The ceremony

Produced by CHUANG Stage, in partnership with Boston University School of Theatre and Boston Playwrights’ Theatre

A World Premiere by Mfoniso Udofia

Directed by Kevin R. Free

September 11 - October 5, 2025

Joan & Edgar Booth Theatre

When Abasiama and Disciple’s only son, Ekong asks Lumanthi Rathi to be his wife, they accept that their dream wedding might have to go on without either of their fathers present. But when Lumanti’s dad has a sudden change of heart, Ekong dares to attempt a reconciliation with his long-estranged father in order to make the ritual of their wedding ceremony truly whole. 

A moving, multigenerational story that intertwines Nigerian and Nepali cultural traditions, The Ceremony is a joyous, tender reckoning of love and the rituals that bind us, brought to life by CHUANG Stage, in partnership with Boston Playwrights’ Theatre and Boston University School of Theatre, catalyzed by The Huntington.

“In terms of concept, scope, and execution, 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 theatre in a long time.” – The Boston Globe 

“Udofia’s writing makes one feel like part of the family, sharing the Ufots’ happiness and pain.” – The Harvard Crimson 

Photo by Ken Yotsukura

At CHUANG Stage, tickets are "Pay-As-You-Are" to provide radical access to theatre for those who identify as working-class immigrants of Asian American descent, a population in Boston underrepresented in arts and culture patrons. When you "Pay-As-You-Are," we empower you to select the ticket price that best reflects your socio-economic status and take action in community accountability to make arts accessible for all.

• Close Caption Performances: Saturday, Sep 27 @ 7:30pm & Sunday, Sep 28 @ 2:00pm (Sold Out)

• Close Caption + Audio Description Performance: Saturday, Oct 4 @ 2pm (Sold Out)

CAST

EKONG UFOT - Kadahj Bennett (he/him) is stoked to be a part of this world premier! Recent credits: Trouble In Mind (Lyric Stage), Raisin In The Sun, The Charles Lennox Experience (New Rep), The Lehman Trilogy, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Common Ground Revisited, Dream Boston, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (Huntington), Brown & Boozy, X Or, Betty Shabazz vs The Nation (Front Porch) People, Places & Things, Pass Over (SpeakEasy Stage), Quotables, Hype Man, Leftovers (Company One/ART), Bennett's an Elliot Norton Award winner and a WBUR ARTery 25 Changemaker. Bennett is Chair of Theatre at The Boston Arts Academy and a Resident Artist at Harvard University.

LUMANTI SHRESTHA - Mahima Saigal* (she/her/leo) is thrilled to be making her Boston debut with the world premiere of Mfoniso Udofia’s THE CEREMONY. Mahima holds several artistic titles (favorite being Extraordinary Alien) and with her artistic practice she tends to explore works that concern itself with truth, joy, grief, hypocrisy and the polite horrors. Favorite NY credits: Elyria (World Premiere/Atlantic Theater Company), Queen (NY Premiere at the Astoria Performing Arts Center/ nom Best Actress in a Leading Role, NYIT awards), Love You More (Tank’s ‘25 Core Production), Our Almost will Forever Haunt Me (the cell 24/25), The Bridge Project (The Brick), Hiding Kanye (Winner Best Featured Actress Award, Tamasha/Hypokrit Theater Festival), Invasion! (Winner Best Ensemble SAIPAF/Hypokrit Theater Festival), Jhaanjhar Di… (National Queer Theatre)

Workshops: NYTW, Atlantic Theater, Drama League, New Dramatists, Gingold Theatrical, the Bushwick Starr, New Georges to name a few. Mahima has served on the panel of the Leah Ryan Fund, PGE, SheNYC arts festival (24/25) and is a proud board member/co-chair of the OBIE Award winning National Queer Theatre. When she’s not  acting, directing, dancing or writing, Mahima could be found obsessing over a plethora of topics ranging from Zodiac signs to Zohran Mamdani.

ABASIAMA UFOT - Cheryl D. Singleton* (she/her) is a professional Boston-based actress with experience in stage, screen, television, voice-over and improvisation. Moonbox Productions: Crowns. Gloucester Stage: Wipeout, Stew, To Kill A Mockingbird. Huntington Theatre Co.: Our Daughters, Like Pillars, Sonia Flew (u/s). Lyric Stage Co.: The Little Foxes, Intimate Apparel. American Repertory Theatre: The Seagull. New Repertory Theater: 1776, Passing Strange, Rent, Dollhouse. Additional credits: Speakeasy Stage Co., The Front Porch Arts Collective, Wheelock Family Theatre, Plays in Place, Boston Lyric Opera, Boston Pops, Boston Playwrights’ Theatre, Commonwealth Shakespeare Co., ImprovBoston, and Queer Soup. Select film and television: Invitation to a Bonfire (AMC), She’s Gotta Have It (40 Acres and A Mule), and Castle Rock (Hulu).

