Abigail C. Onwunali, Asha Basha Duniani in Sojourners; photo by Marc J. Franklin.
Presented by The Huntington
Written by Mfoniso Udofia
Directed by Dawn M. Simmons
Dramaturgy by Christine Mok
Voice and dialect coaching by Dawn-Elin Fraser
Fight Director & Intimacy Coaching by Brian C Green
Featuring: Asha Basha Duniani, Nomè SiDone, Abigail C. Onwunali, Joshua Olumide
Oct. 31 – Dec. 1, 2024
The Huntington Theatre
264 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
Critique by Kitty Drexel
BOSTON — Wednesday, November 6 was a lot. It should have been an occasion for much rejoicing. I can’t have been the only person who expected- whether innocently or obtusely- to celebrate the first female president of color as Boston celebrated Sojourners, the first play of Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Cycle at The Huntington. Instead, my heart was in my stomach and between my teeth. I am terrified for my friends, my found family, my community and our children’s children. May they forgive us.
But, let history remember: We did celebrate Sojourners! Our community gathered at 264 Huntington Ave to rightly praise Udofia, Dawn M Simmons, their cast, crew, production staff, and community leaders for the beginning of a most intrepid, two-year project – to stage and witness Udofia’s complete Ufot Cycle as a unified city of great theatremakers and artists. (A list of involved companies is HERE.)
Mayor Michelle Wu proclaimed Nov. 6 Mfoniso Udofia Day in Boston before the play started. There was cheering from the swankily dressed crowd. It was a happy moment before a gorgeous play that capped a sad day for the history books.
Udofia’s Sojourners is a play about Nigerian immigrants who came to Texas in 1978 to receive a university education. Ukpong (Nomè SiDone) uproots his young, visibly pregnant wife Abasiama (Abigail C. Onwunali) to Houston where neither have family, friends or even a community of immigrants to help them find a home or build a life together. They plan to head home to their family’s compound in Nigeria after graduation, preferably after the Biafran War, the civil war between Nigeria and the Republic of Biafra, a secessionist state that declared its independence from Nigeria in 1967.
Together but alone, Abasiama discovers that Ukpong is an inconstant economics student. He is emotionally addicted to America’s freedoms and the music of Motown; he is obsessed with American independence and will disappear from their apartment for days abandoning Abasiama to the loneliness of solitary pregnancy and studying for her biology classes. She has only her unborn child to speak to.
Out of desperation to pay rent and buy food, Abasiama takes a job working the graveyard shift at a Fiesta gas station. It is at the gas station where Abasiama meets street-smart but unworldly Moxie (Asha Basha Duniani in a whirlwind of passion and energy), a sex worker with dyslexia suffering a well of loneliness as deep as Abasiama’s. Moxie craves a different life and believes a job at Abasiama’s gas station is the key. Abasiama helps Moxie complete the job application over several quiet late nights while Moxie is waiting for clients in the gas station parking lot. On such a night, Abasiama experiences acute abdominal pregnancy cramps as she and Moxie are chatting and working on the application. Abasiama paces outside the station office’s bulletproof door until she collapses into Moxie’s skinny arms.
At that moment, Sojourners’ fourth character, Disciple (Joshua Olumide last seen in Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “A Winter’s Tale” in Boston Common”), finds the two women in the parking lot. His car ran out of gas on the highway and he was walking to the station to buy more. Disciple and Moxie call an ambulance and get Abasiama to the hospital where the three must reconcile their culture shock, their values and the weight of their social expectations. Moxie and Disciple want Abasiama to fill the holes in their hearts from living outside of community. Abasiama will decide if she will create new community with Moxie, Disciple or if she will wait for Ukpong to finally return to her and settle down with their newborn baby.
It would take an arrogantly obtuse mind to miss the parallels of Sojourners in current events. This is a play about immigrants and the roots of the modern American African diaspora. Ukpong, Abasiama and Disciple are legal immigrants to Texas but their loneliness and alienation likely mirror that of illegal immigrants. White bigots don’t ask questions; they assume all immigrants deserve ill-treatment. Our characters lack community; they are surrounded by humans but feel utterly alone.
