Broadway's School Girls Run Ends This Week After Nearly a Decade

The Broadway run of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play is concluding this week, marking the end of a performance cycle that began nearly ten years after its Off-Broadway debut. The play, written by Tony Award-nominated playwright Jocelyn Bioh, centers on a high-stakes beauty pageant competition at a boarding school in Ghana in 1986.

The story follows Paulina, the school's queen bee, and her group of friends. Their dynamic shifts when a new student named Ericka arrives from Ohio. Ericka challenges Paulina's behavior and exposes tensions regarding skin tone and beauty standards. These conflicts come to a head during a performance of Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All, where Ericka's lighter skin sparks a dispute between the headmistress and a pageant recruiter.

Bioh stated that she did not consciously model the play after the 2004 film Mean Girls, despite the similar title and themes of teenage social dynamics. She explained that the subtitle came later, after she and actress friend Danai Gurira described the characters as feral teenage girls. Bioh noted that this archetype feels universally recognizable to audiences.

The production features an all-Black female cast, including Denée Benton as Paulina, Lucia Aremu as Ama, and Jasmine Amy Rogers as Ericka. Bioh emphasized that the diversity in appearance among the cast members is intentional. She said that audiences see facets of themselves in the characters, which she considers the heart of the play.

Colorism is a central theme of the script. Bioh, a dark-skinned woman, wrote the play to address her own long journey to accept her beauty. She hopes the work can shorten that journey for young girls who feel similar pressures. Although the setting is Ghana, Bioh said the play has resonated with people from various backgrounds, suggesting that beauty standards are a global issue.

The playwright noted that the show has reached a wide audience, including Jenna Fischer, an actress who messaged Bioh days after seeing the play to say she was still thinking about its message. Bioh expressed surprise and appreciation that someone with little personal experience with colorism found the story impactful.

The play is currently available for viewing through livestream broadcasts on The League of Live Stream Theater website. General admission tickets are sold for a fee, while high school students can watch for free. The broadcasts coincide with the final weeks of the theatrical run.

Bioh said she wants audiences to leave the theater with a sense of empathy for both the young girls and the adult women in the story. She asked viewers to shift their ideas about beauty, even if only slightly. The final performances will air this week, concluding the show's time on Broadway.