{
  "id": 10580472,
  "title": "‘School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play’ Broadway Review: When Escape Is Just A Clique Away",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/school-girls-or-the-african-mean-girls-play-broadway-review-when",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-29T01:30:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Deadline",
    "slug": "deadline",
    "url": "https://deadline.com/2026/09/school-girls-or-the-african-mean-girls-play-broadway-review-when-escape-is-just-a-clique-away-1237114434/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "Jocelyn Bioh's play \"School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play\" has opened on Broadway at MTC's Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The play is set in a Ghana school lunch room where the rules of adolescent social hierarchy are strict. According to Deadline, the cruelties come fast and cut deep among the students.\n\nThe play explores themes of women's solidarity in the face of collective oppression, with a large female cast and few male roles. TheWrap notes that this play, along with others like \"Liberation\" and \"Jaja's African Hair Braiding\", differs from traditional \"chick flicks\" in its substance and focus on female relationships.\n\nDenée Benton, known for her role in HBO's \"The Gilded Age\", stars as the lead mean school girl, with Jasmine Amy Rogers playing a key role. The current Broadway cast is more star-studded than the ensemble that premiered Off Broadway in 2017.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 4,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "TheWrap",
        "title": "‘School Girls’ Broadway Review: Denée Benton Isn’t Just Mean, She’s a Teenage Lady Macbeth",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/school-girls-broadway-review-denee-benton-isnt-just-mean-shes-a",
        "published": "2026-09-29T01:30:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "Variety",
        "title": "‘School Girls; or, the African Mean Girls Play’ Broadway Review: An Exceptional Portrait of Black Girlhood",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/school-girls-or-the-african-mean-girls-play-broadway-review-an",
        "published": "2026-09-29T01:30:00.000Z"
      },
      {
        "outlet": "NYT Arts",
        "title": "Denée Benton and Patina Miller Help Give ‘School Girls’ a Broadway Glow-Up",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/29/denee-benton-and-patina-miller-help-give-school-girls-a-broadway-glow",
        "published": "2026-09-29T01:30:07.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}