Hard Lessons Are Learned in Bioh's 'School Girls'

(l-r) Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Latoya Edwards, Paige Gilbert,
Joanna A. Jones, Maameyaa Boafo and Mirirai Sithole

By Darlene Donloe

Mean girls – every school has one, two or even a pack of them. You know them. They are the ones who try to rule the school through intimidation and harassment while believing themselves to be the sun, the moon, and the stars. They build themselves up by tearing down other girls who dare to breathe the same air or come anywhere near their orbit.

Jocelyn Bioh’s comedy/drama, School Girls, Or, the African Mean Girls Play, is about a particular mean girl named Paulina (Maameyaa Boafo) at a Ghanaian boarding school for girls, who has her eyes set on representing Ghana in the Miss Universe pageant.  She believes she’s pretty, healthier, smarter, capable, and of course the obvious choice.  She brags about a boyfriend no one has ever seen. She boasts about getting her clothes from a family member in the states who gets them at Walmart. She talks about a dress she plans to wear that comes from Calvin Klean. And is excited to talk about White Castle being ‘a castle with food.’  When she talks, the other girls listen – and are even envious.  To them, the West is the place to be – mostly because it’s where Bobby Brown lives. They are all Brown’s biggest fans.

Joanna A. Jones (Ericka) and Maameyaa Boafo (Paulina)

Things are actually going Paulina’s way until a new girl named Ericka (Joanna A. Jones) who is light-skinned, has “good hair,” is popular and is incredibly talented – comes to the school.  Ericka, who hails from Ohio, is there to finish her last year in high school.

Paulina, who rules over the other girls she loosely calls her friends, is having none of it. She decides to get down and dirty in an attempt to eliminate Ericka from the competition. She blackmails Nana, an overweight student that Paulina torments about her weight.  She tells Nana (Abena Mensah-Bonsu) to steal Ericka’s files so that she can be privy to the 411.

Zenzi Williams (Eloise) and Myra Lucretia Taylor (Headmistress Francis)

Things get ugly when Eloise (Zenzi Williams), a recruiter from the Miss Ghana pageant, shows up at the school to check out the girls. Eloise, who is poised and well put together, is quick to let you know  she was Miss Ghana 1968. Eloise is determined to get a promotion and make a lot more money by selecting someone for the Miss Ghana pageant who could possibly win it all at the Miss Universe pageant. She thinks Ericka has the “more universal and commercial look,” which, she says, is what the judges are looking for.

Ericka is the daughter of a Ghanaian cocoa factory owner and a white mother. She’s easy going, quietly savvy and popular after she announces she has some western lotions, makeup and, the ultimate prize, a poster of Bobby Brown.

When Eloise shows up, Paulina decides to reveal some nasty business about Ericka - causing the girls at the school to turn against her.

Francis (Myra Lucretia Taylor), the headmistress of the school who went to school with Eloise, would actually like to see Paulina chosen to represent Ghana because she showcases the real beauty of the dark-skinned women in Ghana.

When the girls perform for the recruiter, most of them crucify the song, “The Greatest Love of All.”  The rendition is worth the price of admission. It’s actually hilarious and not in a good way.

Maameyaa Boafo (Paulina)

Bioh, a New York playwright and actor whose parents emigrated from Ghana in 1966, has written a rich story about something that is still very sensitive in the black community. There has always been a debate about the true measure of beauty.  It’s light skin vs. dark skin. For some, the lighter the skin, the more beautiful the person.  The darker the skin, the uglier someone is perceived to be. The myth is that someone with “good hair” is better than someone with naturally kinky hair. Wide noses and thick lips aren’t seen as a sign of beauty, while thin lips and noses win the day.

Of course, when you think of mean girls in schools, your mind immediately thinks of the Lindsay Lohan film called, what else, Mean Girls.  But this is a different take. While the storyline isn’t new, Bioh gives the story a different perspective that is thought-provoking.

Director Rebecca Taichman has assembled an impressive array of actors. There is no weak link. In fact, each thespian enhances the next. The show works because the camaraderie amongst the cast works.

A delightful night of theater, the show clocks in at 75 minutes.

School Girls, Or, the African Mean Girls Play, written by Jocelyn Bioh and directed by Rebecca Taichman, stars, in alphabetical order, MaameYaa Boafo, Latoya Edwards, Paige Gilbert, Joanna A. Jones, Abena Mensah-Bonsu, Mirirai Sithole, Myra Lucretia Taylor, and Zenzi Williams.

School Girls, Or, the African Mean Girls Play, Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City, CA 90232; Free three hour covered parking at City Hall, with validation (available in the Kirk Douglas Theatre lobby); Tues-Fri at 8 p.m.; Saturday at 2 and 8 p.m.; Sunday at 1 and 6:30 p.m., through September 30; No Monday performances; Exceptions: No public performances on Tuesday, September 18 and Thursday, September 20. No 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, September 22; Tickets: $25 – $72; CenterTheatreGroup.org, by calling Audience Services at (213) 628-2772.

Running time: 1 hour, 15 minutes.

On the DONLOE SCALE: D (don’t bother), O (oh, no), N (needs work), L (likeable), O (oh, yeah) and E (excellent), School Girls Or, the African Mean Girls Play gets an E (excellent).