SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY Opens This Month at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park

The Off-Broadway coming-of-age story SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY sold out its run in New York. Now, Cincinnati audiences can enjoy a new production that takes them into the endlessly entertaining world of teenage girlhood when it plays in the Marx Theatre this spring. Presented by Moe & Jack Rouse and Randolph Wadsworth, the show begins April 30 and runs through May 22. Opening night is May 5.

The New York Times called the play "a gleeful African makeover of an American genre," while The Hollywood Reporter called it "ferociously entertaining."

SCHOOL GIRLS combines coming-of-age drama with sharp comedy for an entertaining, teenage morality tale with a nod to Tina Fey's comedy Mean Girls. At the same time, its reflections on such themes as colorism, hair, body image and socioeconomics open the door to a relevant discussion of Black culture.

Paulina, the reigning Queen Bee of Ghana's most exclusive boarding school, finds her carefully controlled world thrown into chaos when new girl Ericka arrives from America and captures the envy of their peers. What's more, Paulina finds her quest to become Miss Ghana 1986 threatened when Ericka captures the attention of a pageant recruiter.

SCHOOL GIRLS is written by Jocelyn Bioh, an award-winning Ghanaian American writer and performer. Her plays, including SCHOOL GIRLS, have been produced extensively in New York and around the country. She has been a staff writer for the Netflix series Russian Doll and Spike Lee's She's Gotta Have It. Bioh has also been tapped to write a musical adaptation of the Caribbean fairy tale Once on This Island for Disney+.

"In the case of School Girls, as a dark-skinned woman, I know in a very personal and visceral way what it's like to feel inferior to people who are lighter-skinned than me," Bioh says in an interview with Women and Hollywood. "The journey to owning and accepting beauty was a really long one, and I always knew I would address that in a play, but I wasn't sure how. It didn't feel like an after-school special because that's also not my thing. Colorism is played out in my play, although it's not mentioned. That's why I think the story really lives."

The Playhouse's $10 Tuesday program returns during SCHOOL GIRLS on the Tuesday, May 3 performance. A minimum of 100 tickets will be available. CAST

Patrice Bell (Eloise Amponsah), Kaitlyn Boyer (Ericka Boafo), Burgess Byrd (Headmistress Francis), Kayla Forde (Mercy), Jasmine Cheri Rush (Gifty), Matenin Sangare (Ama), Markia Nicole Smith (Paulina Sarpong), Starnubia (Nana)

PRODUCTION: Jocelyn Bioh (Playwright), Candis C. Jones (Director), Milagros Ponce de León (Set Designer), Kristie Chiyere Osi (Costume Designer), Daisy Long (Lighting Designer) Rucyl Frison, (Sound Designer/Composer), Stephanie Klapper, CSA (Casting Director), Andrea L. Shell (Stage Manager), Brook Redler (Second Stage Manager), Brandon T. Holmes (Assistant Stage Manager)

To purchase tickets or for more information, call the Playhouse Box Office at 513-421-3888 (toll-free in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana at 800-582-3208) or visit www.cincyplay.com. For patrons who are deaf, hard-of-hearing, deaf-blind or speech-disabled, dial 711 to connect to the Box Office via Ohio Relay Services.

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