乔斯林Bioh富有深刻的崇敬等名称Genevieve Nnaji and Joselyn Dumas, some of the biggest stars of Nigerian cinema. Now, in “Nollywood Dreams,” the Ghanaian American playwright hopes that Bay Area audiences are ready to expand their view on African narratives through her convivial play about movie stardom.

“That’s an important goal for me because I really am trying to diversify and break open people’s singular narrative of Africa and African stories,” Bioh told the Chronicle by phone from her home in New York. “We learn about these people who inhabit the continent, and it allows us to have a more humanizing perspective on them.”

Bioh’s comedic romp, directed by Margo Hall and opening Wednesday, Oct. 4, at San Francisco Playhouse, is set in early 1990s Nigeria, the second most film-producing country in the world behind India’s Bollywood. Ayamma Okafor (Angel Adedokun), along with her sister Dede (Brittany Nicole Sims), toils within her parents’ travel agency in Lagos. An open audition for a major Nigerian director is announced, and Ayamma’s dreams of celluloid stardom feel closer than ever.

Bioh — who was last in the Bay Area in 2022 writing the book for the Kenya-set musical “Goddess,” which made its world premiere at Berkeley Repertory Theatre — recalled that when she began writing her comedy 10 years ago, the Nigerian film industry widely known as Nollywood was so unknown to her fellow theater makers, many thought she simply misspelled Hollywood in her title.

But there was nothing unintentional for Bioh, whose visits to Ghana as a child meant a nonstop loop of Nollywood films on her grandmother’s television. The films Bioh witnessed in her youth were from a fledgling genre loaded with curious artists learning how to make cost-effective films on the spot at a dizzying pace. Scripts were often improvised; lighting and filming techniques lacked refinement. Yet despite those low budgets, Nigerian audiences appreciated the storylines, which often examined sociopolitical and cultural events.

大厅, one of the Bay Area’s most prolific stage and screen actors, was one of those new to Nollywood. In preparing to direct the play, Hall said, she looked into Bioh’s experiences growing up with Nollywood films. She also took special note of Bioh’s challenge of getting the play produced. While Bioh began writing it in 2013, it took eight years before “Nollywood Dreams” got its first off-Broadway debut. The idea that a play set in Nigeria was a comedy that didn’t talk about governmental issues was too far-fetched for some, Bioh said, which slowed the play’s progress toward its world premiere.

大厅was moved by the difficulties Bioh faced in showcasing the joy of African people outside of the war-stricken lens.

“That is America’s picture of Nigeria, but the beauty of this play is that it gets to enjoy the humanness, expressing the idea that people aren’t always under distress,” Hall said.

The Nigerian film industry has grown exponentially in storytelling, craft and technique since the dawn of the genre in the 1990s, with the films today readily available throughout the world. With wider access to authentic Nigerian stories, Bioh believes the play’s relevance is stronger now than when she first started writing the story.

“People didn’t realize there was this whole thriving film industry in Nigeria and West Africa under this name, and things have changed massively,” said Bioh, whose newest play, “Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,” is now on Broadway. “Nowadays, you can just literally type in Nollywood in a Netflix search and hundreds of movies will come up.”

For Hall, having the opportunity to steward a rich, African story such as Bioh’s is a privilege.

“Nigerians have so much pride in their country and pride in being African,” Hall said. “Allowing that to show within these authentic characters, you get a sense they love this world where they are.”

David John Chávez is a freelance writer.