Critically Acclaimed For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Rainbow Is Enuf Tells Of The Commonality Of Suicide For The Oppressed
Years on, writer Ntozake Shanges 1975 play is still as poignant and harrowing as ever. The story began as a series of poetic monologues that highlighted and dissected women battling through oppression in a racist and sexist world. Several women are intertwined in a tale depicting their struggles through violence, rape and abandonment.
The play that began as twenty poems choreographed to music made its stage debut in California in 1974 at Joseph Papps Public Theater and then went to Broadway, where it was an immediate success and received an Obie Award. When the production reached Broadway in 1976 it was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. In 1977, the play won several awards including a Theatre World Award, a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Lighting Design.