Written by NGOZI ANYANWU
Directed by AWOYE TIMPO
Atlantic Stage 2, 330 W 16th St
Run time: 1 hour and 45 minutes, no intermission

A bestselling novelist returns to Nigeria to care for her ailing father, but before she can bury him, she must relearn the traditions she’s long forgotten. Having been absent for over a decade, she must collide with her culture, traumatic past, painful regrets, and the deep, deep love she thought she could never have. Atlantic is thrilled to welcome Ngozi Anyanwu (Good Grief) for her Off-Broadway debut!

The Homecoming Queen marks playwright Ngozi Anyanwu’s Off-Broadway debut and long may she reign! The play is a beautiful meditation on home, alienation, love, pain, and regret. It strikes harmonious chords, whether they be of laughter or melancholy, with a masterful clarity. The actors comprising the Chorus, Ebbe Bassey, Vinie Burrows, Patrice Johnson, and Zenzi Williams, begin with a beautiful song, each in spotlight, like statues come to life, history animated. Each and every member of the cast is incredible. These characters feel fully realized and human, as if they walked out of the world and on to the stage at Atlantic Theater Company. This nuance is not only in regard to each character, but in consideration of all the relationships The Homecoming Queen explores. Awoye Timpo has directed a production intent on the verisimilitude of life and its complications, and wow — how she does succeed. Kelechi (Mfoniso Udofia) is now a successful bestselling author returning to Nigeria to see her ailing Papa (Oberon K.A. Adjepong) after being away and in America for fifteen years. She has stayed distant because of painful memories, trauma, and a fraught relationship with her father, all …Read more