 |
School Girls or the African Mean Girls Play
at MCC Theater.
Credit: Craig Schwartz |
Manhattan Theater Club has announced two productions for its 2026-27 season: The Broadway premiere of Jocelyn Bioh's
School Girls; or The African Mean Girls Play and the American premiere of Nick Payne's
The Unbelievers.
School Girls debuts Off-Broadway at MCC Theater in 2017 and focuses on an elite all-girls school in Ghana where the students are obsessed with an upcoming beauty pageant. Previews begin Sept. 8 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theater. Whitney White who has staged Bioh's
Jaja's African Hair Braiding for MTC at the Friedman directs. Casting and an opening date TBA.
Off-Broadway, MTC presents Nick Payne's The Unbelievers at City Center Stage I with preview performances beginning Oct. 13. Tony nominee Knud Adams (English) directs. MTC previously presented Payne's Constellations and Incognito. The play is about a family dealing with the disappearance of their teenaged son and how it impacts their faith. Additional MTC productions for the 2026-27 season will be announced soon.
 |
Gun & Powder (now retitled Wanted)
at the Paper Mill Playhouse.
Credit: Jeremy Daniel |
In other 2026-27 Broadway news,
Wanted, the new musical formerly known as
Gun and Powder, will arrive at the James Earl Jones Theater this fall. Previews begin Oct. 15 prior to a Nov. 8 opening. Solea Pfeiffer (Hadestown) and Liisi LaFontaine (
Moulin Rouge in the West End) will star as Mary and Martha Clarke, African-American twin sisters who passed as white in 1893 Texas.
Wanted features a book and lyrics by Angelica Cheri (descendant of the Sisters Clarke), music by Ross Baum, and choreography by Chelsey Arce (
Sweeney Todd revival
, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child). Obie winner Stevie Walker-Webb directs.
Under the title Gun & Powder, the musical played the Paper Mill Playhouse in Spring 2024 and then had a workshop in June 2025.
Also, two-time Tony winner Kara Young (Purlie Victorious, Purpose) will join the cast of the revival of Proof, replacing Samira Wiley who had to withdraw due to a treatable medical condition. Young joins Ayo Edebiri, Don Cheadle and Jin Ha at the Booth Theater where previews begin March 31, opening April 16.
