50 years after ‘for colored girls,’ an original cast member brings it to Spelman
Fifty years after helping develop playwright Ntozake Shange’s groundbreaking “for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf,” Aku Kadogo is introducing the work to a new generation.
Kadogo, a cast member of the original 1976 show, is directing the landmark choreopoem at Spelman College.
The production will be the first time it’s been staged at the school in more than 40 years.
Reconnecting with the text has allowed Kadogo, the former chair of the Spelman theater department and now a senior lecturer, to reconsider her friend’s genius and the rawness of Shange’s storytelling.
“Zake was very generous with her knowledge, and her words and her time,” said Kadogo, using Shange’s nickname. “She got her voice out there.”
How ‘for colored girls’ found its voice
In 1975, Shange and choreographer Paula Moss brought the series of poems from California to New York in an attempt to make the collection something bigger.
The piece explicitly addresses sexual assault, domestic violence, reproductive rights, racism and sexism.
Kadogo was a dance student enrolled at New York University when she joined the project, initially as an improvisational dancer.
In the beginning, the poems stood alone, but members of the original cast helped organize them into the stories of seven women. Their signature colors emerged when costume designer Judy Dearing brought in dresses inspired by the rainbow in the title.
Kadogo became the Lady in Yellow, the youngest character, who tells a story about losing her virginity on the night of her high school graduation.
“I was young,” Kadogo said. “Yellow is spring and vitality and youth.”
As the women share their stories in a series of monologues, they interact with one another — moving in sync to demonstrate how their struggles overlap.
“We were all sisters in this trench,” said Kadogo, who still has a copy of the original 1975 script, which her mother keeps.
In 1976, “for colored girls” made its debut at the New Federal Theatre in New York City.
That same year, “for colored girls” made its Broadway premiere at the Booth Theatre, becoming just the second play written by a Black woman to reach Broadway.
The production was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and, in 1977, Trazana Beverly became the first Black woman to win a Tony for “Best Featured Actress in a Play” for her role as the Lady in Red.
Over the decades, performers Mary Alice, Lynn Whitfield, Alfre Woodard and others appeared in productions of the play.
In 2009, Jasmine Guy directed an Atlanta production starring Robin Givens and Nicole Ari Parker. Tyler Perry brought the work to the big screen in 2010 with a cast that included Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson and Loretta Devine.
A new generation finds its own voice
Spelman last staged the work during the 1981-82 academic year.
Now, five decades after helping shape the original production, Kadogo faces a new challenge: guiding seven Spelman students through a work she knows intimately while allowing them to discover their own interpretations.
Kadogo said she had to remind herself the ever-evolving play is a series of poems and should be open to interpretation.
“I was a little reluctant at first in directing it, in the sense that I didn’t want to replicate what I know so intrinsically,” she said.
The ensemble features Noldine Belizaire, Nemiah Dawson, Maddison Gardner, Nylla Miller, Kelsi Ridley, Jamyria Simmons and Dana Karyn.
Karyn, a junior who plays the Lady in Orange, said Shange created a world that remains honest and authentic to Black women’s experiences.
“(The play) really does transcend and carry through generations,” she said. “I can visualize women in my life. I can see myself in every single story.”
Play’s themes have particular resonance today
At Spelman and neighboring Morehouse College, students have recently raised concerns about how administrators respond to sexual assault allegations, echoing some of the struggles portrayed in the play.
Kadogo said sexual assault, along with abortion, domestic violence and PTSD are issues that transcend generations.
“For colored girls” gives the language to discuss those heavy topics.
“It really does sing a Black girl’s song,” Kadogo said.
Simmons, a sophomore who plays the Lady in Yellow, said she has seen real-life examples from the play, even though it’s been 50 years since it was first performed.
“Each story has an inkling of something that happens now,” she said. “I could see those things happening to people — happening to me. … It’s a wide range of emotions that every young Black woman could experience.”
Kadogo said the poetry digs beyond the surface to help Black women see themselves a little better.
“It’s a poem. A poem emanates from the inside out,” Kadogo said. “It’s making this beautiful, thoughtful language about situations in life.”
Spelman’s production will be staged at the LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center. Richardson Jackson played the Lady in Red during the show’s first national tour.
The anniversary celebration will also feature a panel on the play’s cultural legacy, with guests that include Trazana Beverly, choreographer Dianne McIntyre, Broadway director Oz Scott and 2022 Broadway revival cast member Tendayi Kuumba, followed by a tribute to Shange, who died in 2018.
“Going back and looking at the maturity of these words and what she knew and what she cared to document, she was a visionary,” Kadogo said.
IF YOU GO
“for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf”
When: Wednesday, Nov. 11, through Sunday, Nov. 15.
Where: Baldwin Burroughs Theatre (LaTanya Richardson Jackson and Samuel L. Jackson Performing Arts Center at Spelman College). 440 Westview Drive SW, Atlanta.
Cost: $5-$15, with a $50 donation night (see website for times and prices)