School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play NYC Reviews and Tickets
Show-Score Member Reviews (255)
See it if You want to experience an intelligent play that deals with global adolescent issues and how to best resolve them. Reminiscent of Lord of
Don't see it if You expect a children’s play or musical comedy. You are offended by occasional profanity and confrontation. Read more
See it if Brilliant fresh take on the mean girl genre played out in an African school that makes audience grapple with its cultural and racial biases
Don't see it if You don’t want to laugh or deal with issue of race, feminine beauty and cultural appropriation ; but this is so good and so well directed go
See it if You want to explore what goes on in teens girls heads and want a different vantage point than the typical white American high school scene.
Don't see it if Want a musical, or don't value seeing inside another culture. Read more
See it if Perfect show honestly, it’s short and sweet, these ladies are badass! don’t want to miss their story, theatre that changes the game
Don't see it if Not looking for something that can get dark, girls being mean to each other (like the title), SEE IT
See it if You want an utterly delightful, smart, funny, charming 75 minutes.
Don't see it if Can't think of a reason.
See it if you love funny, spunky and cool plays that don't present clear answers. Thoughtful, hip, young, feminist, diverse: a truly c21 play!
Don't see it if you're not interested in plays by and about women of color, about other cultures, or you're comfortable with stereotypical views of Africa.
See it if you enjoy diverse story telling, you love comedies, you enjoy discussions about colorism, you like more contemporary period pieces
Don't see it if you are uncomfortable with discussions of colorism, you don't like comedies
See it if You like stories about mean girls/teen frenemies told in a refreshing way. Charming, poignant, and funny but familiar & relatable.
Don't see it if You don't like stories of, by, or about girls and women. You don't like short shows.
Critic Reviews (29)
"Actress Jocelyn Bioh’s professional playwriting debut is a sharp, uproarious tale...Tony-winning director Rebecca Taichman keeps it all in check, never letting things get out of hand or become too clichéd...'School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play' is no mere African American version of 'Mean Girls'; instead, it is as smart and entertaining, as sweet and honest, its characters as obnoxious and horrible and lovable and vulnerable, as teen girls themselves."
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"Ms. Bioh has flawlessly captured the rhythms and speech patterns of anxiety-ridden teens, with their razor-sharp lines of social demarcation and their endless reserve of passive aggression. But this is also a play whose characters do not fit the cardboard-cutout roles of traditional teen comedies."
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"It starts out sitcom funny, with six young women chattering...mostly about who will be chosen to compete in the coming Miss Ghana pageant...A young woman just returned from America whose lighter skin makes her in the eyes of some more likely to win...Watching these young women deal with the harsh realities thrown at them, whether with stone-faced silence or gut-wrenching primal screams, gives significant depth to plays that might otherwise seem superficial."
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“The play really is, as the title suggests, simply – and I think audaciously – the film ‘Mean Girls’ set in west Africa. Ms. Bioh’s writing is joyous and alive, and often very funny. Her treatment of issues such as self image and notions of beauty is never forced and always compassionate. Taichman directs with brio and warmth. The production is a breath of fresh air that doesn’t shy away from unabashedly entertaining. Which brings us to the cast, which is a knockout.”
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“Imagine the cult-classic millennial satire ‘Mean Girls’ transposed to ’80s Africa and starring six high-school seniors at the Aburi Girls Boarding School competing for the crown of Miss Ghana 1986...As sprightly and funny as the play is — there’s still a heaviness to it. Seldom is this side of Africa seen: everyday teenage life, beauty, community, vulnerability, humor — humanity...Africa just can’t seem to win.”
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