Sundays are Abasiama’s good day. 

It is on a Sunday that Jade A. Guerra as Iniabasi arrives to New York from Nigeria to reunite with family she has not seen in many years.  However with a misunderstanding from the start, reconnecting will prove to more of a challenge than anyone could have imagined.

Profoundly directed by Tasia A. Jones, Central Square Theater with Front Porch Arts Collective continues the world premiere of Mfoniso Udofia‘s Her Portmanteau, the fourth production in the Ufot’s  nine-play family cycle which features three Ufot Nigerian-American family generations, live and in person at Central Square Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts through Saturday, April 20.  This intense bilingual production in English and Ibibio runs 90 minutes with no intermission.  It is fascinating to see how these families progress over these nine plays, but you can witness and enjoy one without having seen the others.   Click here for more information and for tickets.

Scenic designer Shelley Barish emphasizes family with an Ufot personal touch displaying framed family photos and gold embellishments around Adiaha’s New York City apartment in January 2014.  Having seen Ufot’s second production The Grove, it was wonderful to see the progression in the Ufot Family from the earlier production in 2009 evident in the set such as Kimberley’s portraits lying by the door.  This stylish apartment is enlivened with splashes of vibrant color in the kitchen and living room as well as gold ropes surrounding it as if symbolically anchoring it in place.  Arshan Gailus’s urgent and at times roaring scenic design emphasizes the family’s building tension, making their surroundings occasionally overwhelming.  However, the family silences are more deafening that any outside activity.  Enclosed in this city apartment, the past is bound to come out.

Her Portmanteau continues to build Udofia’s rich characters in each piece and from the moment Jade A. Guerra as serious and direct Iniabasi appears, though she is in the same room as her mother and half sister, they seem continents away.  At first, you wonder if this is due to a language barrier or something more.  Iniabasi is as short, awkward and defensive as Lorraine Victoria Kanyike as Adiaha is thoughtful, chatty and earnest in making Iniabasi comfortable.  Kanyike and Guerra share some notably humorous moments as they struggle to understand each other sharing quips and slights comparing their contrasting upbringing.  With an occasional nervous chuckle, Kanyike’s Adiaha exhibits anxious and yet it is interesting to witness charisma and confidence in Adiaha who has clearly come into her own while Patrice Jean-Baptiste depicts Abasiama, their loving yet complicated mother. 

Family tension and strain is palpable right from the start and it is intriguing to watch this impressive cast try to break it in a mix of humorous, intense, and painfully relatable moments.  Jean-Baptiste exhibits a carefully executed mix of excitement, curiosity and apprehension as she searches for avenues of reconnection while still dealing with her own struggles and trauma with quiet and harrowing strength.  Patricia Jean-Baptiste and Guerra share stirringly complex scenes in their strained conversations and Udofia’s moving dialogue.  Rooted in love, anger, brokenness and resentment, they misunderstand each other in vast and impactful ways searching to a sense of belonging speaking from different worlds and yearning for middle ground. 

Her Portmanteau is a remarkably moving chapter about family.  It contains struggles and conflict as well as surprising and heartwarming discoveries that were simply wonderful to watch unfold.

Central Square Theatre with Front Porch Arts Collective continues the world premiere of Mfoniso Udofia ‘s Her Portmanteau live and in person at Central Square Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts through Saturday, April 20.  Click here for more information and for tickets.