From NPR · · 2m
School Girls takes on colorism with humor and heart
Jocelyn Bioh's play about Ghanaian teenagers competing for Miss Ghana 1986 ends its Broadway run this week, exploring beauty standards and toxic girlhood.
In brief
Jocelyn Bioh's play about Ghanaian teenagers competing for Miss Ghana 1986 ends its Broadway run this week, exploring beauty standards and toxic girlhood. School Girls, Jocelyn Bioh's Tony Award-nominated play about Ghanaian schoolgirls competing for Miss Ghana 1986, ends its Broadway run this week after nearly ten…
A crown worth everything
At Aburi Girls Boarding School in Ghana in 1986, six teenage girls compete for Miss Ghana. For them, winning means fame, fortune and everything.
Paulina rules through cruelty
Queen bee Paulina bullies her crew over their looks. She harasses Nana about eating porridge instead of an apple, asking: do you want to be fat-fat or fit and popular.
“So, do you want to be fat-fat? Or fit? And popular.”
A transfer student changes everything
When Ericka arrives from Ohio, she exposes Paulina's toxic behavior and outshines her during a performance of Whitney Houston's Greatest Love of All.
Colorism becomes the real battle
Ericka's lighter skin sparks conflict between the school's headmistress and pageant director over who has the best chance of winning Miss Global Universe.
Bioh writes from personal experience
Playwright Jocelyn Bioh, who is Ghanaian-American, wanted to write about colorism after her own journey to own her beauty as a dark-skinned woman.
A universal message about beauty
Bioh says colorism is a global issue. She asks: who decided this one standard of beauty is the standard for everybody? That's a problem.
“Who has decided that this one standard of beauty is the standard of beauty for everybody? I think that's a problem.”
Audiences see themselves reflected
The all-Black female cast shows diverse physical appearances. Bioh says audiences, even those without Ghanaian experience, see facets of themselves in these girls.
The play's impact lingers
Nearly ten years after its Off-Broadway premiere, School Girls ends its Broadway run this week with livestream broadcasts available on The League of Live Stream Theater's website.
Bioh hopes for shifted perspectives
Bioh hopes audiences walk away with empathy for the girls and women. She asks people to shift their ideas about things, even just a little bit.
“I ask people to shift their ideas about things. If you can just move it just a little teeny bit, then I guess, you know, I've done my job.”
The big picture
School Girls, Jocelyn Bioh's Tony Award-nominated play about Ghanaian schoolgirls competing for Miss Ghana 1986, ends its Broadway run this week after nearly ten years since its Off-Broadway premiere, using humor to tackle colorism and beauty standards.
