(Zama Mbanjwa, Slindo Zondo, Nelly Ntaka,
Ndalo Mchunu and Yolanda Glover)
The
award winning play, for colored girls who
have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf… by Ntozake Shange, will
be staged by Role Models Talent at the BAT Centre for a short run.
“for colored girls...” is a series of 20
poems, collectively called a "choreopoem" and Shange's poetry
expresses the many struggles and obstacles that African-American women face
throughout their lives. It is performed by a cast of seven women characters,
each of whom is known only by a colour such as "Lady in Yellow," and
"Lady in Purple". The poems deal with love, abandonment, rape, and
abortion, embodied by each woman's story and the end of the play brings
together all of the women for "a laying on of hands," in which Shange
evokes the power of womanhood as the Lady in Red begins the mantra "I
found God in myself/and I loved her/I loved her fiercely."
Having
recently played to packed houses in Kenya, the play began as an Off-Broadway
cult hit and then transferred to Broadway where it was nominated for a Tony
Award for Best Play of 1977 and won an Award for Distinguished Production for
Ntozake Shange, Oz Scott, the director as well as for the cast. It was recently
adapted for film by Tyler Perry and the stage production is regularly performed
around the world and is a favourite with young drama students with Shange
commenting “my friends like to joke that not a day goes by when some young
woman somewhere isn’t doing a for coloured girls monologue, making the voice
her own, finding her own infinite beauty once again.”
The play
is directed by local theatre practitioner and agent, Ian Gareth Hadfield, and features
an exciting young cast comprising Noluthando Kubeka, Ndalo Mchunu, Slindo
Zondo, Yolanda Glover, Zama Mbanjwa, Nelly Ntaka, and Phumelele Majola.
for colored girls who have considered
suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf… runs at the Sipho Gumede Hall, BAT Centre, 45 Maritime Place, Victoria
Embankment, Durban from November 7 to 10. Unreserved tickets R110 available at
Computicket or from http://www.role-models.co.za/for-colored-girls.html Further information from Ian
Gareth Hadfield of Role Models on 078 901 8661 or info@role-models.co.za
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