For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enu f Ntozake Shange’s most well-known play, For Colored Girls, was first performed in New York in a jazz loft and later in small bars. It opened at the Studio Rio bea in July of 1975. The following year it opened at not only the New Federal Theatre and the New York Shakespeare’s Company Anspacher Public Theatre, but also the Booth Theatre on Broadway. Seven characters, each representing life in a different city, are presented on a bare stage. It is a choreopoem of twenty short poems connected by issues of race and gender, with dance and music integrated into. It is a discussion on social problems in the African American culture.
The play includes black women who have been physically and emotionally hurt-abused, raped, seduced, lied to, and looked down upon-yet they are surviving after. The choreopoem depicts black men and encourages women to develop self-worth and respect, and to enjoy sisterhood. Some scenes in the play include a woman remembering a terrible incident of child abuse, another woman dealing with abortion, and a young girl obsessed with a rebellious hero. It shows struggle and success in a straight forward style which make the audience feel the emotion on stage.
The women in this show are the rainbows after a heavy rain or storm. The have all survived the storm, and although there may be more storms along the way they stand up after each one and represent beauty and strength which gives other women and young women motivation and support. Shange says she “writes for young girls of color, for girls who don’t even exist yet, so that there is something there for them when they arrive. I concentrate on giving this to young people because they are the treasures of black culture.” For Colored Girls has received awards such as: Obie Award Outer Critics Circle Award Au delco Award Mademoiselle Award It has been nominated for: Tony Award Emmy Award Grammy Award For Colored Girls is still performed today..