A play’s journey to Broadway is often long and winding, and that’s certainly true for Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play. The Africa-set comedy about a group of boarding schoolgirls competing to be Miss Ghana 1986 opened off-Broadway in 2017, and has been performed over 80 times by regional productions during the intervening decade. Tonight, the show finally begins its long-awaited Broadway run with an all-star cast that includes The Gilded Age's Denée Benton and Jasmine Amy Rogers, who will headline Lincoln Center's highly anticipated revival of The Sound of Music later this season.

"It’s the journey of an artist, of any writer," Bioh tells Gold Derby. "You never know where a play is going to take you. You just work on something, do the best you can, and hope you’ll get a production. I was lucky enough to have one nearly a decade ago, and I never imagined we would make the 40-block commute up to Broadway."

Bioh got the news of School Girls’ Broadway transfer while she was brushing her teeth, something she finds fitting. "I’m not a romantic writer," she says. "I don’t wake up, sit with the sun, drink ginger tea, and magically write a play. I’m living my life, and then you get a phone call, and things change."

School Girls is one of the first contenders in the 2026-27 Tony season, following the West End transfer of Paranormal Activity, which raised its curtain August. Despite its early placement in the season, the show comes with strong awards pedigree. Bioh earned her first Tony nomination in 2024 for writing Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, which scored five noms, including one for its director, Whitney White. White, who also earned a Tony nomination for directing last year’s Best Play winner Liberation, is happy to be re-teaming with the writer for what she calls the "Bioh-verse."

"If we’re going to be real about it, Jocelyn is one of our greatest, living American playwrights," White gushes at the beginning of the show’s press day in their rehearsal space on 43rd St. "And it is incredibly rare that a Black playwright gets one of their works revived in their lifetime."

Later, Bioh describes their pairing as "simpatico" and says this is only the second in what she hopes is a long line of collaborations. "We’re hanging onto each other for dear life," Bioh says. "She ain’t going nowhere, and neither am I."

School Girls also marks the beginning of Nicki Hunter’s first full season as the artistic director of Manhattan Theater Club following Lynne Meadow’s 50+ year tenure. While MTC previously staged Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, both Bioh and White recognize the importance of Hunter selecting a show helmed by Black women — still a rarity on Broadway — to open the season. "It speaks to where she knows the future of theater is going," says Bioh. "It’s a big statement, and I’m happy to be a part of that."

Another piece of that big statement is the show’s cast of all-Black women, helmed by Tony nominees Benton and Rogers. "It was a no-brainer," says Rogers about signing on to play the role of Ericka Boafo, a new American student who arrives at the boarding school in a reverse of Mean Girls’ Cady Heron. "To be a part of something like this, where I get to spend time communing with Black women, has been so powerful."

Meanwhile, Benton’s Paulina Sarpong is the Regina George of 1980s Ghana, presiding over her minions and dead-set on winning the pageant crown. "I was born a head bitch in charge, but had to play nice," she laughs. "It’s so fun not to play nice."

Joining Benton and Rogers are a pair of Broadway legends, Heather Alicia Simms (Purlie Victorious) and Tony winner Patina Miller (Pippin), as well as Lucia Aremu, Jordan Rice, Nia Otchere-Sarfo, and Erin Morton, all of whom are making their Broadway debuts as Paulina’s school friends. Benton briefly crossed paths with Miller during a production of Into the Woods, and remembers being in awe of the theater icon.

"Now it feels like I’m getting to cross the barrier and get to know her," Benton says. "And it feels full circle, because some of the girls that are making their Broadway debuts feel the same way I feel about Patina and Heather."

"I feel passionate about Black actresses getting what they deserve, and it very rarely happens," she continues. "But we are about to introduce the next generation of great actors, and I’m excited for them to shine, because they’re gonna eat this Broadway season up, no crumbs left."

Despite a joyful on-set environment and a comedic script, School Girls is not a play that pulls punches, especially when it comes to the beauty standards set for young women. "It demands introspection," says Aremu, "About what beauty means to you, how important it is in our society, and how that has affected who we are."

These prickly complexities of girlhood are what drew Miller, a musical powerhouse, back to Broadway for her first play. "These characters just leap off the page," she says. "They’re all dealing with real things Black women go through, and it’s an investigation of not being good enough, of what being ‘the pretty girl’ means, of what being ‘the mean girl’ means. Under it, you see young women trying to find themselves."

"Teenage girls are so feral," Benton agrees more bluntly. "Jocelyn and Whitney have let us fully unleash."

One of the interesting side effects of remounting your play a decade later with a new director and cast is that it gives you a new perspective on your work. Bioh, now 10 years older, was shocked by what the younger version of herself had created.

"If I were to write this play now, I probably would censor myself more," she confesses. "I was really unafraid. I’m surprised I wrote it that raw, honest, and vulnerable. It’s really amazing to go back and see where I was and admire who I was then. I don’t think I would have given her that much credit, but I’m grateful to do that now."