Artwork by Yadira Hernández
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.
