Character Breakdown: JAJA'S AFRICAN HAIR BRAIDING Cast Unpacks Their Roles

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Well I play Sister B or B. She is a very opinionated woman who gives her opinion whether people want it or not

And she is just full, full of life. So much life. Yeah

Ha ha ha. So much life. Ha ha ha. Yeah. Yeah. And so I play three characters

I play Vanessa, I play Radia, and I play Sheila. And so Vanessa is a feisty woman who's coming to get her hair braided before her vacation

She works in a hospital. And Radia is a young woman who's about to go on her internship, fashion internship to Milan

And then Sheila is a businesswoman and she's coming to get a sew-in

And she's powerful. Yeah. Yeah. My character's name is Aminata. She is described as an African snack

Ha ha ha. You know, she's got some marital problems. She's got a slight gambling addiction

Ha ha ha. She's a little bit of a mess. And I think one of the things that drew me to that was the fact that the other roles that I played, you know, in like film and television, have been women who are very composed

And I love the idea of stepping into somebody who does not have it totally together

So that is the appeal for me. For you? I get to play four characters in this play

Like James, the sock man, the DVD man, the jewelry man, the husband to this beautiful woman

And I think of people that I admire like Eddie Murphy, you know

And I'm like, oh, how does he do it? And I'm learning that and I'm enjoying that

It's so much fun. And it's such a fun challenge to be able to embody these men who I know, who I grew up with, who I see every day

So I'm enjoying that. So my character's name is Miriam. And she is one of the hair braiders in the salon

And I love that she does not get into the mix because there's a lot of drama in the salon

She kind of minds her business. But when she does decide to open up to Rachel's character, you just see how fierce and courageous she is and what's underneath, you know, all of that

Who do you play and what do you love about her? So I play one of the customers, one of the clients in the salon

I am there all day. So I see everything that happens over the course of the day

And I also form a really important connection with my braider. And I learn about her

And I think I'm very inspired, not just by her story, but her like just hunger and tenacity and ambition for life

And I think that that is like Jennifer gets, she gets more than just her hair braided that day

And it's a beautiful thing to experience every day. So I play three different clients who come to the shop

They all have their own personalities. They all have their own history and legacy

And I think what I love about that is that Jocelyn has done such a good job of writing complicated, full apart relationships and characters that you just want to watch, right

Both for the funny and for the drama of it, okay? Because there's all of it in there

I love that in this short play, you get to witness my character like a full life, you know

Like you have an idea of who she is and what she might, when she walks out of the shop doors, what she might try to go do

I play Ndidi. She is a spitfire with big dreams. And she happens to be the fastest hair braider and most money making hair braider in the salon

This is just, it's a room full of rich, real, truthful perspectives, you know

We're really digging into the black female perspective, black woman experience, the black immigrant experience

And it really is an intimate and sort of sacred space to do that discovery in, you know

A hair braiding salon. And so, yeah, the women that we play, we're grateful enough to get to play these women that sort of usher you into that room

Yeah, I would also say I love this idea of sacred space

This intimacy that we're able to craft, knowing how we know ourselves in those spaces, really feels like just such a gift

Because there's the humor, there's the open heartedness, there's the sadness that happens, the struggle, right

So, the characters are all leading us into that nuance, that intimacy, that depth, and that humanity that I think is not seen enough