for colored girls: the 40-year-old masterwork that’s still captivating audiences

In the first five minutes of the late artist Ntozake Shange’s masterwork, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf, a character makes plea of witness and recognition:

“somebody/ anybody

sing a black girl’s song

…

bring her out

to know herself”

for colored girls, as a work, is the answer, a cannon-creating work that blends poetry and movement, along with other storytelling elements, to illuminate the lived experience of Black women. First conceived in 1974, the play is rightfully revered as one of the most important pieces in theater to date, but also for its unquantifiable influence.