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Or, the African Mean Girls Play PRESS CONTACTS: Jasmine Jiang, 240.670.8798 [email protected] Anna Mills Russell, 240.644.1386 [email protected] ROUND HOUSE THEATRE KICKS OFF HOMECOMING SEASON WITH REGIONAL PREMIERE OF OFF-BROADWAY HIT COMEDY SCHOOL GIRLS; OR, THE AFRICAN MEAN GIRLS PLAY September 18 – October 13 in newly renovated Round House Theatre Bethesda, Md. (August 5, 2019) – Round House Theatre begins its 2019-2020 Season with Jocelyn Bioh’s School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, directed by Associate Artistic Director Nicole A. Watson. School Girls runs September 18 – October 13, 2019. Press night is Monday, September 23, 2019. Please see below for complete program details and ticket information. Fresh off two sold-out, extended Off-Broadway runs, Jocelyn Bioh’s award-winning comedy follows a group of schoolgirls vying for the title of Miss Ghana 1986. Pretty, popular Paulina is the queen bee of the Aburi Girls Boarding School, but her reign is threatened when the pageant recruiter is more interested in Ericka, the new transfer student from Ohio with a “more universal and commercial look.” Inspired in part by the real-world controversy surrounding the 2011 Miss Universe Ghana pageant—where a fair-skinned, American-born woman went on to win the title—School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play is an exploration of colorism and teenage ambition that’s “funny and fast paced…[with] bouncy, juicy dialogue” (Vulture). The first production in the newly renovated Round House Theatre, School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play is also the first of two shows in the Homecoming Season directed by Associate Artistic Director Nicole A. Watson. “This play is all the things,” says Watson. “It’s joyful, it’s youthful, it’s heartbreaking. I love how Jocelyn has taken Mean Girls, which is its own major cultural touchstone for teenagedom, and combined it beautifully with the experiences of her mother and other women in her family who grew up in Ghanaian boarding schools.” 1 Watson adds: “This play is not what some people might expect a story set in Africa to be. It’s not a poverty story or a white savior story. It’s a hilarious comedy about being a teenager, and that’s the fun of it. After all, who doesn’t remember the “mean girls” at their own school, or the experience of trying to fit into a group while also figuring out how to be an individual? But this comedy is also complicated and rich, and I’m excited for audiences to dig a little deeper into the politics that are being highlighted. School Girls is about young women at an all-girls school in Ghana, but it’s also about how Western beauty standards—which are miles and miles away from them—are reaching out to affect young women everywhere.” The cast includes Moriamo Temidayo Akibu (She a Gem and How to Catch a Star at The Kennedy Center), Shirine Babb (Antony and Cleopatra at Folger Theatre, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child on Broadway), Debora Crabbe (As You Like It at The Keegan–Helen Hayes Award, Lead Actress in a Musical), Theresa Cunningham (previously in Caroline, or Change), Kashayna Johnson (Junk at Arena Stage, She a Gem at The Kennedy Center), Jade Jones (Into The Woods and The Wiz at Ford’s Theatre), Awa Sal Secka (previously in Caroline, or Change), and Claire Saunders (Marry Harry at York Theatre, NY). The all-female cast is joined by an all-female creative team that includes Dialect Coach Kim James Bey, Dramaturg Gabrielle Hoyt, Scenic Designer and Round House Theatre Resident Artist Paige Hathaway, Costume Designer and Round House Theatre Resident Artist Ivania Stack, Lighting Designer Martha Mountain, Sound Designer Tosin Olufolabi, and Resident Stage Manager Che Wernsman. Tickets may be purchased by calling 240.644.1100, ordering online at RoundHouseTheatre.org, or in person at the box office. Round House Theatre is located at 4545 East-West Highway, one block from Wisconsin Avenue and the Bethesda station on Metro’s Red Line. ARTIST INFORMATION Jocelyn Bioh (Playwright) is an award-winning Ghanaian-American writer and performer from New York. Her plays include School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play (Kilroy’s List, 2016; CTG; MCC Theater; Lortel Award Winner; OCC John Gardner Award Winner; Hull-Warriner Award Winner; Drama Desk Nomination; Drama League Nomination; Off- Broadway Alliance nomination); Nollywood Dreams (Cherry Lane Mentor Project, 2017; Kilroy's List, 2015), and African Americans (Produced at Howard University, 2015; Southern Rep Ruby Prize Award Finalist, 2011; O'Neill Center Semifinalist, 2012). Jocelyn conceived and wrote the libretto for The Ladykiller’s Love Story (music and lyrics by CeeLo Green) and Goddess (book writer). She has also been a staff writer for the Netflix 2 TV shows Russian Doll and Spike Lee’s She's Gotta Have It. Jocelyn received her MFA in Theatre/Playwriting from Columbia University. She is