How Jocelyn Bioh Is Balancing a Broadway Play, and a Newborn

Ten years ago, Bioh made her Broadway debut as an actor. Now she's back as a playwright for Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

Jocelyn Bioh (Photo by Joshua Bright, Graphic by Vi Dang)

Jocelyn Bioh made her Broadway debut in 2014, when she was in the ensemble of the cast of the Tony Award-winning play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. It was a dream gig for an actor: a steady paycheck, performing for over a thousand people every night. But after a year, Bioh decided to leave the show. She wanted to be a playwright.

Bioh describes herself as a “spiritual person,” and at that point, she had felt “really called and led to really commit more to my writing.” When Bioh thought about what kind of career she wanted to have, Lucille Ball and Issa Rae came to mind—female performers who also created their own opportunities. Explains Bioh: “These are women who thought very clearly and carefully about what their artistic legacy was going to be, or the kind of mark they wanted to make. There's a lot of intentionality that goes into that. And there was no way I could achieve that kind of goal by continuing to be in an ensemble of a show. I had to then step out on faith and really bet on myself.”