Mfoniso Udofia

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by Mfoniso Udofia

Directed by Dawn M. Simmons

The Huntington Theatre

October 31-December 1, 2024

 

Rising star playwright Mfoniso Udofia launches her sweeping cycle with a family’s origin story. Marriage, migration, and the pursuit of education collide when a young and brilliant Nigerian couple arrives in Houston, looking to earn their degrees and bring insights back to their home country. But when Abasiama discovers that her husband has been seduced by Motown records and American culture, she has to choose between the Nigerian Dream and her obligations as a matriarch. Director Dawn M. Simmons helms the lively and funny Sojourners at the historic Huntington Theatre following her acclaimed production of K-I-S-S-I-N-G at the Calderwood Pavilion.

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Buy season tickets here. And check out The Huntington's website for individual tickets closer to the date?

Mfoniso Udofia’s unsparing translation of Shakespeare’s cruelest tragedy unmasks the ravages of prejudice and racism with unflinching honesty, revealing a world where bodies can be dispossessed by the meanest of minds.

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The Play On Podcast series, “OTHELLO”, was written by WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE and translated into modern English verse by MFONISO UDOFIA. Radio play by CATHERINE EATON. Directed by VICTOR MALANA MAOG. 

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Please listen to Othello here on Spotify.

Developmental Reading
Adia and Clora Snatch Joy
Written and directed by Mfoniso Udofia
Music by Nehemiah Luckett and Mfoniso Udofia
MAY 5 & 7, 2022 

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Round House Theatre

4545 East-West Hwy, Bethesda, MD 20814

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 Mfoniso Udofia’s sprawling “Ufot Cycle,” a multi-generational, nine-play meditation on American immigration through the story of one Nigerian family, concludes in a warm, lively musical tale of love, fellowship, and destiny. Adiaha Ufot, eldest daughter of Abasiama Ufot, travels to South Carolina in search of a man who knew her mother in her final years. Instead, she finds Clora, a house that looks strangely familiar, and a chorus of spirit ancestors who bring the story to life. Together, the two women reconcile their individual pasts and imagine new ways forward.

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All developmental readings are free, with tickets required. Tickets are currently available as part of Festival Packages and will be opened for individual reservation, subject to availability, in late March (date TBD).

by Mfoniso Udofia

Directed by Awoye Timpo

Calderwood Pavilion/Wimberly Theatre

February 7 - Mach 9, 2025

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Playwright Mfoniso Udofia stages a family homecoming, asking what it means to draw on the wisdom and beauty of our ancestors when the bonds of family are stretched to the limit. Abasiama’s eldest daughter Adiaha wants to become a writer to make her family proud, but at her graduation party, she has to choose: fulfill her parents’ desires to settle with a traditional Nigerian man, or stay true to her own romantic match. Director Awoye Timpo (The Bluest Eye at The Huntington) reunites with longtime collaborator Udofia for a play with the rich heart of a family drama against the thrilling theatrical backdrop of a chorus of ancestors.

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Buy season tickets here. And check out The Huntington's website for individual tickets closer to the date?

How did the artists of the Harlem Renaissance respond to the historic events that shaped their time? And how are contemporary creatives dealing with the issues of the present moment in their own work? These questions lie at the heart of the Apollo commission of the New Black Fest, which has engaged 18 contemporary playwrights to explore these themes in 10-minute plays.

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Over the course of three staged readings, each playwright will premiere their new work, dramatically performed by an exciting cast of actors and readers.  Participating playwrights include James Ijames, Eric Micha Holmes, Dahlak Brathwaite, Donja Love, Dennis A. Allen II, Christina Anderson, and Mfoniso Udofia. This event will be taking place on the Apollo’s Soundstage.​

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Fri • Apr 22, 2022 • 7:00 PM

Apollo Theater, New York, NY

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Buy Tickets to see Mfoniso's 10-minute as part of this series here.

Developmental Reading
Adia and Clora Snatch Joy
Written and directed by Mfoniso Udofia
Music by Nehemiah Luckett and Mfoniso Udofia
MAY 5 & 7, 2022 

​

at

​

Round House Theatre

4545 East-West Hwy, Bethesda, MD 20814

​

 Mfoniso Udofia’s sprawling “Ufot Cycle,” a multi-generational, nine-play meditation on American immigration through the story of one Nigerian family, concludes in a warm, lively musical tale of love, fellowship, and destiny. Adiaha Ufot, eldest daughter of Abasiama Ufot, travels to South Carolina in search of a man who knew her mother in her final years. Instead, she finds Clora, a house that looks strangely familiar, and a chorus of spirit ancestors who bring the story to life. Together, the two women reconcile their individual pasts and imagine new ways forward.

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All developmental readings are free, with tickets required. Tickets are currently available as part of Festival Packages and will be opened for individual reservation, subject to availability, in late March (date TBD).