School Girls at Round House Theatre

School Girls

Round House Theatre
4545 East-West Highway Bethesda

"Here she is, Miss Ghana..." Pretty, popular Paulina longs to hear those words, and she'll do whatever it takes to seize the crown. But the queen bee of the Aburi Girls Boarding School didn't count on her reign being threatened. Ericka arrives from America and immediately challenges the ruling class with Western sensibilities and imported beauty products. With hilarity and insight, Jocelyn Bioh's award-winning comedy dissects how "mean girls" are created - and cured. Fresh off two sold-out, extended Off-Broadway runs, this "ferociously entertaining morality tale" (Hollywood Reporter) is sure to strike a chord with anyone, anywhere, who has ever been a teenage girl, raised a teenage girl, or met a teenage girl.

Thru - Oct 13, 2019

Tuesdays: 7:30pm

Wednesdays: 7:30pm

Thursdays: 7:30pm

Fridays: 8:00pm

Saturdays: 2:00pm & 8:00pm

Sundays: 2:00pm

Box Office: 240-644-1100

www.roundhousetheatre.org/On-Stage/Explore/School-Girls-Or-The-African-Mean-Girls-Play

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School Girls Reviews

Average Rating based on 6 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"...The actresses playing the students themselves are dynamite comedians, especially Crabbe and Akibu, in supposedly subordinate roles; their reactions to Johnson's Paulina, and to each other, are a production unto itself. Secka imbues the taken-for-granted Ama with impressive depth, and you ache for the pressure that Paulina puts on Jones's Nana, who pines for acceptance."

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- Peter Marks

DC Theater Arts - Recommended

"...The challenge of School Girls, however, is that unless it is seen through a lens that can get past teenagers obsessed with their looks and other superficialities, it is easy to think the show is just about girly girls. Some viewers might miss the meaning that is right beneath the surface: That School Girls is not only comedic entertainment but also sharp criticism of a worldview that teaches women – in Africa as well as the US – to value themselves by the shade of their skin."

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- Ramona Harper

MetroWeekly - Recommended

"...A high school’s precarious pecking order is thrown into turmoil with the arrival of a headstrong new girl bold enough to challenge the reigning queen bee. Yes, that describes Tina Fey’s Mean Girls, but it’s also the premise for Jocelyn Bioh’s theatrical comedy School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play. Presented in a bright, compelling production at Round House Theatre, Bioh’s play cleverly tweaks Fey’s formula by setting the story in 1986, at a respected, if underfunded, girls’ school in rural Ghana, where the distinct concerns and insecurities of these brown-skinned African girls add unique cultural dimension to an otherwise universal coming-of-age satire."

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- Andre Hereford

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

"...Watson has obviously worked with her actors, also including Shirine Babb as a graduate of the school and former Miss Ghana who now works for the pageant organization, to bring out their individual quirks and clarify the emotional back and forth among the characters. The students have moments of joy, as in the musical number they perform to audition for Babb (music direction by prominent Washington actor Kevin McAllister), along with the anguish that comes from attacking others to overcome feelings of self-hatred."

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- Susan Berlin

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

"...School Girls, however, adds color and ethnicity and country into the mix, complicating coming-of-age with skin pigment and birth origin; in 2019 America, we should all be well aware by now that both matter. School Girls isn't just a coming-of-age comedy or even social commentary. It's a look at the forces that dominate global culture using familiar lenses, including pop culture, through which and to which we can all relate, forcing us to acknowledge that not only have we left most people out of the conversation, but that we have made them feel unworthy to even join because of appearance."

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- Kelly McCorkendale

BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended

"...In full display in a rollicking performance at Bethesda's Round House Theatre, Bioh brings all the elements of what's been associated with Tina Fey's movie and subsequent musical; or popular movies from "Clueless" to "Heathers" - all in the distinctive Ghanian accent."

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- Roger Catlin

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School Girls at Round House Theatre

School Girls

School Girls Reviews

Washington Post - Recommended

DC Theater Arts - Recommended

MetroWeekly - Recommended

Talkin Broadway - Recommended

DCTheatreScene - Highly Recommended

BroadwayWorld - Highly Recommended

School Girls Photo Gallery

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