under commission with Manhattan Theatre Club, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Second Stage, and Atlantic Theater Company, and is a resident playwright at LCT3. As an actress, Jocelyn's credits include: In the Blood (Signature Theatre; Drama Desk nomination, Best Featured Actress), Everybody (Signature Theatre; Lucille Lortel Award nomination, Best Supporting Actress, 2017), Men on Boats (Clubbed Thumb at Playwrights Horizons), The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Broadway; Tony Award Winner for Best Play, 2015), An Octoroon (Soho Rep; Obie Award Winner for Best Play, 2014), Booty Candy (Wilma Theater), Seed (Classical Theatre of Harlem; AUDELCO Award Nominee), and Marcus; Or the Secret of Sweet (City Theatre). She also originated the role of "Topsy" in the world premiere of Neighbors (The Public Theater; AUDELCO Award Nominee). FILM/TV acting credits include: Ben is Back (Black Bear Pictures), Russian Doll (Netflix) Blue Bloods (CBS), The Detour (TBS), The Characters (Netflix), and One Life to Live (ABC). Nicole A. Watson (Director) is the Associate Artistic Director at Round House Theatre, returning this season after directing A Doll’s House, Part 2. Select credits include the world premiere of the opera Approaching Ali at Washington National Opera at the Kennedy Center; Lynn Nottage’s Sweat and Robert Schenkkan’s The Great Society at Asolo Repertory Theatre; Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew at Baltimore Center Stage; Daniel Beaty’s Mr. Joy at Cincinnati Playhouse; Colman Domingo’s Dot at Playmakers Repertory Company; Kevin R. Free’s Night of the Living N-Word at New York International Fringe Festival, world premiere; Kara Lee Corthron’s Welcome to Fear City and Johnna Adam’s World Builders at CATF, world premiere; Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop at Kitchen Theater Company; and a workshop of the new musical Gun and Powder at Theater Latte Da. She has been a guest director at A.C.T’s Conservatory (Las Meninas), Smith College (Our Lady of Kibeho), North Carolina School of the Arts (The Piano Lesson and Joe Turner’s Come and Gone), New York University (Born Bad; Milk Like Sugar; Ti-Jean and His Brothers), and Long Island University (Twelfth Night). She was a 2015 Artist in Residence at the Drama League a 2013 Drama League Directing Fellow and the 2011 recipient of the League of Professional Theatre Women’s Josephine Abady Award. She is a New Georges Affiliated Artists, an alum of both the Lincoln Center Directors Lab and the Women’s Project Directors Lab and a member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC). BA: History, Yale. MA: NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study. CAST INFORMATION (ALPHABETICAL) Moriamo Temidayo Akibu (Gifty) is excited to begin their Round House journey with School Girls. Temidayo is an actor, deviser, and collaborator based in Washington, DC and New York. Some of their favorite credits include She a Gem and How to Catch a Star at The 3 Kennedy Center; The Ruby Sunrise at Shakespeare Theatre Company; The Interstellar Ghost Hour at Longacre Lea (Helen Hayes Nomination, Supporting Actress); Isms: A Tragicomedy at Mosaic Theatre Company of DC; The Burst at The Keegan Theatre; Love and Information at Forum Theatre; and Coffeehouse Chronicles #124 with Ping Chong + Company at La MaMa ETC in New York. Film and TV credits: Minnesota Nice and TERPvision. They hold a degree in Theatre from The University of Maryland. Instagram: @temidayoma. Shirine Babb (Eloise Amponsah) is thrilled to make her Round House debut. Favorite DC credits include Antony and Cleopatra at Folger Theatre; Measure for Measure at the Kennedy Center. Broadway: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (u/s and performed Hermione). Off-Broadway: Napoli Brooklyn at Roundabout Theatre; Macbeth at the Lincoln Center with Ethan Hawke; Around the World in 80 Days at The New Theatre; Aliens with Extraordinary Skills at The Women’s Project Theatre; Trickle at Ensemble Studio Theatre. Favorite regional credits include Disgraced (Critic Circle Award Nomination) and Antony and Cleopatra (Theatre Circle Award Nomination). Television: Iron Fist; Blue Bloods; Madam Secretary; I Love You…But I Lied. Shirine received an MA from East 15 Conservatory, UK and an MFA at The Old Globe/PTAP. Debora Crabbe (Mercy) is thrilled to be making her debut on the Round House stage. DC credits include As You Like It at The Keegan Theatre (Helen Hayes Award, Outstanding Lead Actress in a Musical); Shear Madness at The Kennedy Center; The Cat in the Hat at Adventure Theatre; Amazing Grace at the Museum of the Bible; The Dog in the Manger at We Happy Few; 19: The Musical at Through the 4th Wall; and Distracted at Arcturus Theatre. Film credits include african-americans, Adapt, and Saviors. Theresa Cunningham (Headmistress Francis) is excited to return to Round House after appearing as the Washing Machine in Caroline, or Change.
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