“School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play”

Highly Recommended ***** A funny thing happened on the way to the opening of “School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” at the Goodman Theatre. Well, maybe, not so funny. The world of “live theater” went dark due to the Pandemic. Now, almost 18 months, later, many of us gathered at The Goodman, on Dearborn as Robert Falls remarked about the first major theater re-opening, the plight of this particular play, and of course, turned the lights on for us to enter the Goodman, take our seats and enjoy the world of “live theater”.

The play is a comedy that contains within it a sad sub-story.

The time is 1986. The location: an all girls boarding school in Ghana. The young ladies who attend this school desire to be Miss Ghana 1986. One of the girls, Paulina (Ciera Dawn is powerful in this role) feels that this is hers. She will be the winner, but in order to be able to win, the school must have five girls audition, thus she convinces her “sisters” to enlist, even though she knows they have zero chance. Each of the characters is unique in their own way and deep down they know that they cannot compete with Paulina.

Paulina’s minion is composed of four wonderful actresses, Adhana Reid as Ama, Tiffany Renee Johnson as Mercy; Adia Alli as Gifty, and Ashley Crowe as Nana. They are all adorable and truly make one feel that we are breaking the fourth wall in watching them “play” with each other .Playwright Jocelyn Bioh captures the feelings of each girl. The minion kind of fears Paulina. In fact, one might call her a bully in how she treats her “sisters”. Then a new student arrives. Her name is Ericka (played to perfection by Kyrie Courter).

Ericka has transferred from The United States. Her father is an African businessman and so she has been brought to Africa from the U.S. Her mother was white and she is both beautiful and talented. Ericka becomes a threat to Paulina’s chances of being Miss Ghana and thus the conflicts begin. Paulina tries to undermine Ericka in anyway possible. The Headmistress  stunningly played by Tania Richard) is somewhat caught in the middle as Miss Eloise ( Lanise Antoine Shelley) a former Miss Ghana feels that it is Ericka who will bring their school victory in the Miss Global Universe contest.

This is a lovely way to revive Chicago’s Theater District. A wonderful production that was just about ready to open in  in march ( of  2020) bringing the Goodman Theatre back to life. The themes are very important and relevant to today’s world with just the right comedic touches.

Smoothly directed by Lili-Anne Brown on a set created by  Yu Shibagaki, we feel, as stated earlier, that we have broken the fourth wall and are indeed “the fly on the wall” watching each of the girls. In many ways this is a coming of age story with many things coming out about each of the girls. While I think that this play might work a little better in a smaller, more intimate space, I understand the choice of using The Albert for a post Covid production. They were able to space us so we had distance from others.During the 80 minutes we were to  wear our masks. Laughter can still come through and even muffled the smaller audience filled the theater with love and understanding.

We were once again in the Goodman Theatre, watching a delightful production and starting the future. FYI-There are no concessions being sold. The parking garages in the area have lowered their rates so that is nice and the only place I found for a drink is The Dearborn ( on the corner of Randolph and Dearborn) and they do have a limited menu as well.

“School Girls; or, The African Mean Girls Play” will continue through August 29th with performances:

Wednesday 7:30 p.m.

Thursday 7:30 p.m.

Fridays  8 p.m.

Saturdays 2 and 8 p.m.

Sunday  2 p.m.

Tickets range from  $15-$45 and are available by calling 312-443-3800

visist www.goodmantheatre.org

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