First day of Sojourners by Mfoniso Udofia
Sonia Fernandez
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Behind the Scenes
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Jan 22, 2018
It feels like Dogeaters just ended, but on we go to our next show(s). Mfoniso Udofia arrived last week and rehearsals for Sojourners began yesterday!
Sojourners is the first of our two productions, (the other, runboyrun, starts rehearsal next week!) that will run in rep, from Mfoniso's nine-play cycle. Sojourners is the origin of the cycle that tracks the Nigerian-American Ufot family in the U.S.
Ryan Purcell, who is directing Sojourners, reflected on the way the play captures a fearlessness and loneliness of leaving home and trying to build a home as an experience that all of us can relate to. All of us have left home at some point, or should have, and it is a scary and funny experience.
Mfoniso mentioned the fascinating way that Sojourners, in its recent New York premiere, offered a distinct experience for Western versus Nigerian audiences. Those audiences laughed at very different moments and rooted for different characters.
