Afterthought Theatre Company presents Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" directed by Reynelda Snell and Choreographed by Lea Chapman.
This groundbreaking "choreopoem" is a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women. Capturing the brutal, tender and dramatic lives of contemporary Black women, For Colored Girls... offers a transformative, riveting evening of provocative dance, music and poetry. Premiered by the Henry Street Settlement, Joseph Papp's Public Theatre and later on Broadway.
The cast Stephanie Hancock as Lady in Brown, Shelley McMillion as Lady in Red/Orange, ZZ Moore as Lady in Blue/Purple, Kenya Pollard as Lady in Green/Orange and Reynelda Snell as Lady in Yellow/Orange. Ntozake Shange (pronounced en-to-zaki shong-gay) was born Paulette Williams in Trenton, New Jersey on October 18, 1948. In 1971 she changed her name to Ntozake Shange which means "she who comes with her own things" and "she who walks like a lion" in Xhosa, the Zulu language. In 1966 Shange enrolled at Barnard College and separated from her husband, a law student. She attempted suicide several times. Nonetheless, she graduated cum laude in American Studies in 1970 and entered the University of Southern California at Los Angeles, where she earned a master's degree in American Studies in 1973. In addition to her plays, she has written poetry, novels, and essays. She has taught at California State College, the City College of New York, the University of Houston, Rice University, Yale, Howard, and New York University. Among her many awards are an Obie, a Los Angeles Time Book Prize for Poetry, and a Pushcart Prize.
Clockwise from left: Reynelda Snell, ZZ Moor, Shelly McMillion, Kenya Pollard and Stephanie Hancock (Center)
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