Inua Ellams - Barber Shop Chronicles

I recently returned home from an amazing trip to Ghana, West Africa for the Year of Return 2019 - which was launched  to commemorate 400 years since the first enslaved Africans were forcibly brought the United States. It was my first time to the region. I took in Pan-Africanism and the Atlantic from the other side, learned about Asante history and culture, ate spicy foods that were not unfamiliar as they warmed my esophagus and stomach, marveled at beautiful colorful fabrics, and almost lost it in a slave dungeon at Cape Coast. Frankly, I did not want to come home and would have gladly stayed longer if I could. But that is not how my world works unfortunately :(

A few days after my return (that is, to the U.S.), I halfheartedly scrolled through marketing emails in my inbox and perked up when I saw a promotion for Barber Shop Chronicles by Nigerian-British playwright Inua Ellams. Hmmm...what is this (I wondered) - an opportunity to return to Africa through theater on the New York City Stage? 

The festive Barber Shop Chronicles takes place in barber shops across the African continent (Lagos, Johannesburg,  Accra, Kampala, and Harare) and in London, and wonderfully explores black male masculinity and relationships. It was absolutely refreshing to lose myself in these black men's stories, set to the bumping Afrobeat back drop. Kudos to BAM for bringing this to us, as part of Next Wave 2019!  I want more like this!