Presented by ArtsEmerson and the Front Porch Arts Collective
By Mfoniso Udofia
Directed by Dawn M Simmons
Jun 13, 2026 – Jun 28, 2026
Emerson Paramount Center
Jackie Liebergott Black Box Theatre
559 Washington St, Boston, MA 02111
Online playbill
Learn more about the Ufot Family Cycle’s plays HERE.
Critique by Kitty Drexel
TLDR: In Old Age avoids unnecessary trauma, is a GD delight.
BOSTON — In Old Age runs in Boston while parts of the U.S. commemorate the Juneteenth National Independence Day. Fortunately, Massachusetts recognizes this day. Should you find yourself free, In Old Age is a great way to reflect on Juneteenth and to support excellent Black theatre celebrating the African diaspora. We’re privileged to have this opportunity when places like Florida and Texas are determined to erase the fullness of the U.S.’s history.
In Old Age is the penultimate piece of Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle. In it, we find Abasiama Ufot (Ebony Marshall-Oliver, unlocking even more depths of a character Boston has come to love over the past year), living in the house where she raised her children (The Grove), unlocked her deceased husband’s trauma (Run Boy Run), and sacrificed her dreams. Her house is falling apart. Abasiama is determined to meet the challenge of rebuilding. She faces it, as she has many challenges across the Ufot Family Cycle: face-on with thoughtful resilience.
Abasiama is prepared to rebuild alone, many years after her husband’s death… Until she hears an unexpected knock at her door. She opens the door to meet Azell Abernathy (Marvin Bell with indefatigable optimism), a church-going carpenter and handyman hired over the phone by Abasiama’s daughter Toyima (Lifted). Abasiama and Azell form an unexpected friendship over wood samples, spiritual practices, and stories shared. Abasiama realizes she is finally free from her family’s many expectations. Azell learns that a person’s silence doesn’t equal agreement. Together, they correct their life’s mistakes, find new friendship, and forge a new path.
This new path does not start at Abasiama or Azell’s lowest point. Rather, they are doing okay: Abasiama’s home is falling apart in dramatic pieces, but her life and mind are not. Azell is self-employed and an expert carpenter with strong connections in his field. Both are functional, stable people who come to realize that they can make different choices than they’re currently making. In Old Age shows us how, through their connection with each other, the two choose happiness.
In Old Age is pleasant; we love and respect its characters (in no small part because of the good work of Marshall-Oliver and Bell) for their ownership of their mistakes and willingness to make amends. Playwright Udofia and Director Simmons don’t require us to wade through their pain to find the upside to her characters’ trauma. We don’t need to see the trauma to believe the characters are traumatized. The actors have clearly worked on it in rehearsals with Simmons beforehand. We can see it in the choices they make onstage: line delivery and body positioning. Instead, like Her Portmanteau, Kufre n’ Quay, and The Ceremony, In Old Age has given its characters time to process their intergenerational trauma offstage. It’s like a Greek tragedy in that respect.
Instead, the drama is situational. Azell reminds Abasiama of her late husband, Disciple, and vice versa. She works through her pain to find Azell the man, despite his similarities to Disciple. Azell does the same. This play asks Abasiama and Azell to reach through their similar but differing pains to find community together. The world needs more stories about finding and sharing community right now. We are a nation divided when we could be working together to make our communities stronger.
The set by Jeffrey Peterson, lighting by Eduardo Ramirez, and sound by Arshan Gailus bring such life to Abasiama’s home that it becomes a third character. Pieces fall to communicate its displeasure with Abasiama’s decisions. Cherry and yellow gels wash the stage to indicate the house’s happiness. Boards creak, and birds sing to emphasize the house’s moods.
For these reasons, In Old Age would make an excellent 30-minute, Thursday night T.V. miniseries. Picture it: Abasiama, a kind, stubborn woman with an expansive imagination and Michelin-level cooking skills, has Azell, an aging yet handsome carpenter with strong arms and a joyful disposition, thrust upon her by Toyima, Abasiama’s daughter. They become begrudging friends with no romantic chemistry who, over 12 episodes, fix up Abasiama’s home despite their miscommunication mishaps. Someone pitch it to Hollywood, quick! Until then, In Old Age runs at the Emerson Paramount Center through June 28. Tickets are selling out. Get them while you can!
Video recaps.
