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Blood Be Sweet
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RADICAL ACCESS & THEATRE INFO
Our theatre uses reserved seating and accessibility accommodations include wheelchair-accessible seating, wide seats, assistive listening devices and large print programs. Learn more about accessing our buildings and contact us with questions at LetsChat@nytw.org.
Theatre isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity—a vital part of our culture that should be available to all. So, we’re doing our part to remove obstacles that keep people from coming through our doors. At the end of the day, we want to make one thing clear: YOU BELONG HERE!
PRAISE FROM THE TEAM
From JAMILA PONTON BRAGG:
“I’m thrilled to support this brilliant new playwright with her unforgettable play centering multiple generations of women that feels both timely and timeless.”
From CYNTHIA ERIVO:
“I’ve been a fan of Abigail C. Onwunali for some time now as an actress, she possesses a gravitas that is afforded to very few people and when I was gifted the chance to read her latest work, I was blown away. Her voice is equal parts lyrical and muscular. Her storytelling honors Wole Soyinka’s legacy while embracing the 21st century. And she breathes life into the complexity, strength, and true vulnerability of us Nigerian women in ways I have rarely seen on any stage.”
From LENA WAITHE:
“Blood Be Sweet is a play that explores the complicated relationships between mothers and daughters. It also forces us to grapple with our own demons and our own fears before they take over our lives. Abigail was in the very first season of the Hillman Grad mentorship lab and I’ve been following her journey ever since. What a joy it is to come on board her play. This feels like a full circle moment.”
From NYTW Artistic Director PATRICIA McGREGOR:
“NYTW has a long tradition of producing the Off-Broadway debuts of essential generative artists. Abigail Onwunali joins that notable cohort with a modern take on epic Nigerian lore. Her voice bursts off the page with a vivid assuredness. Blood Be Sweet has a hunger in its belly. I can’t wait for audiences to experience the riveting and intimate tale helmed by the great Awoye Timpo.”
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Playwright
Abigail C. Onwunali is a Nigerian American playwright, actor, and poet. She is a 2025–2026 NYTW 2050 Artistic Fellow, La MaMa Playwriting Fellow, Page 73 Writer, New Harmony Project Fellow, and recipient of the Irons in the Fire Residency. A member of EST’s Obie-winning Youngblood collective, Abigail is a Princess Grace Award winner and Red Bull Theater Short New Play Festival winner. As an actor, she recently appeared as Martha Pentecost in Joe Turner’s Come and Gone on Broadway and is a two-time Elliot Norton Award winner for her performance in The Grove at The Huntington. Rooted in her Nigerian heritage, her work centers Black women, ritual, and ancestral memory through bold theatrical storytelling.
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Director
Awoye Timpo’s recent credits include Windfall by Tarell Alvin McCraney (Steppenwolf); The Swamp Dwellers by Wole Soyinka (Theatre for a New Audience); The Wash by Kelundra Smith (New Federal Theater); Leroy & Lucy by Ngozi Anyanwu (Steppenwolf); Syncing Ink by NSangou Njikam (Apollo Theater); Elyria by Deepa Purohit (Atlantic Theater); and Wedding Band by Alice Childress (Theatre for a New Audience). Other projects include concert performances for independent artists and the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, Ndebele Funeral (59E59, Edinburgh, South African tour), “Black Picture Show” (Artists Space/Metrograph), and Bluebird Memories (Audible). Awoye is a Creative Arts Consultant for the African American Policy Forum and a founding member of Classix, a collective created to explode the classical canon through an exploration of dramatic works by Black writers and Black performance history (theclassix.org).
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Bios are provided by each artist. Where opinions are expressed, they represent individual views. We ask everyone attending an event to read and embrace the NYTW Core Values. If you’d like to tell us about your experience at NYTW, email us at LetsChat@nytw.org.
