Zenzi Williams (‘Jaja’s African Hair Braiding’) on embracing the ‘sisterhood’ of salons: ‘We were carrying love all the way through’ [Exclusive Video Interview]
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“We played games and we laughed. And I felt like that was where the trust really began,” recalls Zenzi Williams of a pivotal potluck where she and her “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding” cast members bonded. Manhattan Theatre Club presented the critically lauded new play by Jocelyn Bioh on Broadway during the fall, with many journalists tipping their hat to the synergy of its ensemble cast. According to Williams, their strong “sense of play” was born out of the closeness that the company felt during that initial dinner party. “We kind of brought that into the space and it just blossomed from there,” she explains. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Williams portrays Bea in the play, a veteran stylist at the titular Harlem braiding salon. The actress infuses Bea with an exuberant, no-nonsense attitude. Though her mood is soon tampered by younger stylists who steal her clients. The closeness Williams describes within the ensemble allows her to expertly volley with her co-stars, launching well-aimed zingers and glares at Bea’s rival stylist. But in the climax of the script, the shop owner is detained by I.C.E. and faces deportation. The news rocks the shop and sends the owner’s young daughter Marie (Dominique Thorne) into a spiral. It’s Bea who takes command of the situation, encouraging her found-family of stylists to squash their petty differences and rally behind one of their own.
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“I do have larger than life aunts for sure,” says Williams as she reflects on the inspiration for Bea’s persona. “And also I like to think that I can be a little larger than life as well as well.” The actress was sure to incorporate plenty of research into her characterization of Bea, as well as her own experiences inside braiding salons. “When I first moved to New York, I went to one on Harlem and 125th street called Apollo Beauty Land. And this woman exists there.”
Bea’s “big-hearted” nature is reflective of the types of person who can thrive in a salon where clients must often sit for the entire day to get their braids done. “Salons are like therapist offices because so much happens there. So much gets talked about. Women are vulnerable there,” explains the actress. “So much happens throughout the course of a day. You’re getting phone calls from family members and you’re creating a relationship with your hairstylist. Because to give your hair to someone, especially as a black woman, is something so special and so sacred.”
As for playing the emotional final moments of the script, Williams believes the key to making it work was tapping into the themes of “sisterhood” and “family” that the scene evokes. “What resonated with me is just sometimes when you’re in a crisis, all of that other stuff, it just falls away. And what becomes more important is the person in front of you,” she explains. Bea is the one to lead Marie, and the play, into a satisfying catharsis, reminding the women that they are a family that sticks together. “Jocelyn writes leading with love, and with light and with laughter. That love is still there, even in that last final moment. Specifically in that last final moment,” she states. “So I felt like as long as we were carrying love all the way through, then we were doing our job.”
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