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Nearly four decades after its debut, “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf” – the groundbreaking play that evokes the power of womanhood – will be interpreted by a new generation of Boston College students in a campus production being staged at Robsham Theater March 19-23.
The eight-member cast is garnering first-hand knowledge and insights from the play’s guest artist, Robbie McCauley, a nationally known performance artist who acted in the award-winning 1976 Broadway production of “For Colored Girls.” She is serving this semester as the University’s Monan Professor in Theatre Arts.
Directed by Associate Professor of Theatre John Houchin, the production is choreographed by Pam Newton, a dancer who has choreographed many University shows.
A dramatic and powerful work first performed in 1975, “For Colored Girls” is a series of 20 poems — called a “choreopoem” by author Ntozake Shange — and embraces the experience of all women of color. These “dark phrases of womanhood,” as Shange describes her poems, tell of the complications and sorrows, as well as the joys and hopes carried by these women.
“In her poems, Ntozake Shange told the story of black women who face the struggle to engage their lives as fully realized persons,” said Houchin. “Almost 40 years later, this cast of Boston College women is giving their interpretation of how this poet’s voice speaks to them. I am really thrilled to have played a part in making this project happen.”
“For Colored Girls” includes music and dance, and presents the audience with an intimate vision of the decisions, loves and prayers that the women take on throughout their lives. Each character faces unique challenges: One finds herself thrown onto a riverboat stage, roiling with drunken white gamblers; another, a dancer who “kept smilin’ and right on steppin’,” deals with an ill-fated partnership; a third young woman’s life is changed when she is attacked by someone she thought was a friend.
Issues of race, gender and identity are explored in a passionate, rhythmical voice throughout the play; each character uses dance and poetry to move past adversity into a full life. Evolving from ancient mythologies of femininity and connected to the experiences of women living now, the play is bound to the poet’s own depth and personality, say the production organizers. Shange mines the mislaid, difficult and misunderstood stories of deities, nannies, artists and others, and celebrates their steps, grimaces, struts and poems in an unforgettable piece of lyric theater.
The Broadway production won the Obie Award and was nominated for a Tony Award. A 2010 film adaptation, directed by Tyler Perry, featured an all-star ensemble cast.
“The young women who have been cast for the Boston College production show an impressive range of talent and intelligence in their work on Shange’s now-classic play,” McCauley said.
“When I was honored to participate in its Broadway production over three decades ago, I knew we were in a revolutionary cultural moment, but did not imagine how relevant its themes would remain, not only ‘for colored girls,’ but for the society-at-large.”
The Boston College student cast includes Raven Tillman ’14, juniors Ashlie Pruitt and Sydney McNeil; Toluwase Oladapo ’16; seniors Monica Wright and Ashley Branch, Medina Geyer ’16 and Kate Henry ’15, an exchange student from the University of Glasgow. Assisting with choreography is Johanna Facada ’14.
“BC’s diverse cast,” McCauley said, “continues to teach and learn with each other, which the play allows for, and to work diligently to enlighten and entertain.”
McCauley – who, as guest artist, serves as the production’s dramaturge and acting teacher – began her theater work in the late 1960s with Negro Ensemble Company in New York City. During her career, she has combined writing, directing and performing with teaching, most recently at Emerson College, where she is now a professor emeritus. McCauley is regarded as a pioneer in an innovative mode of theatrical performance that has become commonplace in 21st-century American theater: the use of personal and family narratives to create an extended monologue written and presented by a solo performer.
An OBIE Award playwright for her most famous work, “Sally’s Rape,” McCauley is an acclaimed performance artist and director. Her most recent play, “Sugar,” chronicles her lifelong struggle with diabetes while ruminating on the role of slavery in the Caribbean sugar trade. “Sugar,” which she performed at BC in December, received wide critical praise, while McCauley earned an Independent Reviewers of New England Award for its staging at ArtsEmerson in Boston, under the direction of Maureen Shea.
For performance times and ticket purchases, see www.bc.edu/robsham or call 617-552-4002. Adult tickets are $15 and $10 for students. Seating is very limited.