Boston is reckoning with its colonialist past but there is still work to do. The U.S. just re-elected a bigoted, misogynistic felon known for his bad business deals who publicly and unabashedly vowed to deport the nation’s immigrants while promising to lockdown the Mexican border. Massachusetts went to Kamala Harris but a significant percentage of voters voted for Trump. Boston shouldn’t pat itself on the back for work done when it has barely gotten started. Sojourners is a triumph but triumphs such as these are cold comfort when stories like Abasiama’s are still lived in the cities of America.
Sojourners is a female rage play. Abasiama is volleyed between Upkong, Moxie and Disciple. Each wants to claim Abasiama’s goodness and strength as their own. None recognize Abasiama’s needs: loneliness, poverty, estrangement.
Ukpong is too busy listening to Motown and finding himself at rallies. Disciple makes Abasiama his muse; he meets her and he writes poetically for the first time in ages. He will turn on her when his inspiration runs dry. Neither man sees Abasiama as a complete person with depths or nuance.
White men and women on mass voted for Trump despite the risk to abortion rights across the country. Men say they were motivated by the economy; they value the promise of money in their pocket over women’s healthcare. Our issues are beneath their consideration. Our deaths make them sad, but not sad enough to be concerned with our freedoms.
In Sojourners, we see Ukpong take Abasiama for granted. She is a doll meant to supplement his joy when it runs low. He will not invest in her because she is beneath his consideration.
Disciple meets Abasiama and considers the value she will add to his life. In return, he offers her ingredients for soup. Neither man sees the value in Abasiama’s emotional labor that they will never return. They only see what Abasiama will do for them.
After many grave failures at the hands of the men who said they would protect her, Abasiama finds inner strength to leave the men who would continue to neglect her. Her emancipation comes at great sacrifice and heartbreak.
Abasiama reacts to long-term neglect, financial abuse and psychological abuse with determination and confidence. Her rage is quiet, and it is destructive. She chases Ukpong and Disciple away when they would take from her until she is dead inside. Misogyny and sexism are infrequently overt. They are tiny, deep cuts into our souls over time. Let all women respond to the inconsiderate acts of men with the concise, destructive rage of premeditated just deserts like Abasiama. Her family didn’t raise her to be strong or proud. These are traits she developed on her own. Society neglects us at its own risk.
Director Dawn M Simmons has been a Boston powerhouse for years. With Sojourners, she puts herself on the national theatre map. I was in New York this past weekend for the American Theatre Critics and Journalists Association conference. I mentioned Simmons, a pride of Boston, in conversation and folks from across the U.S. already knew of her. They had heard of her great work on Sojourners. I felt so proud of Simmons, The Huntington and Boston’s great theatre community.
It is a sign of true success when a person lets others speak of their achievements instead of doing it themselves. It is good that Simmons is finally receiving the buzz she deserves. Our community’s job is now to keep Simmons so busy here that she’d never consider moving away.
The cast members Asha Basha Duniani, Nomè SiDone, Abigail C. Onwunali and Joshua Olumide are brilliant. Onwunali as Abasiama commands the stage with great presence and terrific skill. She and Simmons found breath in her character. Onwunali imbues silences with layered meaning. Even with her eyes closed, she says just as much when she doesn’t speak as when she does. Abasiama has joy, sadness and resilience but doesn’t require epically long soliloquies to convey them.
The Huntington casts locals as understudies. I hope Boston-based understudies Aisha Akorede, Kiera Prusmack and Malik Mitchell should know the experience of performing these incredibly written roles.
As I said, I was just in New York. I saw three Broadway shows and one off-Broadway show. Boston talent is just as good (if not better). Let our locals perform.
The burnt sweet potato president-elect spent his last term trying to defund the National Endowment for the Arts. Now is the time to organize and activate to protect our rights and our community members. It isn’t enough to tweet your feelings on social media. It isn’t enough to express sadness within your social bubble. One walk with your fellow democrats who voted blue won’t attract the necessary media attention to stop the politicians who don’t care about our feelings anyway. If you can’t volunteer, donate. If you can’t donate, read up on the issues at AP News, GLAAD, CNN and Arts.gov and have conversations with people who voted against the arts. Hold your friends, family, coworkers, etc. accountable for their beliefs. If it’s uncomfortable for you, just imagine how uncomfortable it is for those of us who are terrified we won’t have rights in a year.
Please support theatre where and when you can. We must rely on each other for resources, assistance, and funding for the next four years. We can survive the trauma if we work together. Viva la resistance!
