A Scranton Fringe premiere, this intimate and transformative solo performance examines gender, sexual, and racial identities through Cheng’s evolving relationship with her hair—and the stylists who helped shape it. With humor, vulnerability, and sharp cultural insight, Cheng reveals how something as seemingly simple as hair can carry the weight of family expectations, beauty standards, queerness, and personal agency. Blending theatrical storytelling with narrative art, The Trouble with My Hair explores the tension between social expectations and autonomy and invites audiences into a deeply personal yet universally resonant journey of self-discovery and self-love. From early memories of negotiating belonging to courageous acts of boundary-setting in adulthood, Cheng uses her changing hairstyles and colors as milestones marking her path toward self-definition. Each cut, each color, and each conversation become a metaphor for reclaiming voice and visibility in a world eager to define her first.

The production is developed with and directed by Jessica Lynn Johnson, an award-winning director and founder of Soaring Solo Studios, known for cultivating powerful, authentic solo performances. Johnson’s direction brings clarity, structure, and theatrical dynamism to Cheng’s storytelling, creating an experience that is both emotionally intimate and theatrically engaging. A celebration of authenticity and courage, The Trouble with My Hair reminds audiences that the journey toward becoming oneself is layered, textured, and always worth claiming.