SHARED LANGUAGE IN BEAUTY-SHOP TALK

'Jaja's African Hair Braiding' uncovers power in a small business in Harlem, with laughter as the soundtrack.

- JESSICA GELT

A STELLAR ensemble takes the stage in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.”

A hair braiding shop is more than a salon, it’s a community center. As a Black woman, sometimes you see the person who braids your hair more than you see your doctor or your therapist, says Bisserat Tseggai, who plays stylist Miriam in “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” which staged its L.A. premiere Sunday at Center Theatre Group’s Mark Taper Forum.

Written by Jocelyn Bioh, the uproarious comedy, which opened on Broadway in 2023, explores a day in the life of a West African salon in Harlem. Over the course of a hot summer day, four hairdressers and a young receptionist spar and bond with each other and a parade of customers who arrive seeking transformation both physical and spiritual.

It’s an extreme rarity to see a stage filled with Black women, says Claudia Logan, who plays a combative but lovable stylist named Bea. Make it a story about West African women and Black hair and you've got a real unicorn when it comes to representation on Broadway, she adds.

"It literally made 'hairstory,' right?" she says with a laugh. "It's now my duty to bring forth these specific voices representing the minorities of a country that was built on the work of minorities." Logan is sitting around a table in a downtown rehearsal room with Tseggai and two other castmates, Jordan Rice and Victoire Charles. The women smile and joke as they talk, but they are also quite serious.

The play might be a comedy, but its themes run deep.