AMERICAN THEATRE: When you’re in the audience at a Jocelyn Bioh play or musical, you can expect a few things. For one, a comedy that leaves your stomach in knots. You can also expect a truthful story about people simply, vulnerably existing in their own world, and you can be sure that story will challenge notions that Western culture has about African people.
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Black joy is so important and so deeply underrated in theater. We are always so focused on suffering for our art and showcasing inequities that we forget to celebrate joy. This is particularly pervasive when elevating the works of the global majority. I think it is important that white theater makers recognize that black joy and narratives that center around the global majority without focusing on their suffering can be just as, if not more, impactful and influential. I am so glad to see Bioh’s work being appreciated. Her statement that “[her] goal is always, first, to entertain” and secondly to “have people walking away feeling like they now have a different understanding of a culture, a person, a country”. We sometimes get so hung up on creating a specific lesson for people to walk away with that we do not entertain nor do we leave room for people to develop an understanding.
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