'School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play' Makes Its Broadway Bow
Jocelyn Bioh's comedy 'School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play' has arrived on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club, directed by Whitney White, according to BroadwayWorld's opening coverage in early October. The company used the opening to reflect on the play's long journey from smaller stages to Broadway.
Set in 1986 at a girls' boarding school in Ghana, the play follows a campus power struggle around a beauty pageant — a story widely read as an African answer to the teen comedy 'Mean Girls,' a reference built into its subtitle. The production arrived with substantial word of mouth from its earlier Off-Broadway life and a young, enthusiastic audience.
It joins a notably varied fall Broadway season: Billy Crystal's solo show '860' at the Imperial Theatre, the all-star revival of 'Other Desert Cities' at the Hudson Theatre, and Bill Irwin's new adaptation of Molière's 'The Imaginary Invalid,' opening Oct. 22 at the Todd Haimes Theatre.
The play's Broadway journey also reflects a broader shift in American theatre programming: work centered on Black women's experiences, written and directed by women, is reaching mainstream commercial stages more often. Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New York's leading nonprofit theatres, regularly premieres talked-about new plays at its Broadway home, the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.
Photo: 百老汇剧院区夜景，CC BY-SA 2.0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA）
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 百老汇剧院区夜景，CC BY-SA 2.0（Wikimedia Commons，摄影：Ken Lund from Reno, Nevada, USA）
