Mean Girls at a Miss Ghana Pageant; How the Bowery Became 'the Devil's Mile'

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In "School Girls: Or, the African Mean Girls Play," a group of students are competing to be selected for the Miss Ghana 1986 beauty pageant. Paulina ( Denée Benton ) thinks she is the shoe-in, and she lets everyone else know. But her reign as queen bee is threatened when a new student, Ericka, transfers in from the United States. Benton discusses the Broadway revival of the play alongside playwright Jocelyn Bioh and director Whitney White. "School Girls: Or, the African Mean Girls Play" is running now at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The Bowery has a long history in New York. The neighborhood's reputation has evolved with the city, as one of the world's most recognized slums, to later as…