Phoebus High to put on ‘African Mean Girls’ play
Drama club sponsor decided on the production for Black History Month
The Phoebus High School drama club will put on a production of “School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play” for Black History Month.
Kemi Layeni, a teacher at Phoebus and sponsor of the club, said she watched the play when it first premiered off-Broadway in New York, and was part of the production in Norfolk’s Generic Theater last summer.
“To me, it’s kind of taking a story that had been done before, but adding a twist to it,” she said. “So it’s a mixture of Tina Fey’s ‘Mean Girls’ movie, but also Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye,’ and adding those two things to spark a dialogue, using comedy to spark that dialogue.”
The play, written by Jocelyn Bioh, is set in a boarding school in Ghana, where Bioh’s parents emigrated from in the 60s. It follows the story of Paulina, the “mean girl” leader of the popular clique, who assumes she’ll be selected to participate in an upcoming beauty pageant. But she becomes threatened by the arrival of new student Ericka, who transfers from America and catches the pageant recruiter’s eye, in part, because of her lighter skin.
Kiara Taylor, 17, plays Eloise Amopansah, the insecure pageant recruiter and former Miss Ghana.
“She feels like she’s not good enough, because of the color of her skin, and that she has to be rude and mean to make her way to the top,” Taylor said of the character. “And it’s very interesting to play that character because I’m not like that in real life. It’s actually been a really good thing to do for me, because I like to step out of my box.”
Taylor said she joined the drama club after moving from California as a way to meet people and make friends.
Maya Williams, 16, said she joined the drama club last year and was cast in a supporting role for the same play, but the group didn’t put on the production. This year, she will play the lead role of Paulina.
“So stepping more into the spotlight and being more confident is definitely
something I had to learn and develop, and I feel like drama club really helped me with that,” Williams said.
Layeni said the play includes themes of colorism, beauty standards, self-esteem and bullying.
“I feel like the play also talks about just characters that you don’t always get to
see represented in theater,” she said. “You don’t really get to see a lot of plays that just focus on the inner lives of young African American Black girls.”
And though the setting is a world away, Layeni said the themes are universal and will resonate with teens and adults.
The 90-minute, one-act play will open at Phoebus High School at 7p.m. Thursday. Additional performances are set for 7 p.m. Friday and 2 p.m. Saturday. Tickets are $5 for students, $10 for adults.