the stories they're trying to tell her about the deep roots of her queer identity. In the end, Adiaha's realization — and Udofia's answer — is that 'the collective can hold everybody. The answer is to find the branch or patch of ground where you naturally exist within the collective. It can exist this way, and it's natural to exist this way.' THE GROVE By Mfoniso Udofia, presented by The Huntington Theatre Company. At Calderwood Pavilion at Boston Center for the Arts, Feb. 7-March 9. Tickets from $29. 617-266-0800,
