Her Portmanteau at Central Square Theater

Her Portmanteau

Central Square Theater
450 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge

Her Portmanteau is one of an acclaimed nine-part play cycle by Massachusetts-raised and Wellesley-educated playwright Mfoniso Udofia. Growing up in Southbridge, Udofia rarely saw stories about Africans and African Americans that felt like her family, so she set out to create a richly textured, emotionally engrossing series of plays that follow one family through three generations. While each play stands alone, together they form a tapestry of stories that resonate with everyone.

Thru - Apr 20, 2025

Show Type: Drama

Box Office: 617-576-9278

www.centralsquaretheater.org

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Her Portmanteau Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

The Boston Globe - Recommended

"...Of the four plays in the Ufot Family Cycle that have been presented locally so far, “Her Portmanteau” is the most tightly focused in terms of time and place. The play unfolds on a single day in January 2014 at an apartment (designed by Shelley Barish) in the Inwood section of New York City."

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- Don Aucoin

WBUR - Recommended

"...“Her Portmanteau” is a solid continuation in the Ufot family’s storyline, but it has a different presence than the richness of “The Grove.” It feels slightly outside the robust familial sphere and isn’t as muscular as previous offerings. Originally published in 2019, "Her Portmanteau" was staged prior to “The Grove,” which had its world premiere at The Huntington this year."

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- Jacquinn Sinclair

Joyce's Choices - Somewhat Recommended

"...All excellent performances, though it's hard to buy the physicality of Jean-Baptiste's Abasiama no matter small they say she's gotten. She also looks younger now in 2014 than this character did in 2009 only 5 year's earlier in THE GROVE. The crucial issues around mothering, loyalty, betrayal, conflicting cultural values, don't feel supported here by the plotting. Why so little contact between the mother and the Nigerian daughter, despite the availability of phones, computers, etc in 2014?"

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- Joyce Kulhawik

Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended

"...The fourth episode in Mfoniso Udofia's ambitious nine-episode Ufot Family Cycle, Her Portmanteau, takes us deeper into the fascinating story of a very specific Nigerian-American family whose struggles remain universal. Gripping performances by Patrice Jean-Baptiste, Jade Guerra, and Lorraine Victoria Kanyike create an immersive and emotionally charged one act play that I found gripping."

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- Lynne Weiss

The Arts Fuse - Highly Recommended

"...The fourth part of Mfoniso Udofia’s nine-play cycle about three generations of a Nigerian-American family, Her Portmanteau, poses a healing response to the trauma set up in the first, Sojourners. That drama ends with Abasiama Ufot announcing, in 1978, that she has decided to stay in America and not return to Nigeria with her husband and child. "

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- Bill Marx

New England Theater Mirror - Highly Recommended

"...I was hesitant about seeing this piece, the fourth in a series of nine under the umbrella of the Ufot Family Cycle by Mfoniso Udofia, as I hadn’t seen the other plays, and its length – an hour and forty-five minutes without an intermission – was off-putting. From the very beginning, when Jade A. Guerra, as Iniabasi Ekpeyong walks onto the stage with a suitcase and an air of wariness, I was completely sucked in. An hour and forty-five minutes never went by so quickly, as the rest of the audience and I were pulled into one of the more compelling, well-written, and well-acted family dramas this season."

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- Michele Markarian

Her Portmanteau at Central Square Theater

Her Portmanteau

Her Portmanteau Reviews

The Boston Globe - Recommended

WBUR - Recommended

Joyce's Choices - Somewhat Recommended

Stage and Cinema - Highly Recommended

The Arts Fuse - Highly Recommended

New England Theater Mirror - Highly Recommended

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