Before Jocelyn Bioh staged her 2018 play Nollywood Dreams, a comedy about a Nigerian teenager intent on becoming a 1990s movie star, she was questioned by a literary manager for creating characters that were “too happy.” A New York native whose parents emigrated from Ghana, Bioh recently explained that “African comedy—you know, those two words can be synonymous.” She herself has always “moved through the world comedically,” as does her latest play, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. Set during a hot summer day in a Harlem hair salon, it recreates the hilarious banter of West African immigrant women as they braid hair and expose secrets. Whitney White directs the premiere. —Jensen Davis