The Arts: For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf

“Extraordinary and wonderful! Ntozake Shange writes with such exquisite care and beauty that anyone can relate to her message.”

~The New York Times

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf is a 1975 an award-winning unique stage play by Ntozake Shange (En-toe- ZAK-kay SHONG-gay) touching on tales of the African-American woman’s journey in America. The play was made into a TV movie in 1982 and starred Lynn Whitfield and Alfre Woodard. Besides winning the Obie and Tony, Emmy, and Grammy Award nominations, the work introduced a new theatrical form called the choreopoem. Structurally, For Colored Girls is a series of twenty sharp and bone-chilling performances of poems performed through a cast of nameless women, each known only by a color- Lady in Brown, Lady in Yellow, Lady in Purple, Lady in Red, Lady in Green, Lady in Blue and Lady in Orange. Born Paulette Williams, Ntozake Shange attended Barnard College (B.A., 1970) and the University of Southern California (M.A., 1973). She taught humanities, women’s studies, and Afro-American studies at California colleges from 1972 to 1975. During this period she also made public appearances as a dancer and reciter of poetry. Her 1975 theatre piece For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf quickly brought her fame.

For additional information please visit www.ikamproductions.com