LAXAMI ‘AMMA’ SHRESTHA - Salma Qarnain* (she/her) is a two-time Helen Hayes Award recipient, an AUDELCO nominee, and an award-winning theater and film producer (Silent Partner). She made her Broadway debut in the Tony® and Olivier Award-winning Life of Pi. Off-Broadway and Off-West End: Bars and Measures; Acquittal; Rain + Zoe Save the World. Regional: Life of Pi (A.R.T.); Othello (Synetic/Kennedy Center); Barrio Grrrl! (Kennedy Center); Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo (Round House). Workshops (Broadway/West End-Bound): DDLJ; Monsoon Wedding. TV: That Damn Michael Che (RECUR, HBO Max); FBI (CBS); The Blacklist (NBC); For Life (ABC). Stanford, MIT (Course XVI), Harvard Business School. www.salmaqarnain.com @salma.qarnain @blackmanfilmsllc

ANJALI ‘AUNTIE’ KAPALI - Natalya Rathnam* (she/her) BU ALUM! Previous work (D.C.): The Age of Innocence, POTUS, Our War (Arena Stage); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Everyman Theatre); Lend Me A Soprano, A Nice Indian Boy (Olney Theatre); A Wind in the Door, Kid Prince and Pablo, The Wings of Ikarus Jackson, Mockingbird (Kennedy Center); A Death of a Salesman (Ford’s Theatre); The Last Match, The Phlebotomist (1st Stage); 4,380 Nights (Signature Theatre); Bars and Measures, Shame 2.0, When January Feels Like Summer (Mosaic Theatre); Trojan Women (Taffety Punk). Helen Hayes Nominee - Outstanding Supporting Actor & Ensemble Additional Regional: Dracula: A Feminist Revenge (Actors Theatre of Louisville); The Figs (American Stage Theatre, FL); It’s Christmas, Carol! (Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Illyria, Julius Caesar (VA Shakespeare Festival). Insta: @natalyalynetterathnam

ADIAHA UFOT - REGINE VITAL (she/her) is a storyteller, theatre artistproducer, and educator from Somerville, MA. She is the Manager of Artistic and Community Programs at Actors’ Shakespeare Project (Boston/Watertown, MA), and was last seen on stage in A Light Under the Dome (Plays In Place/ National Parks Service). Regional credits: Shakespeare & Company, The Huntington, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, American Repertory Theatre, ArtsEmerson. Local: Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Company One, SpeakEasy Stage, Central Square Theatre. Fringe/Educational: Fresh Ink Theatre, Moonbox Productions, Flat Earth Theatre, HUB Theatre of Boston, Birch Tree Productions, Concord Academy, Green Door Labs. Podcasts/Film: The Huntington, Rattlestick Theatre, Broadway Podcast Network, The Penumbra Podcast, Revolutionary Spaces. Education: BA, Boston University; MA, University of Massachusetts, Boston; MA candidate, King’s College London/Shakespeare’s Globe. "Merde, folks! 😉"

TOYOIMA UFOT - NATALIE JACOBS (she/her) is a former Division 1 All-American Athlete who studied at Penn State and trained at Washington DC’s Studio Theatre before relocating to New York City. She has portrayed characters on various networks including ABC, NBC, Showtime and AppleTV. Most recently, she brought 8 characters to life in Vermont Stage’s production of 2024 Pulitzer Prize Drama Winner, Primary Trust. She will soon be featured in the upcoming film of Japanese filmmaker, Shin'ya Tsukamoto. Natalie is overjoyed to be stepping into the Ufot Cycle and breathing life into Toyoima. She would like to thank her Creator, family, and everyone who stands so firmly in her corner! www.Natalie-Jacobs.com

NSIKAN DISCIPLE UFOT - ADRIAN ROBERTS* (he/him) is thrilled to be working at Chuang Stage and to be back in Boston. Mr. Roberts credits include Goerge in Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff at Oakland Theater Project, Prospero/Caliban at Oakland Theater Project Macbeth In Macbeth at African American Shakespeare, Commander Osembenga in Ruined at the Huntington Theater directed by Liesl Tommy, Asagai in Raisin in the Sun at the Huntington with Esther Rolle directed by Kenny Leon, King Basillio in Life is a Dream at California Shakespeare Festival directed by Loretta Grecco, Disciple Ufot in Runboyrun at the Magic Theater, Troy and Gabriel in Fences at Marin Theater Co. three seasons at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival among many other regional credits. Mr. Roberts television credits include Scrubs, Criminal Minds, Chance, Normal Ain't Normal web series, Brothers and Sisters. Mr. Roberts is a graduate of ACT's MFA program.

