The all-Black female cast of “School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play” is shedding a blaring light on colorism in the Black community. Were given a group of African school girls in Ghana in 1986 at a boarding school. You know from the first moments of the play that the group of girls, consisting of Paulina, Ama, Nana, Gifty, and Mercy is controlled by Paulina.
She appears to be a cruel controller, who will not hesitate to insult the girls in the group, so much so that they fear being on her radar for criticism. If she verbally attacks one of the girls, the others seem to agree with her. But the truth is, they are trying to avoid her critical gaze and verbal assault. Paulina looks for loyalty and submissive reactions.
Paulina wants to be the “it” girl among her friends and always wants to brag about the clothing she gets from the U.S. Her existence is based on exaggerating what her family has, her love life, and her own confidence about her physical beauty. While she comes across as a mean, controlling young woman, there is much more to her story than one first sees.
All the girls are excited that a recruiter is coming to their school from the Ms. Ghana pageant, and Paulina feels that she is the only possible candidate who could win this beauty contest. When a new girl named Ericka starts two weeks into the school year, she changes the entire dynamic at the school. Suddenly, Paulina’s crowd is drawn to Ericka and she is kind and generous towards the girls. She is the daughter of a rich businessman; she is very intelligent and beautiful.
All the girls in the school have skin of a darker hue, and there is talk of people being so self-conscious of their complexion that some have used bleaching cream. Ericka is a naturally lighter-skinned young woman. While her new friends — Ama, Nana, Gifty and Mercy — believe she is blessed because of her natural skin color and hair texture, the audience finds out about the skeletons in her closet.
This poignant, timely play by Jocelyn Bioh uses comedy and shockingly cruel statements to reveal a sad issue in the Black community. Bioh boldly takes on an issue that has plagued the Black community for centuries: having lower self-esteem because of one’s darker complexion. The generational issue of one’s parents raising a dark-skinned young woman to believe that if she wants to be somebody, she has to be lighter in complexion. The idea that lighter is better comes from slavery times and sadly still exists in the Black community today.
But what this play truly brings home is that the lighter person might be considered more fortunate in certain areas in Black society, but when you compete outside of your race, you cannot measure up to what society considers to be beautiful. Connecting the generations, you also see the headmistress Francis, who embraces her beauty and culture and you see her peer, Eloise, the recruiter from the Ms. Ghana pageant who believes the opposite, that light is right.
This play makes a person realize you have to love yourself and we as Black people need to instill in our children a love of themselves and an appreciation of their physical attributes. We as Black people have to stop separating through colorism and come together to support each other. The world is already stacking the deck against us, we cannot abandon our culture and beauty. Instead, we need to embrace them.
The cast is absolutely stunning as they portray these layered characters. Each girl is much more than she appears to be. Denée Benton is phenomenal as the sharp-tongued Paulina. Though we see that her tongue is really her defense mechanism. Erin Morton is mesmerizing as Nana. Morton plays the characters with humor, vulnerability and great heart. Lucia Aremu is feisty and memorable as Ama. Jordan Rice is delightful as Mercy. Nia Otchere-Sarfo is engaging as Gifty. Jasmine Amy Rogers is quite touching and gripping as Ericka. The singing scene will knock your socks off. Heather Alicia Simms is powerful and captivating as headmistress Francis.
Her character represents the healthy, positive way to view ourselves as Black women, carrying oneself with high esteem, a principle of hard work, honesty and conviction. Patina Miller is stunning as Eloise, the recruiter, who is proof that winning Ms. Ghana is not the grand experience you would hope it would be.
The incredible energy of this cast will have you feeling a great deal of emotions. This production proclaims the plight of the Black woman in a way that touches your heart. It is incredible to watch an all-Black cast of women and also know that this production is 100% Black women fueled, with the stunning work of its playwright Bioh and the superb, jelling infusion of storytelling brilliance by Whitney White, the director.
The production is playing on W 47th Street at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club. You need to go to Broadway and support this production. For tickets visit www.manhattantheatreclub.com.
