A Universal Tale of Folks Unlike Me

Sojourners

The Huntington

October 31 – December 1, 2024

Abigail C. Onwunali and Asha Basha Duniani in Sojourners. Photo by Marc J. Franklin

The Huntington is spearheading the Ufot Family Cycle, a series of nine plays by playwright MFoniso Udofia that chronicle the experience of a Nigerian-American family in this country. The plays will be presented over the next two years in and around Boston. The scope of this project is impressive, yet it seemed particularly poignant that opening night of the first play in the series, Sojourners, took place on Wednesday November 6, the day after our country elected Donald Trump to another presidential term. The characters in Ms. Udofia’s plays do not represent President Trump’s vision of America. And yet here they are, American as you and I, though perhaps without an appreciation of apple pie.

Elections and politics aside, I was looking forward to seeing Sojourners because I had attended the opening rehearsal of this production, and was keen to see how it had evolved from a table read to a full production.

Sojourners is a chamber play, sometimes called, less kindly, a kitchen sink drama. There are only four characters; never do they all appear on stage. The setting is domestic, even proletariat. The costumes are vintage; loud nylon shirts and bell bottoms circa 1978. So I wondered how The Huntington would bring a play long on themes but short on visual splendor to their main stage.

The Huntington is famous for its elaborate sets, and they triumph in this production by creating a dingy apartment, a garish gas station, a claustrophobic dorm room, and a hospital ward, each meager yet imbued with a presence worthy of main stage. The trick is three screens, full stage height and width, entwined with curved metal that open and close to reveal only that stage portion where action occurs. The screens are elegant, yet also reminiscent of marsh or grasslands. And of course, they are cages. The action is tightly circumscribed, as are the lives of the sojourners.

Joshua Olumide in Sojourners. Photo by Marc J. Franklin

The plot of Sojourners is tragic. The actors are wonderful, though at times the desire to faithfully relay English with a Nigerian accent left me, and many around me, confused, even lost. Nevertheless,. Ms. Udofia is as much poet as playwright, and her language rolled out and over the audience, a tidal surge of human yearning.

Because this is the first of nine plays, some plot points are left dangling; taste teasers for future productions. And the decision that the main character, Abasiama, makes in the final moments of the play is so shocking I can hardly wait to see what will happen next (in The Grove, February 2025).

The true resonance of Sojourners is a universal story of striving and failing and striving again. None of the characters bear the least resemblance to my own life, and yet I identified with each of them, was honored to spend time with them, and want to spend more time with them. That’s what universal stories are—they tap into what we share rather than highlight how we are different.

Sojourners is the perfect palate cleanser to this post-election moment. Go see it, and be nourished.