released January 24, 2020

Original Soundtrack Inspired By The Portland Center Stage theater production of School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
Written by Jocelyn Bioh
Directed by Lava Alapai
Sound Designer: Phil Johnson
Original Music Produced by Luvjonez
* Denotes music used in the original production

School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play
The play will run from January 18 through February 16, 2020.
Portland Center Stage at The Armory
128 NW Eleventh Ave
Portland, OR 97209

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ABOUT THE PROJECT

Jocelyn Bioh’s hit comedy School Girls; Or, The African Mean Girls Play, comes to Portland in January 2020 in a historic co-production between Artists Repertory Theatre and Portland Center Stage at The Armory. Inspired in part by Bioh’s mother’s time in a boarding school in Ghana, and Bioh’s own experience in at a boarding school in Pennsylvania, School Girls tells the story of Paulina, the reigning Queen Bee at Ghana’s most
exclusive boarding school. Her dreams of winning the Miss Universe
pageant are threatened by the arrival of Ericka, a new student with
undeniable talent, beauty … and lighter skin. The New York Times
called Bioh’s biting play about the challenges facing teenage girls
across the globe “a gleeful African makeover of an American genre.”

PHIL JOHNSON, SOUND DESIGNER
Phil is a visual and theatrical artist based in Portland and the host of the podcast Radical Listening (Coho Productions). His recent productions include Redwood, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Portland Center Stage at The Armory); Cop Out, Hands Up (August Wilson Red Door Project); A Doll’s House, Part 2, Everybody, The Humans, An Octoroon (Artists Repertory Theatre); Twilight, Elliot: A Soldier’s Fugue, The Antigone Project (Profile Theatre); Worse Than Tigers (A Contemporary Theater/Red Stage); Watsonville, Lydia, Contigo Pan y Cebolla (Milagro Theatre). Phil has a B.F.A. and M.A. from Ohio University. If you enjoyed the show, please comment @philjohnsonlive or visit philjohnsondesignstheworld.com for more content and show playlists.

ABOUT THE MUSICAL INFLUENCES
Burger-Highlife is a distinctive form of highlife music created by Ghanaians immigrants to Germany. It is considered a Ghanaian musical style. In the 1980s, reggae music was gaining popularity worldwide and was carrying with it a growing popularity for other forms of world music that were easy to dance to. Highlife music, often fused with reggae, gained a wider audience in Europe and North America at this time. During the late 1970s-early 1980s, there was a massive exodus of Ghanaians such as Seidu Mohammed to foreign lands. One of the countries that attracted Ghanaians was Germany, with many making the cities of Berlin, Düsseldorf and Hamburg their second home. Burger-Highlife was born when Ghanaian musicians in Germany started collaborating with German musicians and producers. They created a crossover music style from highlife, disco and funk music.

© 2020 LUVJONEZ MUSIC, LLC.

℗ LUVJONEZ MUSIC; This Compilation ℗ 2020 LUVJONEZ MUSIC, LLC.