Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play Will Get a Broadway Bow

Manhattan Theatre Club is bringing the Off-Broadway comedy to the Main Stem next fall.

March 17, 2026 By Logan Culwell-Block

Manhattan Theatre Club will give a Broadway premiere to Jocelyn Bioh's School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play later this year, with performances slated to begin September 8 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The staging is being produced in association with Chase This Productions and Susan Kelechi Watson.

Set at Ghana's Aburi Girls Boarding School in 1988, the play follows a group of high school girls fixated on competing in an upcoming beauty pageant when a transfer student from America arrives and makes the competition more complex. The work made its world premiere Off-Broadway via MCC in 2017, and has since become something of a regional theatre darling. The upcoming new MTC staging, to be directed by Whitney White, will return Bioh to the company after they staged her Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (also directed by White) in 2023.

“I’m beyond thrilled that School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play is finally making its Broadway debut at MTC!,” says Bioh in a statement. “After the incredible journey of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, it means so much to bring this play back to New York audiences and celebrate these bold, funny, complicated young women. I’m especially excited to be reunited with Whitney White, who directed Jaja’s with such heart and brilliance, and I can’t wait for audiences to experience her new vision for this revival.”

The company has also added an American premiere for Nick Payne's The Unbelievers to its Off-Broadway season, to be directed by Knud Adams. Tracking a family struggling with their faith in the wake of the disappearance of their teenage son, the play made its world premiere last year at London's Royal Court Theatre. The Off-Broadway bow will play New York City Center Stage I beginning October 13.

“I’m over the moon that The Unbelievers will have its U.S. premiere at MTC this fall,” says Payne. “MTC holds a special place for me—I had such wonderful experiences working on both Constellations and Incognito in New York. I can’t wait to come back.”

Both productions are the company's first to be announced for the 2026-2027 season, but more are coming.

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