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A new school year is about to begin on Broadway! Manhattan Theatre Club will kick off its season with Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play, directed by Whitney White, and BroadwayWorld recently stopped by rehearsals to catch up with the playwright, director, and cast.
For Bioh, the Broadway arrival is especially meaningful for a play that first premiered Off-Broadway nearly a decade ago.
“I was told pretty expressly, like, this play could never happen on Broadway 10 years ago. And it was just a different landscape, a different time,” she told BroadwayWorld’s Richard Ridge. “I think it also just shows what kind of stories are being told on Broadway now and how it’s evolving. And I’m grateful to be part of that.”
Since its 2017 premiere, School Girls has taken on a life of its own, with more than 80 productions around the world. White sees its continued success as part of something even bigger in Bioh’s body of work.
“Jocelyn is making stories for Black artists, for immigrant artists, for the African diaspora,” she explained. “I like to lovingly refer to her plays as the Bioh-verse—Jocelyn’s universe. Like August Wilson, she’s made this canon of work that we’re all gonna be living with for a very long time. So I’m just grateful to be a part of it.”
That excitement extends to a cast that includes both Broadway veterans and newcomers, with four company members making their Broadway debuts. The energy in the rehearsal room has already made an impression.
“It’s like the first day of school for real,” said Heather Alicia Simms, who plays Headmistress Francis. “You get there, there’s some nerves, and then you look around and you see people that you’re like, ‘Oh, she’s going to be my friend, and she’s going to be my friend.’ It’s such a wonderful, warm room.”
And if there was any question about what audiences can expect when the school bell finally rings on Broadway, Denée Benton, who plays Paulina, summed it up best: “I just think that we are about to eat them up. We’re going to eat them alive—no crumbs.”
Buy Tickets to School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play
