Beneath the laughs, comic 'Mean Girls Play' reveals truths about how we treat each other

Jocelyn Bioh's witty and insightful 2017 play "School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play" opened last week in Thalian Hall's Stein Studio Theatre. Directed by Fracaswell Hyman, this Big Dawg Productions show, which closes on Sunday, June 26, goes well beyond the humorous side of growing pains to the competing forces that shape young people.

Mean girls, right? You know the trope. It's in the eponymous 2004 movie written by Tina Fey, and in 1989 film "Heathers" with Winona Ryder, to name just two. "School Girls," like those other stories, is funny and emotionally fraught, set in high school and challenges, if we’re open to it, ideas about how we treat one another.

We all just want to fit in, to find our people, yeah? That's part of the trope, too. And this PG-13 comedy doesn't let us off the hook for our preconceived notions about those things that unite and divide, big or small. Bioh's story encourages a level of thoughtfulness beyond its cleverness, quirky characters and pop-culture references.   

It's 1986 in Southeastern Ghana. A queen and her court assemble at her table in Aburi Girls' Senior High school cafeteria. Here, Paulina, played with unsettling confidence by Addison Hamlet, metes out praise and criticism so that her court better reflects her sense of self through their looks and habits. 

The goal for all is selection for the Miss Ghana pageant, the winner of which will go on to the Miss Global Universe pageant and a date with American singer Bobby Brown. (Yes, the former New Edition member and future husband of Whitney Houston). But dissension within the court is revealed early when Ama (Ashley Jackson) suggests that her friends think for themselves rather than look to Paulina for direction.

Almost on the heels of Ama's statement of independence comes Ericka Boafo (Hallie-Claire Weems), a kind and attractive biracial classmate of Ghanaian descent, newly arrived from America. Enter, too, a critical theme of "School Girls" – colorism, a kind of prejudice existing within an ethnic or racial group against its dark-skinned members. It is reality, and playwright Bioh doesn't equivocate about the issue of light-skin vs. dark-skin within communities of color as the action rolls out. 

Paulina immediately cuts Nana (Bianca Shaw) out of the herd, demanding that she steal Ericka's records from the school office. It's a verbal assault of such violence that it sucks the air out of the room. Hamlet's terrifying energy in the scene nearly renders one incapable of compassion for her, even after learning her backstory. 

Ericka's openness and kindness win over Paulina's remaining subjects, Mercy (Truu Allure Danns) and Gifty (Alona Murrell). Danns and Murrell play off one another beautifully as the comic relief, seeming to share a brain as they reveal their observations about Paulina's foibles in life and love. And Ama is ready to sign up for Ericka's makeover party. 

The ensemble is perfectly cast all the way to the voice of reason and the personification of empathy, Headmistress Francis, as acted by the estimable La'Tuan Hall, and the ruthless, pot-stirring former Miss Ghana (1966), Eloise Amponsah, played by Kim Pacheco. 

As if the actors weren't enough of a treat, and Caswell's direction soaring up and down every peak and valley, the outward details work their subtle yet brilliant magic in this production. Allyson Moore-Mojica's costumes are grace notes giving each character a signature look – so crucial to the social order. 

As for the pageant, the story brings in the bittersweet, and we are left wanting more for each of these young women and trying not to lose hope. 

Contact StarNews arts and culture at 910-343-2343.

Want to go? 

What: "School Girls; or the African Mean Girls Play," by Jocelyn Bioh, presented by Big Dawg Productions

When: 7:30 p.m. June 23-25, 3 p.m. June 26 

Where: Thalian Hall's Ruth and Bucky Stein Studio Theatre, 310 Chestnut St., Wilmington

Info: Tickets are $34.24 

Details: 910-632-2285 or ThalianHall.org