Cast and Creative Team Set for MALA ARIA at Premiere Stages

Premiere Stages at Kean University will present the world premiere of Mala Aria by Gloria Majule, winner of the 2025 Premiere Play Festival, July 16–August 2 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center. Directed by Jamil A.C. Mangan, the production stars Nazira Cisse, Shiro Kihagi, Eugene Nesmith, and Anita Welch-Smith.

In this compelling new play, Amazia, hoping to discover a way to eradicate malaria, leaves her family in Tanzania to pursue a Ph.D. abroad. Experiences with love and loss force her to decide between staying in the West and returning home to honor a promise.

Playwright Gloria Majule is a storyteller born in Dodoma, Tanzania, whose work seeks to bring together Black voices from across the world through stories that are accessible to Black audiences everywhere. She has received a MacDowell Fellowship and Artist Trust support, and has been commissioned by Audible, Atlantic Theater Company, and Princeton University/The Civilians.

A three-time O'Neill National Playwrights Conference finalist and six-time Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee, Majule's work has been developed at New York Theatre Workshop, Union Arts Center, The American Playwriting Foundation, Abingdon Theatre Company, The Black and Latino Playwrights Celebration, Vassar's Powerhouse Theater, American Blues Theater, The New Group, Alliance Theatre, and Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others.

Director Jamil A.C. Mangan's credits include Toni Stone and The Mountaintop (Playhouse on Park), The Mountaintop (Mile Square Theatre), Pipeline (Next Act Theatre), All of Everything (Renaissance Theaterworks), Fugue in 'D' Mentia (BMP New Play Festival/Detroit Public Theater), Hecho en Ecuador (Teatro IATI), Sons of Johnny Johnson (Davenport Theatre), The Leap (Episcopal Actors' Guild of America), and The Gospel of Colonus (Newark Symphony Hall).

The cast includes Nazira Cisse, whose film credits include Urban Ed and Loverboy; Shiro Kihagi, whose television credits include Poker Face and FBI: Most Wanted; Eugene Nesmith, whose theater credits include Driving Miss Daisy (Virginia Public Theatre) and The Chairs (La MaMa); and Anita Welch-Smith, whose Off-Broadway credits include Panama Hattie (York Theatre Company) and Hercules (The Public Theater). Kean Theatre Department alum Lorrelle Lane will serve as understudy.

The creative team includes scenic designer David M. Barber, Costume Designer Niiamar Felder, lighting designer Zack Gage, sound designer Tyler Sautner, composer Carter "Roc" Mangan Jr., props master Mary Gragen, scenic artist Camyron Chauffe, dialect coach Karishma Bhagani, intimacy coordinator Brooke M. Haney, and production stage manager Dale Smallwood.

Mala Aria runs July 16–August 2 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center on Kean University's main campus in Union, N.J. Performances are Thursday, July 16 at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays, July 23 and 30 at 1 p.m.; Fridays at 7:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 3 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.; and Sundays at 3 p.m.

Opening Night tickets are $60. All other performances are $42 standard, $32 for seniors, Kean alumni, and staff, $27 for patrons with disabilities, and $18 for students, inclusive of fees. Group discounts are available for parties of 10 or more.

Premiere Stages offers free parking close to the theater, air-conditioned facilities, and a series of free interactive lobby talks and post-show discussions for select performances.