The Ufot Family Cycle, a series of nine plays written by acclaimed local playwright Mfoniso Udofia which track the stories of a Nigerian-American family over generations and genres, will take stages across Boston starting in 2024, Udofia and The Huntington Theatre announced this week.

“It’s been a dream of mine since I started writing in 2009-ish,” Udofia told GBH’s Morning Edition co-host Paris Alston. “I first started writing, I was hoping that one day we would get to see it all drawn out and everybody could experience all nine plays at one time. And now it’s happening in my home state in Massachusetts.”

Udofia, who grew up in a Nigerian family in Southbridge and went to Wellesley College, said staging these plays in Massachusetts feels important to her.

“I’m asking all of our audiences to lovingly take that in, and to know that, that the American Dream usually lives alongside another dream that an immigrant might have as well,” she said.

The Huntington Theatre series begins with “Sojourners,” the story of the character Abasiama Ekpeyoung, a young woman who immigrates from Nigeria to Worcester in the 1970s with hopes of escaping war and one day being able to return home.

It then follows the stories of her and the rest of her family as they make their lives in America, exploring what it means to hold onto the Nigerian dream in the U.S.

“Each play is meant to be seen alone,” Udofia said. “But then when you see them all together — which is my greatest hope, and the thing that is now happening — when you can see them all together, you actually will get over the span of 100 years what it was and what it takes to create a legacy, a Nigerian American legacy in this country, specifically landing in Worcester, Massachusetts.”

The plays also have different genres, she said, from episodic styles to nods to Greek theater and folk opera. Each play tackles its own question, she said.

“The origin story will ask itself: Can the Nigerian dream operate, function and manifest in America?” Udofia said. “What happens when dream starts shifting underneath your feet? And can a Nigerian dream like that work when all of a sudden you’re in a new land, when you’re in America?”

There will be performances at The Huntington Theatre, but also across the city — from theater spaces to places where people who don’t usually feel welcome at the theater find more accessible, she said.

“That’s really important because I’m writing about Nigerian Americans in this country. I’m writing immigrant stories. And there’s a way in which the theater can feel like this thing over there that other people go to, and it doesn’t always feel relevant,” she said. “I know that in some of my own family members’ lives, it’s like, what is theater? And so we’re going to the community to show that this is for you, of you, made by someone who is you, and not making the demand that you go to the theater. You don’t have to go to the Huntington. We’ll bring the shows to you.”

Corrected: June 28, 2024
This story was updated to correct the timing of the performances, which will begin in 2024.