Casting & Dates Announced for Jocelyn Bioh's Nollywood Dreams

Dates and casting have been announced for Jocelyn Bioh's Nollywood Dreams off-Broadway. The full 2020 cast will reunite for the Saheem Ali-helmed production, which was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19 and is now scheduled to begin performances at MCC Theater’s Newman Mills Theater on October 21 ahead of opening night on November 11. The show will have a limited run through November 28.

The cast will include School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play Drama Desk winner Abena, Charlie Hudson, III, Nana Mensah, Sandra Okuboyejo, Ade Otukoya and Emana Rachelle.

“Nothing thrills me more than to be reuniting with the Nollywood Dreams cast and finally getting the chance to share this play with the world,” Bioh said in a statement. “Being the first show back at MCC is an honor and we promise to fill the theater with laughter and pure joy.”

It’s the 1990s and in Lagos, Nigeria, the Nollywood film industry is exploding and taking the world by storm. Ayamma dreams of stardom while working at her parents’ travel agency alongside her lovable and celebrity-obsessed sister Dede. When Ayamma lands an audition for a new film by Gbenga Ezie, Nigeria’s hottest director, she comes head-to-head with Gbenga’s former leading lady, Fayola. Tensions flare just as sparks start flying between Ayamma, the aspiring ingénue, and Wale, Nollywood’s biggest heartthrob, in this hilarious new play about dreaming big.

Nollywood Dreams features scenic design by Arnulfo Maldonado, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by David Weiner and Jiyoun Chang, sound design by Palmer Hefferan, projection design by Alex Basco Koch, and hair and wig design by Nikiya Mathis.