Wellesley Repertory Theatre Unveils Cast And Creative Team For In-Process Presentation Of LIFTED

Wellesley Repertory Theatre and Wellesley College Theatre have announced the cast and creative team on their in-process presentation of Lifted, written by Mfoniso Udofia and directed by Josiah A. Davis (Mary Gets Hers, Playwrights Realm; Reconstructing, The TEAM; Clyde's, St. Louis Rep and Alabama Shakespeare Festival) with Musical Supervision by Brandon Michael Nase (Music Director of the upcoming Lynn Nottage/John Legend penned musical adaptation of Imitation of Life).

Tony-winner Joaquina Kalukango (Best Actress in a Musical in Broadway's Paradise Square, Best Actress in a Play Nominee in Slave Play) will explore the compelling role of Toyoima (Innocent) as part of a seven-person ensemble in Lifted. Wellesley Rep continues the groundbreaking Boston-wide project – initiated by The Huntington and carried forward by multiple arts and community organizations – to produce Wellesley graduate Mfoniso Udofia's entire 9-play Ufot Family Cycle.

This in-process presentation of Lifted invites audiences inside the creative process of a new play in active development. The workshop captures the play in motion, emphasizing immediacy, connection, and the thrill of watching new work take shape. Unique ‘text-in-hand' performances present Lifted as a dynamic work-in-progress, with minimal tech elements and actors holding scripts onstage while the play evolves in real time. Playwright Mfoniso Udofia will introduce the show most nights, offering context about what she is exploring in the writing, and the questions driving the work at this stage. Scenes, structure, and text will continue to unfold throughout the run, making each presentation a unique opportunity for audiences to gain rare insight into new work development as they experience the next powerful story of the Ufot Family Cycle. There will be a post-show talkback after every presentation, in which audiences can directly engage with members of the creative team.

Udofia, Wellesley College Class of ‘06, began her journey as a Political Science major taking theatre classes within the Wellesley College Theatre Studies Program. As she told Wellesley Magazine in Fall of 2025, “It all started at Wellesley…and it kept growing and growing until it's my life now.” Courses with Associate Teaching Professors Diego Arciniegas and Lois Roach – who now serves as dramaturg for Lifted – helped set Udofia on her path through the field, making this homecoming a very special event for the Wellesley campus community.

Udofia offers: "You are stepping into the process at one of the most fragile and tender moments in a new play's life, when the play is still becoming. I know the themes I'm exploring and the raw material I'm working with to shape the story of Toyoima Ufot, and this process reveals the true nature of new play creation: discovery, risk, revision, and conversation. Each night, audiences will watch the story being built from the ground up. The world of Toyoima will shift. Scenes will change. The play will grow until it finds its final form. This process won't be hidden. After performances, audiences are invited to stay, ask questions, and talk with me about how the story is evolving and where it's headed. You won't just see the play. You'll see how it's made. I invite you in to witness this piece as it becomes. Come be part of it."

Artistic Producer of Wellesley Repertory Theatre and Director of Wellesley College Theatre Marta Rainer ‘98 celebrates this opportunity to support and uplift this unprecedented event heralding the theatre-making process of a fellow Wellesley graduate. “Wellesley Rep is committed to acting as a creative incubator and source of artistic sustenance for current Wellesley College Theatre students, our amazing graduate body, our creative collaborators, and our local supporters. To be able to invite Boston audiences into this in-process presentation by one of our own alumnae as she explores the complexities of academic freedom at this critical time is an honor. To be enfolded into the expanding Ufot Cycle family with this absolutely thrilling group of artists is a dream. It is a source of great pride to be able to demonstrate the power of storytelling to our greater community.”

Lifted continues the story of Dr. Toyoima Ufot, a highly respected academic whose career is upended by an accusation of plagiarism. As the crisis escalates, she travels to Nigeria, a journey that forces her to confront personal history and opens a path toward healing. Toyoima is an ethnomusicologist, and singing will be woven throughout the play. To explore her inner life, the character is portrayed by three actors at once, each representing a different facet of her psyche: Front-Facing, Wrath, and Innocence.

The cast of Lifted includes:

• Joaquina Kalukango as Toyoima Ufot (Innocent), a scholar and an artist. Credits include: TV: Lawmen: Bass Reeves, Lovecraft Country; Broadway theatre: Paradise Square (Tony & Drama Desk Award), Slave Play, Into the Woods, The Color Purple
• Natalie D. Jacobs as Toyoima Ufot (Front-Facing), a scholar and an artist. Credits include: TV: (ABC, NBC, Showtime, and AppleTV credits); Boston theatre: The Ceremony (Ufot play #6 - Toyoima; Chuang Stage); former Division 1 All-American athlete
• Denise Manning as Toyoima Ufot (Wrath), a scholar and an artist. Credits include: TV: Vinyl; Off-Broadway: Rosie (dir. Danya Taymor); stand-up comedy and composer; performed and collaborated in 70+ new works with industry changemakers
• Paul Pryce as Dr. Anthony Umanah, a scholar and more. Credits include: Film: The Deliverer TV: Jessica Jones; Broadway/NY: King Lear (feat. Michael Potts), Harry the Hunk on His Way Out, Boston theatre: The Grove (Ufot Play #2 - The Huntington)
• Lorraine Kanyike as Adiaha, Toyoima's older sister - an artist. Credits include: Boston Theatre: A Raisin in the Sun, DIASPORA! (New Rep); Chicken and Biscuits (Front Porch Arts Collective); John Deserves to Die (Fresh Ink)
• Chavez Ravine as Abasiama, Toyoima's mother and more. Credits include: TV/Film: Barbershop II, Prison Break; Theatre: The Bluest Eye (New Victory/The Duke/The Arden Theatre/Steppenwolf), The Winter's Tale (Chicago Shakespeare)
• Aneisa Hicks as Idiabasi, Toyoima's half-sister. Credits include: TV: Chicago P.D., A League of Their Own, The Chi; Theatre: Her Portmanteau (ACT); Hurricane Diane (Theatre Wit)

The creative team of Lifted includes Music Supervision and Arrangements by Brandon Michael Nase and dramaturgy by Lois Roach (A Raisin in the Sun at New Repertory Theatre). The vocal and dialect coaching is by Bridgett Jackson, Ibibio dialogue consultant is Emmanuel Sylvester, and production assistants include current Wellesley students Penny Davis ‘26 and Cassandre Cyriaque ‘26. The production stage manager is Em Ross ‘24 - a recent Wellesley graduate. Casting is supported by Janet Foster.

Lifted Dates and Venues:

March 10 at 7pm - Footlight Club, Jamaica Plain
March 12 at 7pm - Footlight Club, Jamaica Plain
March 14 at 2pm - Footlight Club, Jamaica Plain
March 14 at 7pm - Footlight Club, Jamaica Plain
7A Eliot St, Boston, MA 02130

March 24 at 7pm - Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston
March 25 at 7pm - Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston
March 26 at 7pm - Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston
March 27 at 7pm - Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston
March 28 at 2pm - Maso Studio at the Huntington Theatre, Boston
264 Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115

March 29 at 7pm - Walsh Alumnae Hall Auditorium, Wellesley College Campus
106 Central St, Wellesley, MA 02481