SOJOURNERS:
the origin story
::duty and desire::
2 women and 2 men
[65 mins for act one / 60 mins for act two]
SOJOURNERS introduces Abasiama Ekpeyoung, a recent immigrant and newlywed at the center of The Ufot Cycle. As part of the first major wave of Nigerian immigrants in the 1970s, Abasiama dreams of fulfilling the Nigerian Dream: immigrate, educate, marry, have children, and return home to help rebuild Nigeria after the Biafran War. But her plans falter as love, marriage, and her husband Ukpong’s growing attachment to America strain her loyalties. In the end, we are left questioning: "Can Abasiama still achieve the Nigerian Dream after encountering America?"
THE GROVE
::courage and cowardice::
4 women & 4 men
[60 mins for act one / 45 mins for act two]
Adiaha Ufot, the queer first-born daughter to Abasiama and Disciple Ufot, is both conduit of her rich culture and fulfiller of the legacy of the Nigerian dream.
Forced into a corner, Adiaha must choose. Will she uphold the desires of her parents and settle with a traditional Nigerian man? Or will she self-determine and pick her own love-match? Fortunately for her, she is not alone. The ancestors push her into discovering buried truths and help Adiaha finally find her true north.
runboyrun
::civil war::
3 women and 3 men
approximately 95 minutes for this one act play
Disciple and Abasiama Ufot have been trapped in the same loop for decades — a loop filled with constant yelling and disconnect. When Abasiama finally demands a divorce time spirals forward and back, thrusting Disciple into the Biafran War while Abasiama, yearning for separation, begins to understand the man she married for the first time in 30 years.
HER PORTMANTEAU
::legacy and forgiveness::
3 women
approximately 100 minutes for this one act play
Abasiama’s past becomes present when, Iniabasi Ekpeyoung, the daughter she let go in SOJOURNERS returns to America, demanding her birthright.
Trapped in a one-bedroom New York City apartment, Abasiama and her two eldest daughters from two different marriages, Iniabasi and Adiaha, have a war of words. Each daughter sits on mountains of grievance – and neither of them can, nor want, to see into the other.
Abasiama faces the greatest reckoning of her life and must contend with the choices she made in her youth. If not, if Abasiama fails, her family will remain an ocean apart.
KUFRE N' QUAY
a play with children
::bridging the cultural divide::
10 children and 3 women
Even though he is a citizen, Kufre, a smart and artistically talented young boy, is trying out America for the first time. Ever. He comes to America with his mother, Iniabasi, and together they stay with Grandma Abasiama and Aunty Adiaha, who, before now, he had only ever seen via Skype.
They enroll him in “The Zone,” a summer youth program in the “Little Senegal” part of Harlem. But once there, Kufre finds that neither the Black American children nor the children of Little Senegal like him. Just as Kufre feels he is doomed to spend the summer alone, he meets Quay— a super-creative African American girl just like him. Maybe through their friendship – and theater, of course! -- they can bring their youth center together…
THE CEREMONY
::reckoning and new beginnings:
2 men and 6 women
Marriage bells are on the horizon because Ekong Ufot, the youngest child and only son of Abasiama and Disciple Ufot, has found the woman of his dreams. The only problem? He has yet to tell his father.
Prodded by his fiancé, Ekong heads down into Disciple’s basement, the room of the house Disciple has isolated himself within, to tell his father of his marriage and to ask to borrow his father’s walking stick [marriage heirloom].
Leaving empty-handed, Ekong spirals. Though he knew his father probably had nothing to give, it is another thing to discover that in real-time. After a moment of despondency, Ekong rallies and decides to move forward without his father. It’s what he’s always done.
But perhaps, there can be a miracle?
The clock ticks down to the wedding as Disciple, reeling after his encounter with Ekong, prepares himself to emerge from the basement, with a few gifts in his hand, trying once again to do what so many in the family don’t recognize---to be a better father than the one he had.
LIFTED
a play with music
:: on becoming ::
3 men and 4 women
Brilliant and fiercely independent scholar, Toyoima Ufot – middle child to Abasiama and Disciple Ufot -- has forged her own lonely path. She has isolated herself in the hallowed halls of academia, in a state as far away from her hometown of Worcester, Massachusetts, as she can get.
But she cannot outrun her past forever ---
Especially not when the entirety of her career was built on the unpublished academic work of her father, Disciple Ufot.
When the institution discovers the plagiarism and puts her on leave, Toyoima makes a voyage to her fatherland -- Akwa Ibom, Nigeria – to contend with her history and her choices.
Immediately Toyoima steps foot onto Disciple's compound, she finds madness... yes. ...But also love and understanding. Before long, Toyoima finds herself on a healing journey, where she is ultimately exonerated --- because you can’t steal from yourself.
IN OLD AGE
::purge and passing::
1 man and 1 woman
Abasiama Ufot and Azell Abernathy, a church-going carpenter, make an unlikely spiritual connection. Abasiama learns the true nature of love just as life takes a new turn. Watch and see as Abasiama cleans out her house and finds herself healed enough to embark on the last love voyage of her life.
ADIA & CLORA SNATCH JOY
a folk opera
::kismet::
16 women and 1 man
approximately 180 minutes
The love story from In Old Age continues when Adiaha Ufot arrives in St. Helena, SC, searching for answers about her recently deceased mother. Instead, she finds a replica of her childhood home. To learn about her mother and her mother's history with Azell, Adiaha must confront Clora Abernathy Jr., Azell’s only daughter.
As they clash, make messes, and grapple with their shared history, spirit women guide them toward their destiny. Thirty-five years pass between them, revealing that the Nigerian Dream Abasiama unknowingly set in motion in 1978 has come full circle—home is always closer than we think.