Boston's Ufot Family Cycle
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.
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“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
“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?
What would it mean to disrupt the way we tell stories and invite a host of unexpected partners to co-create the art and amplify the conversation around that art from across sectors?
What do we have to offer with our practice that will strengthen and lift others, and what can we learn about collaboration and community activation that will strengthen and lift us as a Public good?
At the end, what new alliances will we have ignited? What paradigms will we be able share out nationally in the Arts and Culture sector –and way beyond – that can help pave a new path to get big things done?”
-Loretta Greco
The Ufot Family Cycle Partners
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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.