Cast Announced for Final Chapter in Mfoniso Udofia's Nine-Play Ufot Family Cycle

The Huntington announced the cast and creative team of the world premiere of Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle folk-opera finale, Adia & Clora Snatch Joy, directed by Awoye Timpo, with original music composed by Michael Ellis Ingram.

The ninth and final play in the Ufot Family Cycle, Adia & Clora Snatch Joy runs November 24–December 13 at the Huntington Theatre, concluding the citywide, two-year, nine-play journey where it began.

Adia & Clora Snatch Joy takes place in the marshes of South Carolina, where Clora Abernathy opens her front door to a stranger from Massachusetts, Adiaha Ufot, and something unnamed stirs within them. Both are dutiful daughters who’ve devoted their lives to their parents, but as the sparks fly, they wonder what could happen if they let themselves experience desire, pleasure, and joy as grown women, for the very first time.

The cast includes April Armstrong as Abasiama Ufot, Nicole Michelle Haskins as Clora Abernathy Sr., Kojo as Aniekan Abernathy, Shannon Lamb as Elder Clora Abernathy, Tracey Conyer Lee as Elder Adiaha Ufot, Zonya Love as Clora Abernathy, Ebony Marshall-Oliver as Adiaha Ufot, Phoenix Noelle as Young Clora Abernathy, Nelly Santos-McKenzie as Young Adiaha Ufot, Elena Rose Taveras as Young Clora Abernathy, and Ginaylah Nunes Teixeira as Young Adiaha Ufot.

Wood-whittling spirits, Adiaha’s ancestors are played by April Armstrong, Kay Patterson, Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Ebony Marshall-Oliver, and Arielle Rogers-Wilkey.

Basket-weaving spirits, Clora’s ancestors are played by Daveda Browne, Nina Evelyn, Nicole Michelle Haskins, Zonya Love, and Regina Morgan.

Understudies include April Armstrong, Becky Bass, Daveda Browne, Bobby Cius, Aimée Coleman, Melynda Davis, Nicole Michelle Haskins, Lorraine Victoria Kanyike, Regina Morgan, Abria Smith, and Elena Rose Taveras.

The creative team includes Jason Ardizzone-West (scenic design), Sarita P. Fellows (costume design), Reza Behjat (lighting design), James Cannon (sound design), Farai Williams (assistant director), Brendon Shapiro (music director), Adesola Osakalumi (choreographer), Earon Chew Nealey (wig, hair, and makeup design), Donnetta Lavinia Grays and Charles Haugland (dramaturgs), Dr. Ayshia Mackie-Stephenson (intimacy coach), Dawn-Elin Fraser (voice and text coach), Emily F. McMullen (production stage manager), and Lauren J. Burke and Ashley Pitchford (stage managers).