About the Show

Filled with passion, humor, and raw honesty, playwright/poet Ntozake Shange’s form-changing choreopoem tells the stories of seven women of color using poetry, song, and movement.

From the show:

A groundbreaking work in modern American theater, FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, returns to The Public for the first time since it premiered in 1976, before its breakthrough run on Broadway.

Filled with passion, humor, and raw honesty, legendary playwright/poet Ntozake Shange’s form-changing choreopoem tells the stories of seven women of color using poetry, song, and movement. With unflinching honesty and emotion, each woman voices her survival story of having to exist in a world shaped by sexism and racism.

Obie Award winner Leah C. Gardiner (Born Bad, generations, If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must Be a Muhfucka) directs this seminal work that speaks to our world today about women’s struggles, strength, desires, resilience, and the sanctified magic of love and possibility.

Critic Reviews (14)

CRITIC’S PICK "Ntozake Shange’s Women Endure: The director Leah C. Gardiner delivers a warm and inspiriting revival of the landmark poetic drama, with a gloriously interdependent cast."
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4/5 Stars "The incantation begins with Ntozake Shange's singular text, first performed at the Public in 1976 and described as a 'choreopoem' by its creator. Shange's ingenious fusion of language, music and movement conjures one soul-stirring revelation after the next."
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"43 Years on, 'for colored girls…' Comes Alive at the Public Again"
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"Choreopoetry in Motion Ntozake Shange’s work about seven young women of color who reflect on their lives and problematic prospects gets a revival at the Public."
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"Ntozake Shange's 'For Colored Girls...' Is Still a Tragic, Joyous, Metaphysical Dilemma: The 40-year-old poetic play returns to its early home at the Public Theater under the direction of Leah C. Gardiner."
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"Ntozake Shange's Groundbreaking 'FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF' Returns To The Public"
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"The writing is defiant, angry, introspective, amused, sensual -- a passionate cascade of images and ideas from black women who, in 1976, were not typically invited downstage center, and who, in 2019, are still underrepresented."
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5/5 Stars "When 'For Colored Girls' opened at the Public Theater in June 1976, it was shocking, disturbing, disheartening, reassuring, life-giving, and an indisputable theatrical event. After 43 years it remains everything it was then, perhaps even more so."
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