‘School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play’: Reevaluating standards of beauty and worth

Jocelyn Bioh’s “School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play” is not any take on comedian Tina Fey’s “Mean Girls.”

The setting is a school and there are, indeed, mean girls, but “Jocelyn Bioh wrote a very African play with themes that are specific to brown bodies,” said Amina Robinson, who is directing the play at the Arden Theatre Company.

“The show calls us to reevaluate our Eurocentric standards of beauty and worth,” said Robinson, a professor of acting and musical theater at Temple University.

Bioh, whose parents are Ghanaian, sets the story in the 1980s in an exclusive boarding school in Ghana where Paulina, the Queen Bee, seems as if she has a beeline to being chosen as Ghana’s entry into the 1986 Miss Universe pageant. She does, that is, until a transfer student from America — a student who has lighter skin and a more slender build — wants the slot. The plot was inspired by a true story.

“Colorism is a primary focus; it also deals with a secondary focus of body image in relationship to weight,” Robinson said. “At the core of it, you have this character [Paulina] who has been damaged by the very thing she is seeking. There is a lot of self-hatred.”

What attracted Robinson to the play was the laugh-out-loud way it draws attention to serious issues — the point sneaks up on the audience, she said. And to make it work, Robinson brought in Ghanaian dialect coach Amy Dean, who helped the cast learn the slower, more rhythmic way Ghanaians speak. The play is having its regional premiere.

Through June 5, Arden Theatre Company, 40 N. Second St., Philadelphia. 215-922-1122 or ardentheatre.org

Philadelphia’s theater community is abuzz with the big news that Philly playwright James Ijames, lead artistic director at the Wilma Theater, won the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play, “Fat Ham.” A take on Shakespeare’s “Hamlet,” Fat Ham was streamed by the Wilma during the pandemic and opens on stage at The Public Theater in New York on May 12. If you’d like to see another of Ijames’ plays closer to home, Azuka Theatre is staging a world premiere of Ijames’ “Reverie.” In Reverie, a grief-stricken father whose son has died knocks on the door of his son’s former boyfriend. It’s a story of grief laced with family dynamics.

“Reverie” through May 22, Azuka Theatre at the Proscenium Theatre at the Drake, 302 S. Hicks St., Philadelphia. 215-563-1100 or azukatheatre.org.

Bring on the big hair in “Hairspray,” a musical that’s all about a big girl with big ideas about inclusion and body image. Spin the wayback machine to Baltimore in the ‘60s, when Tracy Turnblad, who describes herself as a “pleasantly plump” teenager, wants a chance to perform on a local television dance show and wants her Black friends to have that chance, too. Since 1988, when John Waters produced his comedic film, Hairspray has been reconfigured into both a second filmed version and the 2002 Broadway musical. Now the touring version of that musical is coming to the Kimmel Cultural Campus’ Miller Theater (formerly the Merriam). Jack O’Brien directs with choreography by Jerry Mitchell. Niki Metcalf plays Tracy.

May 17-22, Kimmel Cultural Campus’ Miller Theater, 250 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, 215-893-1999 or kimmelculturalcampus.org

Just in time for baseball season, Neil Simon’s “Brighton Beach Memoirs” has been described as the playwright’s love letter to his family. The main character, 15-year-old Eugene Morris Jerome, has a lot to juggle — his neurotic family, his uncomfortable crushes, and, on top of that, his overwhelming love for baseball. Set in the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn in September 1937, this Simon favorite at Delaware Theatre Company will hit all the bases when it comes to family and the ties that bind (or don’t). Directed by Bud Martin.

Through May 22, Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington. 302-594-1100 or delawaretheatre.org

Theater has the power to transform. In “Circle Mirror Transformation” at Hammonton’s Eagle Theatre, it is not the audience being transformed. It’s the actors. In the play by Pulitzer Prize winner Annie Baker, five people come together to attend a theater class held in the community center of a small Vermont town. As they practice their theater exercises, they learn to reimagine themselves — one transformation at a time.

May 12-29, Eagle Theatre, 208 Vine St., Hammonton. 609-704-5012 or eagletheatre.org

It probably wouldn’t be hard for the police to track down this criminal. That’s because crime is part of the daily (as in every day) routine for the Baronet. The Baronet is required, because of a curse, to commit a crime a day. Nothing good can come of that, right? Or can it? “Ruddigore, Or The Witch’s Curse,” a musical by Gilbert and Sullivan, will be presented by the Savoy Company of Philadelphia. The Savoy has been dedicated to performing Gilbert and Sullivan musicals since 1901 and is a resident theater company affiliated with Philadelphia Theatre Company. If you miss Ruddigore at the Suzanne Roberts Theatre in Philadelphia this weekend, you can catch it in June at Longwood Gardens.

May 13 and 14, Suzanne Roberts Theatre, 480 S. Broad St., Philadelphia, and June 10 and 11 at Longwood Gardens, 1001 Longwood Rd., Kennett Square. Admission to the gardens is included in the ticket price. 215-735-7161 or savoy.org

Philly playwrights — there’s still time to submit a script for the Our Voices, Our Time: One-Act Play Festival, a collaboration between Penn Live Arts and its 2022-23 season artist-in-residence, the Negro Ensemble Company, Inc. The festival’s goal is to amplify and celebrate Black voices, stories, and perspectives through the voices of three playwrights. Playwrights will be selected in June and their plays will have their world premieres in early October at the Annenberg Center before moving on to Manhattan for performances in October and November.

Deadline: May 15, 5 p.m. Information at necinc.org/nec-residency-at-the-university-of-Pennsylvania/

Montgomery Theater presents Disney’s “Frozen Jr.” May 13-27 at 124 N. Main St., Souderton, 215-723-9984 or montgomerytheater.org

Because COVID-19 mask and vaccination rules are changing so rapidly and vary significantly by location, please check your theater venue for protocols close to the performance date.