Theater News

School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play Completes Cast for Encore Run

The MCC production of Jocelyn Bioh’s award-winning play will run in Los Angeles before returning to New York.

Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Mirirai Sithole, and Paige Gilbert will all return for the encore production of School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play.
Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Mirirai Sithole, and Paige Gilbert will all return for MCC's encore production of School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play.
(© Joan Marcus)

MCC Theater has announced complete casting for its encore production of Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play, returning to the Lucille Lortel Theatre October 16-November 25. Before the return, Center Theatre Group will present the production (with the same cast) at the CTG Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City September 2-30. Tony winner Rebecca Taichman once again directs.

The ensemble will feature original cast members MaameYaa Boafo (Untamed), Paige Gilbert (Street Children), Zainab Jah (Eclipsed), Abena Mensah-Bonsu (Ragtime on Ellis Island), Mirirai Sithole (The Death of the Last Black Man…), and Myra Lucretia Taylor (Familiar) along with two new cast members, Latoya Edwards (Miss You Like Hell) and Joanna A. Jones (Hamilton).

School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play had its world premiere at MCC on November 2, 2017, earning four Lucille Lortel Award nominations, a 2018 Drama Desk Special Award for Ensemble, the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award for Playwrighting, the Dramatists Guild Hull-Warriner Award, and nominations for Best Play by the Drama League and from the Off Broadway Alliance.

In School Girls, Paulina, the reigning Queen Bee at Ghana's most exclusive boarding school, has her sights set on the Miss Universe pageant. But the arrival of Ericka, a new student with undeniable talent and beauty, captures the attention of the pageant recruiter — and Paulina's hive-minded friends. This buoyant and biting comedy explores the universal similarities (and glaring differences) facing teenage girls across the globe. How far would you go to be queen bee?