Say Their Names: The Cast & Crew of For Colored Girls…
Ntozake Shange’s classic choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, has a gorgeous Broadway revival happening at the Booth Theatre now through June 5. Revival is a misnomer for the beauty, humor, and power this production brings to audiences. The vision and innovative approach of Camille A. Brown (Guggenheim Award, five Princess Grace Awards) makes this sisterhood celebration brand new.
A New Approach
From the first day of rehearsal, when the cast and crew are generally introduced at a meet-n-greet before sitting around a table to read the script, Ms. Brown did away with the table and scripts and had the ladies on their feet dancing through her vision. Putting the choreo first and foremost, Camille said,
… (for) Ntozake Shange, to really create a choreopoem where dance is leading… (is) extremely exciting.
The end result is literally breathtaking. After the opening company dance, but before any words are spoken, the actors stand stock-still and take a few deep breaths reminiscent of another culture classic, Waiting to Exhale. Okwui Okpokwasili (Lady in Green) explains that this shared breath creates a bond after two years of wearing masks and keeping a respectable distance.
…no songs can be sung (and no words can be spoken) without first taking a big breath.
Changing Perspective
After its 1976 Broadway premier, I heard that “for colored girls…” put black men down and aired dirty laundry. So, I had no desire to ever see it. Then in 1980, I heard about a choreopoem called “Comments” by Abiodun Oyewole (aka Dune of The Last Poets). By chance I got to meet Dune who told me that “Comments” addressed what he felt was negative and divisive about “for colored girls…” His play offered love and reconciliation between the genders and required both men and women in its telling. I never saw “Comments,” but I read the script and thought it was brilliant. So I wasn’t expecting the warmth, strength, absolution and comedy that was palpable in Ms. Brown’s storytelling. Camille said,
…these poems are so individual, but they require a great deal of sisterhood and empowering and holding space for each other while (they tell) these stories…
Ntozake Shange explores a myriad of female experiences that invoke joy, pain, love, loss, longing, hope, and hopelessness. Okwui explains that there are wonderful stories like D. Woods (Lady in Yellow) losing her virginity, and sweet stories like Tendayi Kuumba (Lady in Brown) reliving her childhood love of Toussaint Louveture, as well as tragic stories like Stacey Sargeant (Lady in Blue) getting an unsafe abortion.
The myopia of (those who dwell) on the negative, (receiving it as a personal attack), just means that they are not listening.
Okwui went on to note that the current situation with the Supreme Court (poised to overturn Roe vs Wade and make women slaves once more to male prerogatives) puts a whole new spin on the verse Somebody Almost Walked Off With All My Stuff:
… this is mine, it’s not yours… Taking my stuff from me doesn’t make it yours, hell, it makes it stolen.
Seven TONY Nominations
In 2019, Camille Brown was the first female African-American choreographer to be nominated for a TONY award in 26 years (”Choir Boy”), after Marlies Yearby in 1996 (“Rent”). In 2022, Ms. Brown is the first African-American woman to both direct and choreograph a Broadway show in over 65 years, after Katherine Dunham and Her Company (revival) in 1955. In 2022, “for colored girls…” has garnered 7 TONY Nominations including Best Director and Best Choreographer to Camille A. Brown, and Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play to Kenita R. Miller (Lady in Red).
The most amazing thing about Ms. Miller’s work is that she is 9 months pregnant, so she’s performing for two. Her baby is due at the end of May, yet she shows up everyday, radiant, energetic, beautiful, and brazen. She magnifies the message of …colored girls… : that we can do any and everything. Pregnancy is not a handicap or disability. Alexandria Wailes (Lady in Purple) who is deaf, also perfectly embodies what Camille described as the ladies,
holding space for each other.
When Alexandria signs her verses, adding another dimension to the already exquisite choreography, the other ladies speak for her with Amara Granderson (Lady in Orange) as the principal translator. In almost every show, Okwui receives multiple ovations during and after her big “…My Stuff” poem. I asked if she felt slighted by not receiving a TONY nod. Okwui chuckled and said,
No. Kenita is a force and an inspiration who deserves the recognition. But really, whatever (accolades) any one of us gets, we all get. We are one (unit), each relying on everyone else.
So the entire cast is nominated through Kenita Miller’s nomination. How beautiful is that?
Say Their Names
I think that a special TONY award for Best Ensemble should be created for equally impeccable casts like this one: Amara Granderson, Tendayi Kuumba, Kenita R. Miller, Okwui Okpokwasili, Stacey Sargeant, Alexandria Wailes, and D. Woods. The closing may be extended a second time, but maybe not. So, if you haven’t seen it already, catch a performance before June 5th. Then when The TONY winners are announced June 12, 2022, say their names.
Read Perri Gaffney’s reviews of Skin of Our Teeth and MJ The Musical.