MULTILINGUAL PRE-WEDDING JITTERS

The sixth play in Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play Ufot Family Cycle brings us the adorable couple Ekong Ufot (Kadahj Bennett) and Lumanti Shrestha (Mahima Saigal) as they struggle with Ekong’s deeply damaged father (Adrian Roberts as Nsikan Disciple Ufot) in the final weeks of what should be happy preparations for their wedding. The Ufot Family Cycle is a two-year undertaking to present the saga of an extended family of Nigerian-Americans living primarily in Massachusetts. Spearheaded by the Huntington and its artistic director Loretta Greco, it involves dozens of local theater groups, educational institutions, and cultural organizations, with each of the plays performed in a different area venue.

Lumanti is Nepali-American; Ekong is Nigerian-American. Those who have seen the earlier plays in the cycle will have seen Ekong as an adolescent in Udofia’s The Grove. He is the son of Abasiama (Cheryl D. Singleton), the Nigerian immigrant we first met in Sojourners when she came to the United States as a young adult. He is also the brother of Adiaha (Regine Vital), who was the focus of The Grove. And those who have heard the third segment of the Ufot cycle—the podcast runboyrun—will understand the intergenerational trauma that drives Ekong to seek solace in obsessively watching old episodes of the TV sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Lumanti wants to bring both her own and Ekong’s full cultural heritage to their wedding ceremony. For Ekong, this involves retrieving an ancestral walking stick from his father; a man he dreads even talking to due to the man’s delusions and paranoia. Bennet and Saigal offer an object lesson in conflict resolution as they work through Lumanti’s heart-felt longing and Ekong’s dread. Eventually, love for Lumanti, as well as his own desire for intergenerational healing, drive Ekong to approach his father. Under Kevin R. Free’s sensitive direction, the piece illuminates the challenges of forming a new family when the families from which we came still grapple with unresolved pain. We see a kind of heroism in Ekong’s struggle and in Lumanti’s insistence that they bring their whole selves—including their family histories—into the creation of their union.

Along with Singleton and Vital, Salma Qarnain, Natalya Rathnam, and Natalie Jacobs bring the wisdom and support of female ancestry to the hopeful young couple, speaking at times in Nepali and Ibibio, one of the languages spoken in Nigeria. Their very believable over-involvement in their children’s wedding adds a touch of humor, too, even as we sympathize with the frustration of the children. We don’t always understand the literal words, but their tone and facial expressions make the meaning clear—at times impatient and insistent, but always loving and supportive at heart.

The whole thing culminates in a joyous wedding scene, complete with the colorful and sumptuous ceremonial dress of each culture (costumes by Chloe Moore; hair and make up Schanaya Barrows). With this production, the focus of the Ufot Family Cycle shifts, according to playwright Udofia. “This is the point of the cycle where the heartbeat, the thrust, the pull of the story is actually with the kids,” she said, paving the way for the remaining three plays (scheduled for 2026) in this remarkable city-wide project.

photos by Ken Yotsukura

The Ceremony
CHUANG Stage
in partnership with Boston Playwright’s Theatre
and Boston University School of Theatre
Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre, Boston University
ends on October 5, 2025
for tickets ($0–$85), visit Chuang Stage

for more shows, visit Theatre in Boston