Premiere Stages presents the World Premiere of "Mala Aria" by Gloria Majule

Published by New Jersey Stage
06/25/2026

(UNION, NJ) -- Premiere Stages at Kean University presents the premiere production of Mala Aria by Gloria Majule, winner of the 2025 Premiere Play Festival, from July 16 - August 2, 2026 in Kean University's Bauer Boucher Theatre Center. Directed by Jamil A.C. Mangan, Mala Aria will feature actors 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 PhD abroad. Experiences with love and loss force her to decide between staying in the West and going back home to honor a promise. 

Playwright Gloria Majule is a storyteller born in Dodoma, Tanzania. She seeks to tell stories that bring multiple black voices together from across the world and are accessible to black audiences no matter where they are. Gloria has been awarded a MacDowell Fellowship and Artist Trust and commissions by Audible, Atlantic Theater Company and Princeton University/The Civilians. A three-time O'Neill Finalist and six-time Susan Smith Blackburn Prize nominee, Gloria’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, The Alliance Theatre, and Great Plains Theatre Commons, among others. 

Director Jamil A.C. Mangan’s credits include Toni Stone (Playhouse on Park), 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 accomplished cast includes Nazira Cisse, whose film credits include Urban Ed and Loverboy; Shiro Kihagi, whose recent television credits include Poker Face and FBI: Most Wanted; Eugene Nesmith, whose theatre credits include Driving Miss Daisy (Virginia Public Theatre) and The Chairs (LaMama); and Anita Welch-Smith, whose Off-Broadway credits include Panama Hattie (York Theatre Company) and Hercules (The Public Theater). Kean Theatre Department alumni Lorrelle Lane will serve as understudy.

The cast of Mala Aria (left to right): Eugene Nesmith, Nazira Cisse, Shiro Kihagi and Anita Welch-Smith. 

The professional design team includes Scenic Designer David M. Barber, Costume Designer Niiamar Felder, Lighting Designer Zack Gage, Sound Designer Tyler Sautner, Music Composer Carter “Roc” Mangan Jr., Props Master Mary Gragen and Scenic Artist Camyron Chauffe. Karishma Bhagani will serve as the Dialect Coach and Brooke M. Haney is the Intimacy Coordinator. Dale Smallwood is the Production Stage Manager. 

Mala Aria runs July 16-August 2 in the Bauer Boucher Theatre Center on the Kean University main campus in Union, N.J. The performance schedule is Thursday, July 16 at 7:30pm, Thursdays, July 23 and 30 at 1:00pm, Fridays at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 3:00pm & 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. 

Tickets for the Opening Night of Mala Aria are $60. Tickets for all other performances are $42 standard, $32 for senior citizens and Kean alumni and staff, $27 for patrons with disabilities and $18 for students, inclusive of any fees. Significant discounts for groups of ten or more apply. To purchase tickets, call the box office at 908-737-7469 or visit premierestagesatkean.com. Bauer Boucher Theatre Center is located in Vaughn Eames Hall (1000 Morris Avenue) in Union, New Jersey.

Premiere Stages offers affordable prices, air-conditioned facilities and free parking close to the theatre. A series of free interactive lobby talks and post-show discussions are scheduled in conjunction with select performances. All Premiere Stages facilities are fully accessible spaces, and companion seating is available for patrons with disabilities. Premiere Stages also provides free or discounted tickets to patrons with disabilities. Assistive listening devices and large print programs are available at all times; publications in alternate formats are available with advance notice. Sign-interpreted and audio described performances are available by request, at least three weeks in advance. Please call 908-737-4077 or email [email protected] to request these services. For more information, please visit Premiere Stages online at premierestagesatkean.com.     

Premiere Stages is made possible in part through funding from W. John Bauer and Nancy Boucher, The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, The Shubert Foundation, Masterwork Music and Art Foundation, The 1772 Foundation, Carole Shaffer-Koros and Robert Koros, The Northfield Bank Foundation, Blue Foundry Charitable Foundation, Union County Savings Bank Charitable Foundation, The Hyde and Watson Foundation, The Union Foundation, E.J. Grassmann Trust, The New Jersey Theatre Alliance, The Union County HEART Grant and through the generous support of individual patrons and local organizations. Discover Jersey Arts is our marketing partner. Visit JerseyArts.com for more information about other arts programming happening around the Garden State.

Premiere Stages is committed to producing topical plays and interactive programs that reflect people of all ethnic and racial backgrounds, national origins, nationalities, ancestry, religious groups, gender expression or identities, sexual orientation, political beliefs, ages, abilities and disabilities.

Created in 2004, Premiere Stages is the professional Equity theatre in residence at Kean University. Through its unique partnership with Kean, Premiere’s play development programs, educational initiatives, and professional development opportunities actively embrace the university's academic curriculum while expanding the scope, accessibility, and prestige of the professional programming on campus.

Kean University, New Jersey’s urban research university, is a national institution of higher education recognized for its diversity, innovation and the social mobility of its graduates. Designated an R2 research university by the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, Kean ranks among the top eight percent of U.S. universities for research and doctorate production. Founded in 1855 as a teachers college, Kean has evolved into a thriving research university that supports students as they persist to graduation, give back to their communities and launch successful careers. Kean’s six colleges offer more than 50 undergraduate programs, seven doctoral degree programs and more than 70 options leading to master’s degrees, professional diplomas or certifications, across a full range of academic subjects. With campuses in Union, Toms River and Manahawkin, New Jersey, and Wenzhou, China, as well as Kean Online, the University provides students of all backgrounds an affordable and accessible world-class education.