MEAN GIRLS and Young Women's Leadership Network Partner On Annual 'Fearless Leaders' Initiative

The 12-time Tony Award-nominated Best Musical Mean Girls will partner with Young Women's Leadership Network (YWLN) on "Fearless Leaders" annual initiative beginning this September.

Young Women's Leadership Network supports The Young Women's Leadership Schools (TYWLS), a high-performing network of 5 New York City all-girls 6th-12th grades public schools that provides quality student learning opportunities in and out of school. The Young Women's Leadership Schools empower young women to achieve their dreams of higher education, and to fulfill their learning and leadership potential. Each year, Mean Girls provides over 500 students across all five New York City school districts the opportunity to attend a matinee performance of the show at a reduced rate of $10 per ticket. The students, some who will be experiencing their first Broadway show, will also get the chance to meet the cast in an interactive talkback following the performance.

The "Fearless Leaders" initiative will go even further to include in-school visit by Mean Girls cast members to bring lessons from the show into the classroom via interactive workshops and discussions. Teachers in the TYWLS have also been invited to see the production prior to the student trip to help plan student curriculum around the themes of the show, with potential focus on relational aggression and bullying. Mean Girls is committed to providing accessible tickets and programming on an ongoing, annual basis, to ensure that TYWLS students see the show throughout their high school tenure.

Produced by Lorne Michaels, Stuart Thompson, Sonia Friedman, and Paramount Pictures, Mean Girls features a book by nine-time Emmy Award winner Tina Fey, based on her screenplay for the film, music by three-time Emmy Award winner Jeff Richmond; and lyrics by two-time Tony Award nominee Nell Benjamin. Tony Award winner Casey Nicholaw directs and choreographs.

Mean Girls on Broadway is now nominated for 12 Tony Awards, including Best Musical; Best Book for Tina Fey; Best Original Score for Jeff Richmond and Nell Benjamin; Best Direction of a Musical and Best Choreography for Casey Nicholaw. Fey is this year's Outer Critics Circle Award winner for Outstanding Book of a Musical. The production is also nominated for 10 Drama Desk Awards and 3 Drama League Awards including Best Musical, along with 3 Helen Hayes (Washington D.C.) Awards including Outstanding Visiting Production.

Mean Girls opened on Broadway last month to rave reviews at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street), where it has played to sold-out houses since beginning previews in March. The show had its world premiere at the National Theatre in Washington D.C., playing a sold-out run October 31 to December 3, 2017. It was recently announced that Mean Girls will launch a National Tour in the fall of 2019.

The Broadway cast is led by Erika Henningsen as Cady Heron, Taylor Louderman as Regina George, Ashley Park as Gretchen Wieners, Kate Rockwell as Karen Smith, Barrett Wilbert Weed as Janis Sarkisian, Grey Henson as Damian Hubbard, Kerry Butler as Mrs. Heron / Ms. Norbury / Mrs. George, Kyle Selig as Aaron Samuels, Cheech Manohar as Kevin Gnapoor, Rick Younger as Mr. Duvall. The cast also includes Stephanie Lynn Bissonnette, Tee Boyich, Collins Conley, Ben Cook, DeMarius R. Copes, Kevin Csolak, Devon Hadsell, Curtis Holland, Myles McHale, Chris Medlin, Brittany Nicholas, Becca Petersen, Nikhil Saboo, Jonalyn Saxer, Brendon Stimson, Riza Takahashi, Kamille Upshaw, Zurin Villanueva, Gianna Yanelli, and Iain Young.

Cady Heron may have grown up on an African savanna, but nothing prepared her for the wild and vicious ways of her strange new home: suburban Illinois. How will this naïve newbie rise to the top of the popularity pecking order? By taking on The Plastics, a trio of lionized frenemies led by the charming but ruthless Regina George. But when Cady devises a plan to end Regina's reign, she learns the hard way that you can't cross a Queen Bee without getting stung.

Mean Girls' creative team includes Scott Pask (Set Design), Gregg Barnes (Costume Design), Kenneth Posner (Lighting Design), Brian Ronan (Sound Design), Finn Ross & Adam Young (Video Design), Josh Marquette (Hair Design), Milagros Medina-Cerdeira (Make-Up Design), Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Music Director), John Clancy(Orchestrations), Glen Kelly (Dance and Incidental Music Arrangements), Mary-Mitchell Campbell, Jeff Richmond, and Natalie Tenenbaum (Vocal Arrangements), Howard Joines (Music Coordinator), and Telsey + Co / Bethany Knox, CSA (Casting).

Mean Girls is produced by Lorne Michaels, Stuart Thompson, Sonia Friedman, Paramount Pictures, Marisa Sechrest, Ars Nova Entertainment, Berlind Productions, Steve Burke, Scott M. Delman, Roy Furman, Robert Greenblatt, Ruth Hendel, JAM Theatricals, The John Gore Organization, The Lowy Salpeter Company, James L. Nederlander, Christine Schwarzman, Universal Theatrical Group.

Mean Girls (Original Broadway Cast Recording), produced by Atlantic Records, is now available for digital pre-orders and pre-saves at digital retailers nationwide, ahead of the album's Friday, May 18 digital release date. Physical albums will arrive in stores nationwide on Friday, June 15. For a full track listing, cover art, and additional details on the Cast Recording, please visit http://www.atlanticrecords.com/meangirls.

Young Women's Leadership Network (YWLN) made history in 1996 by establishing The Young Women's Leadership School of East Harlem - the first single-sex public school to open in the United States in more than 30 years. Since its inception, YWLN has established five Young Women's Leadership Schools in New York City and has 15 affiliate schools around the country. Through its network of 20 schools, we serve more than 8,500 girls nationwide, many of whom will be the first in their family to attend college. According to an independent study, TYWLS New York City students enroll in college at twice the rate of their peers and attain bachelor degrees at four times the rate.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus