Tony Award nominee Denée Benton, a Broadway vet also known for playing Peggy Scott on HBO's The Gilded Age, remembers School Girls as the first Off-Broadway show she saw upon moving to NYC. "I remember laughing so hard and then not even realizing I had just started weeping," she said.

Who she plays: I play Paulina Sarpong, the queen bee who's gunning to be Miss Ghana 1986. She rules her kingdom of this high school with an iron throne and will claw whoever she needs to get what she needs to thrive. I'm obsessed with her. She's also terrifying and would eat Regina George for lunch.

High school self: I was a very bubbly, golden-child theatre girl, but I also had a lot of opinions. I was speaking to the principal about what could have run better.

Pageant talent: I feel like singing is boring. In an alternate universe, I would do an interpretive dance.

Favorite queen bee: Hilary Banks from Fresh Prince [of Bel-Air], but she's a nice queen bee. She's a bimbo queen bee. I just love her because she's stylish and she's cute and she's funny and she's like, "Dad, I just want to have fun."

Fresh off a run as a middle schooler in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, BOOP! Tony nominee Jasmine Amy Rogers is transferring to School Girls. She'll also star as Maria in The Sound of Music this spring — she's as busy as a (queen) bee!

Who she plays: I'm playing Ericka Boafo. She is an American student who transfers into Aburi School for Girls, and it's her first time in Ghana, her first time in Africa. She's shell-shocked, but she quickly finds her footing and meets these really incredible young women, and they're all competing to be Miss Ghana in 1986. The dynamics shift around very quickly because of her arrival.

High school self: I was decently popular in high school, actually, but I tried to be really nice to everybody. I'm really proud of that. I was voted "best smile," which was really sweet because I didn't know people knew who I was, in a weird way, even though I was in theatre. [...] My high school boyfriend and I both won; it was very cute.

Pageant talent: I would probably sing "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman."

Favorite queen bee: Lady Gaga. I'm a big Phoebe Bridgers girl, too, and obviously, Beyoncé; there's nobody like Beyoncé. But in high school specifically, Lady Gaga was my everything.

With a Tony Award for Pippin and other leading roles in Into the Woods and Sister Act under her belt, Patina Miller is a true Broadway queen. Now, she plays a pageant queen entering a new chapter.

Who she plays: I play Eloise Amponsah. She's the former Miss Ghana 1966 [...] and she is now a recruiter for [the 1986] pageant. She's coming at it this time in a place of power, a place of leadership, and she feels very strongly about that.

She's navigated [...] being a woman of color and what beauty means, what having ownership of something means. Now that she's so close to getting the thing she's always wanted — which is to have something she can be proud of and [...] finding the next woman who's going to represent Ghana — it's a really big thing.

She comes in heavy. She comes in loud. She comes in with a lot of power, a lot of poise, but also some devastation as well.

High school self: I was a kind girl. I was kind of a nerd, shy, but wanted so desperately to be something.

Pageant talent: A hula hoop performance. I got to show a little bit of that talent in Pippin, but I could probably give a mean hula hoop performance, more like a medley, singing while hula hooping.

Favorite queen bee: Beyoncé, obviously. Fictional — the Witch [from Into the Woods], of course.

Born and raised in Nigeria, Lucia Aremu is excited to be on Broadway in a show that puts African women's experiences front and center.

Who she plays: Ama is Paulina's best friend, her right-hand girl, and also sort of her frenemy in this girl group. Ama is bold. She's confident. And as this play moves on [...] we start to see Ama fray away from the group and stand on her own, speak up for herself when she needs to.

High school self: I was the band geek and I was the speech and debate kid. I was in a lot of clubs, actually, but I resonate a lot with some of the themes in this play because, in band, I was bullied for my skin color, and I played the most unladylike instrument. I played the baritone, and I was the only girl in my entire section that played it.

I would say I was a big nerd, but among my friend group, I was the one that brought everyone together, throwing out the jokes and [saying], "Hey, guys, let's hang out."

Pageant talent: I like dancing. I just recently came across [ballet] in grad school, and I took some classes, and I've just been obsessed with it ever since. So, it would be a really, really bad rendition of Swan Lake, but it would be fun.

Favorite queen bee: Hermione Granger

After making her Off-Broadway debut in Heathers as Martha Dunnstock, who gets bullied by the popular clique, Erin Morton is making her Broadway debut in School Girls as Nana, who... gets bullied by the popular clique. Luckily, in real life, Morton's been met with nothing but admiration from fans.

Who she plays: [Nana] is the observer of the group. She is very resilient. She gets bullied, unfortunately.

But she's sweet and she's kind. She has a lot of bravery. She wants to go to college. She wants to have a life outside what she already has. She gets in trouble a lot for having snacks, but Headmistress is always on her because Headmistress wants her to achieve her goals.

She speaks up for herself. Throughout the play, you see her learn about the idea of loving herself and then learn to love herself.

High school self: I was a floater. I could fit into any group. I sometimes hung out with the popular kids, I sometimes would hang out with the geeks, the losers. I was a theatre kid, I was a choir kid, and that's the "geeks and losers" of it all. But that was more my speed because I loved to sing. I loved to act. I would sometimes skip class, but I would skip class to go sit in theatre [class].

I should contact the principal of my school and be like, "I know you didn't like that, but hey, something came out of it."

Pageant talent: Singing. Every time I go to karaoke, I always want to sing "I Will Always Love You," Whitney Houston. Also, we do a little bit of Whitney in the show, so look out for that.

Favorite queen bee: Beyoncé, duh. That's the only queen bee for me.

School Girls is Jordan Rice's second play in the "Biohverse," the cast's term for Jocelyn Bioh's body of work. She previously appeared in the 2024-25 U.S. tour of Jaja's African Hair Braiding.

Who she plays: Mercy comes in a comedic duo with her cousin Gifty. I really feel like we're the audience on stage. As things are happening, we are very opinionated. We're very vocal about what we think, about what's happening, and we're just really funny.

I get to be the person who sometimes wants to mediate, sometimes is trying to figure out where she's going, but also is with the giggles.

High school self: I was a theatre kid and also a band geek, a little bit. I played saxophone in middle school, and then I just traded one geekdom for a nerd-dom of being a theatre person.

I wasn't part of the popular girls. I wasn't a victim of the popular girls either, but I just swam around. People would be like, "She was really focused. She's really driven."

Pageant talent: I'd probably do a monologue or something, but I'd want to wiggle my ears.

Favorite queen bee: It's Beyoncé, obviously. She's literally Queen Bey.

When she was in high school, Nia Otchere-Sarfo saw a TV commercial for School Girls off Broadway and thought, "That looks like something I could do." She was right!

Who she plays: Gifty is a sweetheart. She's the comedic relief of the show, but what we come to know about Gifty is that she's also struggling with dyslexia. And at the time, in the '80s, there wasn't nearly as much information or support for people with dyslexia. Everyone's thinking, "Oh, she's just not applying herself. She's not trying as hard."

Gifty doesn't really feel comfortable with [her dyslexia] being exposed; she's afraid of being judged. [...] It's really interesting to see how tactical she is and how she tries to blend with the other girls in an effort to remain concealed.

High school self: I was very shy. Quite similar to Gifty, I was super excitable whenever I was around my friends, but anyone I didn't really know, I was for sure off to myself reading a book or playing Sims or gaming somewhere.

Pageant talent: I would probably sing. What would I sing? A Disney song, for sure.

Favorite queen bee: Toni Childs from Girlfriends

Heather Alicia Simms was a true Renaissance woman as a teen, doing everything from sports to arts to science. It makes sense that she plays the character who really rules the school.

Who she plays: The headmistress is trying to keep it all together. She's trying to keep the girls in line, she's trying to educate them, she's trying to deal with budget cuts and sick teachers. And now, she has a new student that has come into the fold, and there's havoc abounding.

The headmistress is a little flustered. She could probably use a drink.

High school self: I was a hard worker in high school, but I also had a really great set of friends, and I'm still friends with them today. I went to school in Brooklyn, New York — shoutout Midwood High School — and for some reason, we tend to get together every five years as a class because we want to.

I was a cheerleader. I ran track. I did [the singing competition] Midwood Sing! I was an active student, and I was in the medical science program.

Pageant talent: I have done a pageant, and I did a monologue, but if I were bolder, I would probably try to twirl a baton.

Favorite queen bee: Lena Horne was a singer, an actor, an activist. I love the way she brought herself to the work [and] to her activism.

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Responses have been lightly edited for length and clarity.