Jocelyn Bioh is a Ghanaian-American writer, playwright and actress. She graduated from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
with a BA in English and got her master's degree in Playwriting from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. Jocelyn's Broadway credits include ''
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''. She has performed in regional and
off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
productions of ''
An Octoroon, Bootycandy'' and ''
For Colored Girls
''For Colored Girls'' is a 2010 American drama film adapted from Ntozake Shange's 1975 original choreopoem '' for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf''. Written, directed and co-produced by Tyler Perry, the film ...
''. She has written many of her own plays that have been produced in national and collegiate theaters. Some of her more well-known works include ''Nollywood Dreams'' and ''School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play''. Bioh is a playwright with
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Lynne Meadow has been the company’s Artistic Director and visionary since 1972. Barry Grove joined the company in 19 ...
(MTC) and
Atlantic Theater Company
The Atlantic Theater Company is an Off-Broadway non-profit theater company based in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Founded in 1985 by playwright David Mamet, actor William H. Macy, and a group of acting students, the compan ...
, is a resident playwright at
Lincoln Center
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5  ...
and is a 2017-18 Tow Playwright-in-Residence with MCC.
She is a writer on the Hulu show ''
Tiny Beautiful Things''.
Early life
Jocelyn Bioh was born and raised in New York City. She is of Ghanaian-American descent. She grew up in
Washington Heights with her parents (who immigrated from Ghana in 1968). As a girl, Bioh attended the
Milton Hershey School, a boarding school for economically disadvantaged students. There her love of theater began and she chose to pursue it as a career. Bioh is the youngest of her siblings—her brother is a doctor, her sister is a social worker. She chose a completely different career path and prides herself on being "the black sheep" of the family. While she has had much success as both an actor and playwright, Bioh told the
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
she is convinced her mother will "
ver forgive
erfor not being a doctor".
Education
Bioh received her Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Theater from
Ohio State University
The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one ...
. Later, she earned her master's degree in Playwriting from
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...
. While she attended Ohio State, Bioh quickly found that the theater department relied heavily on
typecasting
In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...
, which meant there were not a lot of roles for her as an actress of color. She realized that "if she wanted better roles, she would have to start writing them". When she got her Master's in Playwriting at Columbia that is what she did. In the beginning, she wrote a lot of "anguished, kitchen-sink dramas".
[ She learned that she did not have to write dramas to be profound or poignant about the today's social climate. She found a lot of poignancy in comedy, which describes most of her current plays.
]
Playwriting career
Her plays include:
* ''African Americans'' (Ruby Prize Finalist 2011)
* ''School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play''
* ''Nollywood Dreams'' (The Kilroys' List
''The Kilroys' List'' is a ''#Gender Parity, gender parity'' initiative to end the "systematic underrepresentation of female and Transgender, trans playwrights" in the American theater industry. ''Gender disparity'' is defined as the gap of unprodu ...
, 2015)
* ''The Ladykiller's Love Story'', featuring music and lyrics by CeeLo Green
Thomas DeCarlo Callaway-Burton (born May 30, 1975), known professionally as CeeLo Green (or Cee Lo Green or simply Cee-Lo), is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Green came to initial pr ...
* ''Happiness and Joe'', a romantic comedy
* '' Jaja's African Hair Braiding'', a comedy that marked her Broadway debut in the fall of 2023
Production history
''School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play'' featured in the MCC PlayLab Series at the Lucille Lortel Theater (November 2017), directed by Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
-winning, Rebecca Taichman. The play is set in a boarding school and is centered upon two students, the school's " Queen bee" Paulina and a new student, Ericka. The two come to odds when a pageant recruiter for the Miss Universe pageant takes an interest in Ericka over Paulina, who endeavors to win the crown for herself. Taichman said the play "smashes up this real comic point of view with profound sadness and anger. But it’s lifted through this comic impulse. Always."
The play was presented in May and June 2022 at the Arden Theatre Company in Philadelphia, Pa.
