Nigerian-American playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s play, Her Portmanteau, is having its West Coast Premiere after receiving not just its world premiere at the New York Theatre Workshop in 2017, but also being awarded the Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. This production beings previews on Thursday at the Boston Court Performing Arts Center and will run through June 30th.
Udofia is planning a nine-play cycle about the Ufot family who are at the center of these plays. (Is Udofia the female equivalent to August Wilson?) A portmanteau is a large trunk or suitcase.
In Her Portmanteau, a mother and one of her daughters are living in America and have been for quite some time. When a second daughter arrives for a visit, the bond between family members and how distance and time recalibrate relationships are examined. This is the third play in the still unfinished cycle. The first two are Sojurners (the origin story), and runboyrun. Her Portmanteau is timely in that this drama reveals the positive side of being an immigrant.
In this production of Her Portmanteau the cast features Joyce Guy, Omozé Idehenre and Délé Ogundiran. Gregg T. Daniel directs.
