for colored girls Playbill Art, 1977

Choreopoem for Colored Girls

Adorned in the colors of the rainbow, seven women electrified Broadway audiences in 1976 with an innovative blend of dance, music, poetry, and storytelling that placed African American women’s lives and voices in mainstream theater. Ntozake Shange’s (1948–2018) spectacular first play, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, was the second show by an African American woman to open on Broadway. In Shange’s powerful choreopoem, the seven female characters present poetic monologues conveying struggles with racism, sexism, and other forms of discrimination and violence, while the rainbow symbolizes the celebration of their survival and hope for a brighter future.