Full-length, Drama

Veralynn Jackson knows hair, she knows her neighborhood, and she also knows that the invention of the Jheri Curl marks the end of the world. When she takes a job in Mr. Kim’s Korean-owned Black beauty supply store and the posters start talking to her, Veralynn might finally come to know her true calling.

Production Notes:

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

VERALYNN JACKSON - 42, F. African-American. Long-time resident of this neighborhood. Knows a little something about hair.

MR. KIM - 50, M. Korean immigrant. Business owner. Lives somewhere else.

JHERI REDDING - 72, M. White. Born Robert William Redding. Hairdresser, chemist, inventor of The Jheri Curl. Lives in a poster.

LORRAINE - 30, F. African-American. Female model on all the packaging for the S Curl. Lives in the same poster hugged up with Marvin. Would like to kill him one day. Also plays MUSHROOM.

MARVIN - 30, M. African-American. Male model sporting the exact same S Curl as Lorraine. Uses way more activator. Also wants out of this arrangement. Also plays AFRO MAN.

SETTINGS: Jeffery Manor Beauty Supply, in the all-Black neighborhood of Jeffery Manor on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. TIME Spring 1979 - Fall 1982

Author

Inda Craig-Galván

Inda Craig-Galván is a Chicagoan who lives in Los Angeles, where it’s warm. Her plays include Black Super Hero Magic Mama (Geffen Playhouse), (), I Go Somewhere Else (Playwrights’ Arena), and The Great Jheri Curl Debate (2022 world premiere, East West Players). Her play A Hit Dog Will Holler world premiered at Skylight Theatre Company in a co-production with Playwrights’ Arena and is being produced as a podcast adaptation for Raditopia Presents in 2022. Inda was recipient of the Kesselring Prize, Blue Ink Prize, Kennedy Center Rosa Parks Award, and her plays have twice been featured on the Kilroys List. Inda is also a TV writer on Demimonde, the upcoming HBO series created by JJ Abrams. MFA in Dramatic Writing, University of Southern California...[FULL BIO]

TheatricalWrites QnA with the Author

Meet Inda Craig-Galván QnA

Meet Inda Craig-Galván, author of BLACK SUPER HERO MAGIC MAMA and A HIT DOG WILL HOLLER.

Her work is raw, honest, and hilarious. Her plays explore real-world problems wrapped in the dynamic magic of the theatre. She took some time to discuss these two plays in depth and reveals the best advice she’s ever received. Read now to learn more about her process of writing this play and the importance (or necessity) of collaboration within theatre.

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