Character Breakdown: The Cast of SCHOOL GIRLS; OR THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY Unpacks Their Roles

Performances begin later this week at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre for the Broadway premiere of School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play written by Tony Award nominee Jocelyn Bioh, and directed by two-time Tony Award nominee Whitney White. The production will begin previews on Tuesday, September 8 and open Monday, September 28. What’s it all about?

Becoming Miss Ghana 1986 would mean fame, fortune, and prosperity. At least, that’s what Paulina—the queen bee of Aburi Girls Boarding School—believes. When the pageant recruiter comes to school, Paulina and her crew pull out all the stops. But to their surprise, a new transfer student from America kicks the competition into a higher, far more personal gear.

Patina Miller will return to Broadway as Eloise Amponsah. “She is a firecracker,” she explaiend. “She comes in, she is former Miss Ghana, 1966.  She’s coming back so many years later. She had now has a role and she is now as a recruiter, and so she has made it her mission to find the next Miss Ghana. If she finds the next Miss Ghana, that means that she could maybe own it. And so she’s on her power woman right now. You know, it’s like she’s done the beauty queen thing. Now she wants to run it. Now she knows what she has to find. You know, she’s on this quest to find the next girl because it’s going to open up the world for not just Ghana, but for herself in this power role.”