School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play

Christmas weekend saw me in Greenwich Village for “School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play”, an off-Broadway show. It was well worth the bus trip from Washington D.C.

We are transported to 1986 to Aburi Girls Boarding School in Ghana where we meet six senior class-girls competing for the crown of Miss Ghana 1986. Each is very different from the other. One is sweet and obese, another is smart and not really interested, yet another is just a plain-Jane, and then the “popular girl” Paulina Sarpong who just knows she is the best. In her words “Headmistress likes to make everyone feel like they have a fair chance but we all know I’m the best”.

Cue in the arrival of a new student, Ericka Boafo, an American with a Ghanaian father, who is favoured by the pageant official, Eloise Amponsah, Miss Ghana 1966 as she reminds us often, because “girls who have a more universal and commercial look” are what the judges want to see. Miss Ghana 1966 is intent on delivering a candidate who has the chance of becoming Miss Universe as that will be a way to advance her own career.

There is nothing subtle about the colourism on display. Girls that “fall on the other end of the African skin spectrum” are by default most beautiful. The use of bleaching creams is thus central to the play and when the other girls find out that light-skinned Ericka doesn’t use any they say she is “really blessed“. Paulina on the other hand is envious and her deep-seated self-loathing quickly becomes clear.

I will admit that the focus of competing for Miss Ghana was a strange one for me. It didn’t seem to me that that is what secondary school girls concentrate on. Also, there was far too many American vulgarities to seem authentic to me … especially in 1986 Ghana. But, I suppose that was to make the play relatable to an American audience. That said, I appreciate that a play by an African woman featuring African women has received so many raves while not type-casting Africa with the usual war, famine, and poverty story-line. Bravo!

Haughty Paulina is down-right cruel to her class-mates like any other Queen Bee teenage girl. I had a grin on my face the entire 75 minute run. It was unexpectedly funny, very poignant, and thus thoroughly enjoyable. The play runs for just one more week, having been extended twice already. So hurry, go watch … if it’s not already sold out that is.