CREATIVE TEAM

Playwright: Mfoniso Udofia

Director: Kevin R. Free

Production Stage Manager: Jenna Worden*

Assistant Stage Manager: afrikah selah

Co-Dramaturg: Amrita Ramanan

Co-Dramaturg: Charles Haugland

Production Manager: Lauren Davis

Technical Director: Hannah Eckert

Associate Technical Director: Catherine Hampp

Choreographer: Nailah Randall-Bellinger

CREATIVE TEAM BIOS

PLAYWRIGHT - Mfoniso Udofia is a first-generation Nigerian-American storyteller and educator. From 2024-2026, a consortium of theatre companies and activation partners across Boston are producing all of Mfoniso’s 9-play UFOT FAMILY CYCLE. Productions of her plays SOJOURNERS, THE GROVE (2025 Elliot Norton for Outstanding New Script), RUNBOYRUN, HER PORTMANTEAU and IN OLD AGE have been seen at the Huntington Theatre, Central Square Theatre, Round House Theatre, NYTW, A.C.T., Playwrights Realm, Magic Theater, National Black Theatre, and Boston Court. She’s the recipient of the 2024 Steinberg Playwright Award, the 2021 Horton Foote Award, the 2017 Helen Merrill Award, the 2017-18 McKnight National Residency and Commission and is a member of New Dramatists. More at www.mfonisoudofia.com.

DIRECTOR - Kevin R. Free is a multidisciplinary artist whose work  has been showcased many places, including Target Margin, the Where Project (2015), QED: A Place for Storytelling; on the Moth Mainstage (“Heart of Darkness,” 2012), Dana Rossi’s The Soundtrack Series, Kathleen Warnock’s Drunken! Careening! Writers!, Queens Farm, and most recently, The Historic Apollo Theatre.

As a director, Kevin will begin rehearsal in May 2025 of the World Premiere Production of Donnetta Lavinia Grays’ Kudzu Calling (Alabama Shakespeare Festival). Favorites include: The Play That Goes Wrong at Portland Stage; Marcus; or The Secret of Sweet at Nevada Conservatory Theater; Pipeline at Mile Square Theatre (named one of the top 10 theatre productions of 2019 by NJ.com); the world premiere of Greg Lam’s The Last Ship to Proxima Centauri (Portland Stage) and the World Premiere of Amy R. Berryman’s WINNER, which was a Finalist in the Samuel French Off-Off-Broadway Short Play Festival. Other significant credits: Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill (with his constant collaborator, Tracey Conyer Lee) at Portland Stage; Renita Martin's Blue Fire on the Water (The Fresh Fruit Festival); Okello Kelo Sam’s Forged in Fire (City Tech); and with his frequent collaborator, Reynaldo Piniella on several of his plays: No History; Sons of an Unknown Father; Black and Blue; and Black Doves. As Artistic Director of Mile Square Theatre from 2022-2025, he directed Berta, Berta; The Burdens; and Tiny Beautiful Things.

CO-DRAMATURG - Amrita Ramanan is a multidisciplinary artistic leader who holds the values of anti-racism, anti- colonialism, equity, access, diversity, and inclusion at the core of her practice. She formerly was the Director of Literary Development and Dramaturgy at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and wholistically supported new play commissioning and development for the Festival. She served as the production dramaturg for OSF’s productions of Cambodian Rock Band, Snow in Midsummer, Oklahoma!, As You Like It, Macbeth, Alice in Wonderland, Henry V, and Henry IV Parts 1 & 2; produced and curated the Black Swan Lab for New Play Development; and created the first-ever OSF Writer’s Group. Prior to OSF, Amrita was the Literary Manager/Artistic Associate at Arena Stage, where she dramaturged Arena’s productions of Mary T. & Lizzy K., Trouble in Mind, Ruined, and Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies; served as the line producer for Lisa Kron and Charles Randolph-Wright’s playwright residencies; and produced Arena Stage’s New Play Reading Series. For three years, Amrita was the Associate Producer and Resident Dramaturg at Double Edge Theatre and supported the development of Double Edge’s site-specific performances Sharazad, A Tale of Love and Magic and Once a Blue Moon. As a project-based dramaturg, Amrita’s credits include Sitayana by Lavina Jadhwani (East West Players, EnActe Arts, and Hypokrit Theatre Company) and BULL: a love story by Nancy García Loza (Paramount Theatre).

CO-DRAMATURG - Charles Haugland is Director of New Work at The Huntington, where he has worked since 2008.

He has dramaturged world premiere productions by Eleanor Burgess, Gina Gionfriddo, Kirsten Greenidge, Lila Rose Kaplan, Ryan Landry, Melinda Lopez, Craig Lucas, Kate Snodgrass, Rosanna Yamagiwa Alfaro, among others. He has also dramaturged dozens of workshops across all stages of play development.

His most recent project for The Huntington was Lenelle Moïse’s K-I-S-S-I-N-G, directed by Dawn M. Simmons. He forged a relationship with Lenelle, proposed the play as the first co-production between The Huntington and the Front Porch Arts Collective, and dramaturged. The play was recognized with 8 Elliot Norton Awards, including Outstanding New Play for Lenelle.

About our Partners

The Ufot Cycle Producing Partners