The subtitle of Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls is The African Mean Girls Play. In some ways, it’s a pretty fair comparison. This is a sharp and funny work about a group of girls at an elite Ghanian boarding school. While each prepares for a performance that could make them eligible for the 1986 Miss Global Universe pageant—the name, of course, is similar to Donald Trump’s former enterprise—Paulina (MaameYaa Boafo) bullies her peers into submission and sycophancy. “I’m so jealous of your life,” coos Nana (Abena Mensah-Bonsu) after hearing Paulina will be wearing Calvin Klein. “I know,” she replies, delivering her lines as if they were rehearsed for an interviewer, “I’m so blessed.” But Nana’s subservience doesn’t protect her: Paulina uses her weight to cudgel her self-esteem, asking if Nana wants to be “fat-fat” or “fit and popular,” then eventually insisting that she drop twenty pounds or find a new table in the cafeteria. These volatile circumstances are only exacerbated when the new girl, the biracial, American-born Ericka (Nabiyah Be), arrives just in time to audition. Continue reading “She Doesn’t Even Go Here”