Denée Benton and Jasmine Amy Rogers Discuss their ‘Ravenous and Feral’ characters in ‘School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play’
David Buchanan
“It’s so fun to release my inner bad bitch,” confesses Tony Award nominee Denée Benton about portraying Paulina in the upcoming Broadway production of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play. Penned by Jocelyn Bioh roughly a decade ago, the drama takes place in the Aburi Girls Boarding School in Ghana in 1986 and centers on Benton’s Paulina, the bossy and manipulative leader of a clique.
Shortly after the play begins, Paulina squares off with Ericka, (fellow Tony nominee Jasmine Amy Rogers), a new pupil at the school who arrives in Ghana from the U.S. just in time to be considered for the upcoming Miss Ghana pageant.
The Manhattan Theatre Club production, which begins previews next week on Tuesday, September 8, and officially opens on September 28, boasts an acclaimed ensemble which also includes Tony winner Patina Miller and industry veteran Heather Alicia Simms under the direction of Tony nominee Whitney White, Bioh’s collaborator on the 2023 Broadway production of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding.
The Windowcard attended the official School Girls press day on Monday, August 17, roughly one week after rehearsals on the Broadway production began, and spoke with both Benton and Rogers about their antithetical characters, playing against type, their past and future Broadway roles, Benton’s work in the upcoming season of The Gilded Age, and more. Read our lighted-edited discussion below:
The Windowcard: What were your immediate reactions to either seeing or reading School Girls for the first time?
Denée Benton: It was actually the first off-Broadway play I ever saw when I moved to the city. I just remember laughing so hard and then all of a sudden, I was weeping. I think it’s a testament to the incredible playwright that Jocelyn is, she just writes structure so impeccably that you don’t even realize the journey you’re on until you wish it wasn’t over yet.
Jasmine Amy Rogers: When I first heard it was coming to Broadway, I got the audition and then I read the play. You don’t always get to do that; a lot of projects, you don’t get the script. I remember just thinking how smart it was, and even though it was a comedy, it dealt with these really serious things, and I thought that was really, really special. Jocelyn did a beautiful job.
Denée, I’d wager that most audiences have never had the chance to see you play a character like Paulina before. Are you relishing this opportunity to be delicious and catty?
Benton: Yes, it’s so fun! It’s so fun to release my inner bad bitch and get to be so ravenous and feral for what I want, which I relate to as a person, but I put on a cuter mask than Paulina, and I love having to get to take the mask off.
Are there particularly delicious lines that you’re having the most fun figuring out and playing with in the rehearsal room? What scenes are you most excited for people to see once performances begin?
Benton: I’m really excited for when everything falls apart at the pageant, and we get to see them all lose their freakin’ minds. I love seeing them also just get to be girls together when we’re feral and screaming about Bobby Brown, [there are] just so many really delightful nuggets that I think capture their humanity, incredibly.
Jasmine, unlike Paulina, your character Ericka reads on the page as warm and goodhearted. During rehearsals, what have you enjoyed most about playing her?
Rogers: I’m really enjoying finding [the] feeling of being thrust into a new environment and what that does to somebody that’s so young and the enjoyment of this moment in her life where she’s meeting these new people for the first time and experiencing this friendship for the first time with these other Black women. It’s been really cool, and I’m just excited to keep finding out more about her and the things that make her human. I think that’s what finally brings a character to life is creating a true human, and so I’m really excited to find more about her.
Take us inside the rehearsal room with this extraordinary ensemble.
Rogers: It’s been incredible. These young women specifically are so incredible—everybody—but watching them because its four people’s Broadway debuts, three of which are in their early 20s, one of which is in her 30s, and they are just brilliant. Broadway’s not the end goal, of course, it doesn’t have to be this big thing, it’s a possible journey on your path to greatness, but I’m still astounded that this is their Broadway debuts and they’re so capable. It’s really, really exciting.
Denée, this is the first non-musical that you’ve done on Broadway after Hamilton, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, and Into the Woods. How does it feel to flex a little bit of a different muscle in a drama?
Benton: It’s so fun to do an ensemble play. It’s so fun to do something that’s 75-minutes with no intermission. You know, I’ve done three-hour musicals where you’re fighting for your life! I’m excited to get on the rollercoaster and just ride the stamina. I think it will be a different game.
Believe it or not, it is almost ten years since the Broadway production of The Great Comet, with its extraordinary physical production and wonderful cast. What do you remember most fondly about the show and your Tony Award nomination?
Benton: I think it’s one of the greatest written musicals of the twenty-first century. It’s so brilliant and original, and I just feel really honored to get to be a part of theater history in that way. It’s so dynamic and one-of-a-kind.
Jasmine, you’ve had such an extraordinary year-and-a-half between BOOP! The Musical, for which you also earned a Tony nomination, The Wild Party, and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. What facets of those shows and characters, if any, helped you find Ericka in School Girls?
Rogers: A little bit of Olive [from Spelling Bee]. There’s a shyness when Ericka first enters that I definitely think Olive is familiar with. All the women I play, I try to bring myself to them, so she’ll of course have me in her.
You’re also bound for a brilliant Broadway season between School Girls and The Sound of Music at Lincoln Center Theater in the spring. How do you encapsulate everything you’ve accomplished so far and what’s to come?
Rogers: It’s been a whirlwind! It’s everything I ever dreamed of and more, and even though I dreamt of it, I never imagined it would be happening the way that it is. It’s an honor and excitement and I’m really proud of myself. It’s been hard for me to get to this point, but I’m really proud.
Finally, Denée, I must ask about the fourth season of The Gilded Age, which will be premiering soon. What do you admire most about your character Peggy, now that you’ve portrayed her for four seasons?
Benton: I just think Peggy’s a Renaissance woman. She doesn’t use cruelty to get what she wants like Paulina [from School Girls], but she is equally committed to creating the life of her dreams. For a woman in the 1800s, for a Black woman in the 1800s, it’s radical to live that way now, and to get to watch a woman do that who represents people who actually did [it] feels like I’m tapping into this well of strength that I also get to pull from for myself. Peggy means more to me than I could ever express, and I think she means a lot to the people who watch her, too, of all demographics, and it’s really special.
Not to mention getting to play opposite Audra McDonald, Christine Baranski, and the rest of the incredible cast of theatre veterans.
Benton: The mothers! It’s so special, and Peggy really gets to take up a lot of space this season, and I feel like I’ve gotten to be a little quiet co-producer on her storylines from Season 1, and for all of that behind-the-scenes work to pay off into this ecosystem of the Black world blossoming feels like a dream come true.