Jocelyn Bioh to star in her play ‘School Girls’ on Broadway for four performances only

The playwright will step into the role usually played by Tony Award winner Patina Miller from October 9-11.

Summary

• Playwright Jocelyn Bioh will perform in her show School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play on Broadway from October 9-11
• She will step in for Patina Miller in the role of pageant recruiter Eloise Amponsah
• Bioh was a Broadway actor before becoming a playwright
• Her play follows the drama between girls at a Ghanaian boarding school in 1986

Jocelyn Bioh, the playwright of School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play, will join the cast of her show on Broadway from October 9-11 only at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. She will play pageant recruiter Eloise Amponsah while Tony Award winner Patina Miller is out due to a pre-planned commitment.

Before making her Broadway debut as a playwright with 2023's Jaja's African Hair Braiding, she was an actor who performed on Broadway in The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.

She will now perform alongside School Girls cast members Lucia Aremu as Ama, Tony Award nominee Denée Benton as Paulina, Lucille Lortel and Drama Desk Award nominee Erin Morton as Nana, Nia Otchere-Sarfo as Gifty, Jordan Rice as Mercy, Tony nominee Jasmine Amy Rogers as Ericka, and Obie Award winner Heather Alicia Simms as Headmistress Francis.

“I felt a great deal of creative energy writing this play while working as an actor on 47th Street, and it feels completely magical to be returning to this same block to perform one of my own characters in School Girls,” Bioh said. “It’s a privilege to get to follow the inimitable Patina Miller for these four performances, and I am especially excited to join this thrilling company on stage for a few days.”

School Girls takes place at an all-girls boarding school in 1986 Ghana, when queen bee Paulina’s near-guaranteed win at an upcoming pageant is threatened by the arrival of an American transfer student. The show previously debuted off Broadway with MCC Theater in 2017.

Read our interview with Bioh and director Whitney White about School Girls.

Get School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play tickets now.

Photo credit: Jocelyn Bioh. (Photo courtesy of production)