"Ever since I realized it was something called a "Colored Girl" an evil woman, a bitch or a nag, I've been trying not to be that & leave bitterness in somebody else's cup..." I was introduced to the script "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf..." by Ntozake Shange my 11th grade year in High School. Sweet 16. I wasn't even a woman yet & I faced this material as the next main stage production at my school. I was cast as Lady in Orange, who "danced the BATA"! Yes...with a 16 year old innocence I tackled issues of rape, abortion, prostitution, and murder all of which I had never experienced before...gratefully. I played the role but had yet to experience what it meant to be colored and a woman trying to coincide in the world. After the production ended I stored the material in the back of my mind, added the play to my resume, and continued on dwelling in my 16 year old innocence.
Time passed and I quickly blossomed into a colored woman in the world. To make it sound nice for you politically correct, 21st century Black feminists I quickly blossomed into a "Black woman" in the world. College, relationships, racism, disappointments and more. My 16 year old innocence has metamorphosed into 27 year old resentment. The stories in For Colored Girls mean more to me today than they did 11 years ago or they will 11 years from now.
This is why I was so excited to see Tyler Perry's adaptation of the play brought to the big screen. Of course many in the Black artistic community doubted Tyler Perry's ability to achieve this goal. On opening night I was ready. I was out of town but I made it a point to make sure seeing the film was in my plans. I ended up at a theatre that many would deem "hood-rich". The smell of Vienna sausage and Similac perfumed the air. I headed to the last row, sat down, and immediately updated Twitter on my whereabouts. A security guard came flying out of nowhere and flashed his trusty flashlight on me and said, "No cellphones!" A little startled I chuckled to myself. I looked around at the audience and immediately thought about W.E.B DuBois's "double consciousness" theory and how Black folks have to always look at one's self through the eyes of others. Here we have a Black filmmaker, who has made a Black film, about Black women with an audience full of Black people. In that moment I felt liberated from the "double consciousness" theory. We now have the choice to watch stories about us told by us. We no longer have to go see Angelina Jolie as Cleopatra if we don't want to.
I watched the film with an open mind. Leaving all previous conversation I had with fellow artists behind. The cast was amazing but the script was weak. To take a choreopoem and try to make a screenplay that is appealing to your "type" of audience is a very difficult task. I respect the risk Mr. Perry took because not many have the confidence to take that risk. The elements of ensemble, of self discovery, and most importantly prose was lost. However, the stories of triumph in spite of trial remained the same.
I urge everyone who has not read Ntozake's original piece to read it and see a stage production of it. To the Black artistic community: I challenge you to take more risks. Its easy for us to criticize another artists work but do we have the confidence to take risks and produce work to get criticized? Or are we just sitting around criticizing moves we wish we made? Think about it...
....And this is For Colored Girls who are shaping their own rainbows circumferenced by a prayer that Kimberly Elise will get an Oscar nod.
