For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf

Ntozake Shange’s 1977 choreopoem, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” rocked audiences when it was initially staged in California and later on Broadway. It has since been performed on stage countless times around the world and was recently adapted into a film directed by Tyler Perry. Directors, actors and audiences are still drawn to Shange’s lyrical writing and creative staging, which offers compassionate African-American female perspectives on sex, relationships, race and violence. The play is currently on stage at Burning Coal Theater in Raleigh. Host Frank Stasio discusses the production with director Karen Dacons-Brock, choreographer Cynthia Penn and actors Kyma Lassiter and Tara Whitney Rison.