FOR COLORED GIRLS... American Sign Language and Dramaturgy

Written by Ntozake Shange
Directed by Leah C. Gardiner
Choreography by Camille A. Brown

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.

WATCH: Director of American Sign Language for the production, Onudeah “Oni” Nicolarakis and Line Producer, Garlia Cornelia Jones, who also wrote the dramaturgy note in the playbill, discuss choreopoem as a dramatic form and the process of incorporating ASL into this production of FOR COLORED GIRLS…

*Please note that the use of captions best reflects the American Sign Language and not the voiced speech.*

Dramaturgy