School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play
by Jocelyn Bioh
directed by Whitney White
ON BROADWAY AT THE
SAMUEL J. FRIEDMAN THEATRE
Performances begin September 8, 2026
Single tickets will be available later this year. The only way to secure your seat today is to become an MTC Subscriber or Patron.
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. Arriving on Broadway for the first time nearly a decade after its Off-Broadway premiere, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play reunites the powerhouse team behind Jaja’s African Hair Braiding—Tony Award-nominated playwright Jocelyn Bioh and Tony Award-nominated director Whitney White—for this bright, biting comedy.
Produced in association with Chase This Productions and Susan Kelechi Watson.
Creative
Jocelyn Bioh
Playwright
Jocelyn Bioh (Playwright) is an award-winning, Tony Award-nominated Ghanaian-American writer/performer from New York City. Her most recent work for the theater, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC), premiered on Broadway in 2023 and earned five Tony nominations, including Best Play, along with nominations from the Drama Desk, Drama League, and Outer Critics Circle. The play launched a multi-city U.S. tour in 2024 and is making its UK debut this month at the Lyric Hammersmith Theater in London. Bioh’s other written pieces include Merry Wives (Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, PBS Great Performances); Nollywood Dreams (MCC Theater); and the multi-award-winning School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, originally produced at MCC Theater in 2017-18, which has gone on to have over 75 regional productions and premiered in the UK in 2023. Named one of Variety’s 2024 “Screenwriters to Watch,” TV credits include “Russian Doll,” Spike Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” (Netflix), “Tiny Beautiful Things” (Hulu), “The Acolyte” (Disney+), and she is writing the live-action film adaptation of the hit Broadway musical Once on This Island for Disney. Awards: Creative Capital Award Recipient (2026), Horton Foote Prize (2024), Dramatist Guild Hull-Warriner Prize (2024 and 2018), Steinberg Playwright Award (2020), Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Adaptation (2022), Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award (2018) Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play (2018), Tow Foundation Playwriting Fellow (2017).
Whitney White
Director
Whitney White (Director). Tony Award nominee, Obie Award and Lilly Award-winning director, writer and performer. Broadway: Liberation, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding,and The Last Five Years. Other: All Is But Fantasy (Royal Shakespeare Company),Walden (Second Stage), Jordans (The Public), Saturday Church (NYTW), The Secret Life of Bees (The Almeida, UK), The Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington (Steppenwolf), Soft (MCC), On Sugarland (New York Theatre Workshop, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk nominations, Outstanding Direction), Semblance (NYTW), The Amen Corner (Shakespeare Theatre Company), Our Dear Dead Drug Lord (WP Theater, Second Stage), What to Send Up When It Goes Down (The Movement Theatre Company, Woolly Mammoth, A.R.T., The Public Theater). Staff writer: “I’m a Virgo” (Amazon Studios). Writer/performer of Macbeth in Stride (A.R.T., Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Musical Performance by an Actress). Recipient of the Herb Alpert Award, Jerome Fellowship, Susan Stroman Directing Award. Part of the Rolex Protegé and Mentorship Arts Initiative. MFA Acting: Brown University/Trinity Rep, BA: Northwestern University.
Produced in association with
Chase This Productions
Chase This Productions was founded in 2024 by Jessica Chase, an independent producer and creative consultant working across theater, television, and film. Previous productions include the World Premiere of pre-existing condition by Marin Ireland, directed by Maria Dizzia and the US premiere of Strategic Love Play by Miriam Battye, directed by Katie Posner. Previously Jessica launched the commercial theater arm of MG Pics where she served on the Lead Producing Team of the Broadway production of Life of Pi, the co-producing teams of POTUS; Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive, and The Piano Lesson. She produced the UK debut of Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play with The Lyric Hammersmith, Francesca Moody Productions, and Idris Elba. Before that Jessica was the Artistic Producer of MCC Theater where she worked from 2011 until 2020, overseeing the development of new work, programming, and production. www.chasethisproductions.com.
Produced in association with
Susan Kelechi Watson
Susan Kelechi Watson is an actor, producer and writer best known for her role as ‘Beth Pearson’ on the NBC series “This is US”. She has received widespread critical acclaim, earning multiple Actor Awards, AFI Awards, and nominations from the NAACP, Critics Choice Association, HCA, and Astra. She is also the recipient of the MLK Game Changer Award and the Gracie Award. Recent stage credits include Blood Quilt (LCT), Good Bones (Public Theater), Eureka Day (The Old Vic) and Merry Wives (Shakespeare in the Park). Her most recent television credits include “The Residence” (Shondaland), “High Potential” (ABC/HULU) and “Will Trent” (ABC). In film, she has starred in A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, (Sony Pictures), Between the World and Me (HBO) and will be featured in the upcoming film Don’t Ever Wonder (Macro/Netflix). Susan is an executive producer on Between the World and Me (HBO) and Premature (Sundance/Hulu).
Jocelyn Bioh
Playwright
Whitney White
Director
Produced in association with
Chase This Productions
Produced in association with
Susan Kelechi Watson