If we’re lucky enough to grow old, we might learn to trust the lessons life has taught us: the ignored hunches, unfulfilled longing, or warning signs we overlooked. For Abasiama Ufot — now Bassey — the matriarch in playwright Mfoniso Udofia’s Ufot Family Cycle, the time has come for her to listen to herself and trust her instincts in “In Old Age.” The eighth play in the nine-play cycle presented by ArtsEmerson and the Front Porch Arts Collective will be at ArtsEmerson’s Paramount Center through June 28.

In this two-person play directed by Dawn M. Simmons, Ebony Marshall-Oliver stars as Abasiama and Marvin Bell plays Azell Abernathy, a church-going carpenter. He’s been  sent by Abasiama’s daughter Toyoima to renovate her deteriorating home in Worcester, Massachusetts. (Toyoima is heard but not seen onstage. ) Abasiama’s husband, Disciple, has passed away, but Abasiama is still living alone in the worn-down house. She’s been patching things up here and there, but the house — a large wooden frame with a cozy living room and what looks like a wood-burning stove by scenic designer Jeffrey Peterson — is creaking, moaning, and pieces are falling (the sounds of which are courtesy of sound designer Arshaun Gailus). It’s a metaphor, it seems, for her own life. But when Azell shows up to help make changes to the house, Abasiama resists. She’s spent so much of her life following her husband’s lead that she doesn’t know what she wants for herself.

Azell Abernathy (Marvin Bell) calls someone from his past as Abasiama (Ebony Marshall-Oliver) listens. (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)

When audiences meet Abasiama for the first time in the excellent “Sojourners,”(also directed by Simmons), she’s newly arrived in the U.S. with her first husband Ukpong. He’s charming, handsome (she calls him her “fine, fine,”) and ready to experience life. Set in the 1970s, she’s working hard and studying biology so they can get an education and return home to Nigeria. But Ukpong, excited by the newfound freedom America offers, wants to stay. They have a daughter together, Iniabasi, but Abasiama finds herself alone much of the time, while Ukpong searches for something unnamed outside of their home.

Later, she meets Disciple, who becomes her second husband. He is powerful, spiritual, determined and swallows her up in an entirely different way. She focuses on being a wife and mother to her three children with Disciple: Adiaha, Toyoima and Ekong. And while her life seems full of love and vibrant, not much time is devoted to her achievements.

Ebony Marshall-Oliver and Marvin Bell. (Courtesy Nile Scott Studios)

Decades later, during “In Old Age” Azell asks Abasiama what kind of wood she wants for her floors and what colors she wants to be surrounded by. His questions frighten and surprise her. She’s not given much thought to what she wants. Without the influence of her children or a partner, there’s no one to lean on but herself. This exercise of considering and deciding also pushes Abasiama to ponder whether she wants another male presence in her life. And if so, what are expectations?  She puts that thinking to the test after Azell missteps and treats her unkindly. In response, Abasiama exercises her agency by outlining some rules and noting his treatment of her “before damage became permanent.” It’s a new feeling for her, and something she feels good about.

Azell has his own litany of regrets but isn’t keen to share at first. Over time, as Abasiama steps into her own strength, the two find ways to open up. They play a game of show-and-tell, where they learn more about each other. It’s in this moment, when asked what she’s proud of, that Abasiama reveals her own scientific discovery.

“Arf-GAP proteins and how they work in relation to HIV. I am part of the reason medicine for that blood sickness improved,” she explained.  In the same breath, she counts “being shift manager at Lowe’s, then at Sears after I lost my science job,” as important achievements. Before sharing those details, she tells Azell about her kids, shows him their photos, and says she picked the house and paid for it almost 40 years ago.

In those forty years, a lot has happened. Love, memories of the Biafran War that haunted Abasiama and her husband (detailed in “runboyrun”) and raising  her children. But by the show’s end,  as she gets used to making her own way, a reclamation occurs.

Finally, Abasiama will get to be her full self.

ArtsEmerson presents The Front Porch Arts Collective’s production of “In Old Age” shows through June 26 at the Paramount Center.