Boston's Ufot Family Cycle
What would it mean to activate an entire city with a diaspora story, a story of who we are that unfolds in 9 parts, from neighborhood to neighborhood, over 24 months?
When nationally acclaimed playwright Mfoniso Udofia grew up in Southbridge, Massachusetts and went to Wellesley College, she rarely saw stories about Africans and African Americans that felt true to her own family. Inspired in part by August Wilson’s Century Cycle, she set out to create an emotionally engrossing cycle of nine plays that follows one Nigerian American family through three generations: parents, children, grandchildren. Each play stands alone brilliantly, yet together form a stunning tapestry that will resonate with everyone.
The Ufot Family Cycle is an unprecedented two-year city-wide festival where theatres and arts organizations around Greater Boston will join to produce Mfoniso Udofia’s cycle of plays in partnership with universities, social organizations, non-profits, and a host of community activation partners, beginning this fall.
Click to Purchase an Ufot Pass
The Ufot Pass is your easy and affordable ticket to see the entire Ufot Family Cycle!
Click to Donate to the Ufot Family Cycle
“Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play cycle about three generations of a Nigerian-American family has proven to be one of the most exciting things to happen in Boston theater in a long time.”
–The Boston Globe
“Mfoniso Udofia’s cycle of nine plays about three generations of a Nigerian-American family has to be counted as the main event of Boston’s 2024/2025 theater season.”
-The Boston Globe
“With their collective commitment to presenting all nine plays in Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle over the next couple of years, Boston theater companies and other arts organizations placed a dauntingly big bet on a playwright many — most? — local theatergoers had never heard of. So far, that bet is paying off not just handsomely, but excitingly. It was by no means assured that a project of this scope and complexity would be as sure-footed as it has been so far.”
–The Boston Globe
“Playwright Mfoniso Udofia has given us an extraordinary theatrical gift which exceeds all the demands of the medium.”
-Joyce Kulhawik, Joyce’s Choices
“Udofia’s writing makes one feel like part of the family, sharing the Ufots’ happiness and pain.”
-The Harvard Crimson
The Ufot Family Cycle Partners
The Ufot Family Cycle Plays
News of Note
Stay up to date on all things Ufot Family Cycle!
Ufot Family Cycle Funding Partners
THE BARR FOUNDATION
THE BOSTON FOUNDATION
THE MAYOR’S OFFICE OF ARTS AND CULTURE
VENTUROUS THEATER FUND OF THE TIDES FOUNDATION (VTF)
About Mfoniso Udofia
Mfoniso Udofia’s plays Sojourners, runboyrun, Her Portmanteau, and In Old Age have been seen at The Magic, New York Theatre Workshop, American Conservatory Theater, Playwrights Realm, National Black Theatre, Strand Theater Company, and Boston Court. She’s the recipient of the 2017 Helen Merrill Playwright Award, the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission at The Playwrights’ Center, and is a member of the New Dramatists class of 2023. Mfoniso is commissioned by ACT, Hartford Stage, Denver Center, Roundhouse, and South Coast Repertory.
She has worked as a television writer on the third season of Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why and the first season of Pachinko. She is a producer and writer on Little America, A League of Their Own, and Let the Right One In.
As an actress, she appeared off-Broadway in Ngozi Anyanwu’s The Homecoming Queen.
B.A. in Political Science, Wellesley; MFA, American Conservatory Theatre.
“I’m writing these plays for myself, for my immediate family, for my extended family, for the Ibibio community. I’m writing us – so we can see us.”
“I believe my work incites community action. Audience members are able to jump into the life of a person they do not know. When you care about a character so much that you are crying for them, you are changed irrevocably in the moment.”
-Mfoniso Udofia