Following the successful run of Jaja's African Hair Braiding on Broadway last year, Manhattan Theatre Company revived another Jocelyn Bioh play. Pleasant surprise, there was a discussion after the show with the playwright and director, now in their second collaboration. You know I love a Q&A. And I especially loved hearing about how the reception has changed over time, ten years after its original run Off-Broadway. We have different sensibilities now and so people laugh or sympathize with certain lines in new ways. The show is very funny. The girls are so mean. The accents are so good. It's especially jarring when Patina Miller arrives and she has this unplaceable accent that's not really African and nor really European or American. The show touches on colorism, racism, classism, fat-shaming and high school girls being teenagers. Remember Mean Girls features a white Lindsey Lohan from Africa? Well this play has a light-skinned black Jasmine Amy Rogers (who is extraordinary) from America recently moved to Ghana. The lead cast is stacked but the supporting cast is actually who really stood out. The supporting characters are all so quick-witted, they react to each other, and in their accents they sing-song rhythmically their one-liners. Wonderful show, go see it!
