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Ya Ya DaCosta "The First Breeze of Summer"

It’s been four years since Yaya Dacosta gained a reputation as being a high-maintenance and overly confident aspiring model on the third cycle of the hit reality show ‘America’s Top Model.’ And although she made it all the way to the finals — losing the coveted title to Eva Pigford, the Harlem-bred beauty still has good reason to hold her head up high and smile.

‘The ‘New York Times’ — considered the authority on professional theater — has praised DaCosta’s theatrical debut opposite the legendary tour-de-force, Leslie Uggams, with flattering remarks like “sharp” and in “exquisite form” in the Signature Theatre Company’s revival of Leslie Lee‘s beloved Negro Ensemble Company work.

The Ruben Santiago-Hudson directed play takes place over the course of one sweltering weekend in June and follows the struggles of three generations of a black family as the matriarch looks back on her past and considers the future.
The poignant role came on the heels of DaCosta stepping away from her character Cassandra Foster in the hit soap opera, ‘All My Children.’ “I put my all into everything I do at the moment and [the character n the play was] a very heavy role,” she said. “I was doing both at the beginning and I realized I needed to focus on one thing and I’m really glad I did that.”

Excerpted from Black Voices.  Read the whole article here.