Her Broadway playwriting debut came in the fall of 2023 with '' Jaja's African Hair Braiding.'' The comedy, produced by Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Lynne Meadow has been the company’s Artistic Director and visionary since 1972. Barry Grove joined the company in 19 ...
at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in New York City, was directed by Whitney White and described on the show's official website in this way:"This dazzling world premiere welcomes you into Jaja’s bustling hair braiding shop in Harlem where every day, a lively and eclectic group of West African immigrant hair braiders are creating masterpieces on the heads of neighborhood women. During one sweltering summer day, love will blossom, dreams will flourish and secrets will be revealed. The uncertainty of their circumstances simmers below the surface of their lives and when it boils over, it forces this tight-knit community to confront what it means to be an outsider on the edge of the place they call home."
The play was selected as a New York Times Critic's Pick, and was nominated for the 2024 Tony Award for Best Play
The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, an Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non-musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year ...
. It received two extensions and had its final week of performances streamed live worldwide.
Acting career
Bioh has appeared on Broadway and numerous Off-Broadway
An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
productions throughout her career. In 2014, she was an original ensemble member of the Broadway production of ''The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time''. She has also had Off-Broadway roles in Soho Repertory Theatre's production of '' An Octoroon,'' Playwrights Horizons
Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit American Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work.
...
's ''Men on Boats'', and Signature Theatre Company's production of Suzan-Lori Parks' ''The Red Letter Plays: In the Blood''. As an actor, Bioh caught the eye of playwright, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. After receiving her MFA in Playwriting from Columbia University, she took a break from writing and began auditioning. In 2010, Bioh earned the role of Topsy in Jacobs-Jenkins' play ''Neighbors''. After her performance, he "went on to write the part of the slave Minnie in ''An Octoroon'' specifically for er.[ Bioh also performed in Jacobs-Jenkins newest play, '' Everybody'' at the Signature Theater Company in January 2017 and received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play.
]
Style and themes presented in her work
As a writer, Bioh is identified with affectionate and fun narratives that also humanize people, including their emotions. In an interview with the ''New York Times'', she noted that she favors the comedic style because she finds humor in everything. Her plays, ''School Girls'', ''Nollywood Dreams'' and ''Happiness and Joe'' try to find something positive in tragedy and to destroy stereotypes attributed to persons of color. ''School Girls'' was inspired by Erica Nego and the 2011 Miss Universe Ghana competition, and the controversy around colorism that this contest sparked.
Bioh, however, is also drawn to stories and characters that defy stereotypes. "As an artist, I live in a constant cloud of goals, dreams, and certainly risks", she told Darrel Alejandro Holnes from Stage and Candor, an online theater forum. When asked about working with director Will Davis on a production of ''Men in Boats'' Bioh said: "We have a dance background and understand the importance of telling stories with our bodies."
Critical reception
Jocelyn Bioh's work has been included on The Kilroys' List
''The Kilroys' List'' is a ''#Gender Parity, gender parity'' initiative to end the "systematic underrepresentation of female and Transgender, trans playwrights" in the American theater industry. ''Gender disparity'' is defined as the gap of unprodu ...
in both 2015 and 2016. According to The Kilroys' List website: "The List...includes the results of nindustry survey of excellent un- and underproduced new plays by female and trans playwrights. It is a tool for producers committed to ending the systemic underrepresentation of female and trans playwrights in the American theater."
"She's a heat-seeking missile.... I don't ever want to let her go," says playwright Jacobs-Jenkins of Bioh.[
Nigel Smith, director of ''Neighbors'' (2010) said of Bioh: "Jocelyn is go for broke, no stone unturned.... She’s not an artist to be messed with."][
]
Awards and honors
Jocelyn Bioh received a Lucille Lortel Award nomination in 2017 for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her performance in ''Everybody'' written by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Jocelyn was also selected to be on The Kilroys' List in 2015 and 2016 for her plays ''Nollywood Dreams'' and ''School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play,'' respectively. Her play ''African Americans'' was selected as a Ruby Prize Finalist in 2011.
The play ''School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play'' won the 2018 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play, The Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for New American Playwright and the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award. The play was also nominated for an Off Broadway Alliance Award and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play.
The play Jaja's African Hair Braiding garnered Bioh her first Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...
nomination for Best Play.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bioh, Jocelyn
Living people
American people of Ghanaian descent
American women dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American women writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Writers from Manhattan
People from Washington Heights, Manhattan
Ohio State University College of Arts and Sciences alumni
Columbia University School of the Arts alumni
African-American actresses