‘For Colored Girls’ explores racial and gender identity

In a scene from the choreographed poem “For Colored Girls,” seven women are standing in line, and the “Lady in Brown” gives a short monologue about the struggle of a prototypical black girl across America in the 1970s while the remaining six women dance, depicting her narrative.

“For Colored Girls,” a production ofNtozake Shang'sfor colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," is being brought to the Princeton stage this weekend. The performance is directed byScot Tasker ’16 and produced by Martina Fouquet ’16 and Naimah Hakim ’16, president of BAC|Drama.Scot and Martina’s show remains true to Shange’s choreopoem/play, later adapted to film, and tells the tale of seven different women who are differentiated by colors, not by name.

How to summarize the choreopoem’s scope?For Tasker and Fouquet, a line from Shange’s choreopoem reflects the show's theme: “bein alive & bein a woman & bein colored is a metaphysical dilemma i havnt conquered yet.”

While “Black Lives Matter”-themed events have been prominent on campus lately, the purpose of the show is not to showcase the theme of “Black Lives Matter” per se, but rather, as Fouquet, the producer, said, “This is an important work because it’s another venue for black people to see minority on stage, which is something we don’t always have.”

That said, for actor Amber Stewart ’15, who plays “Lady in Orange,” the event was a way to be involved in the black community.

“I was studying abroad, and I would see online all the things that my friends were getting up to and feel very disconnected, and so when I came back, I really wanted to become connected to the black community in a meaningful way,” Stewart said.

Organizing a show with seven actors has not been without its challenges. Tasker’s primary concern was determining the time and the space for the show because they had to make sure every actor was available at set times, and they had to make sure the space was intimate enough to suit the play. Tasker went on to say, “One challenge of the show was trying to strip away what people think they should be doing so they can connect with their inner vulnerability.”

Tasker also commented on the style of the play, the way it is written and its tone as being potentially challenging to channel on the stage. “There is very little stage direction in the text, there is a lot of freedom within the words, and in the tone,” Tasker said. To overcome this challenge, “you have to sort of step back from it and let it do the work,” they said.

Fouquet added, “These poems are free range almost in a way that they can be interpreted in multiple ways.” But despite the challenges of putting on this show, Tasker said directing this play “has been about creating a safe space” for all the parties involved.

Priscilla Agyapong ’15, who plays the “Lady in Yellow,” is looking forward to opening night.

“I am very excited about how people will experience the play, because I think most people will come expecting to see the movie, and I think this will be a pleasant surprise, especially for people who are not familiar with the original play,” Agyapong said.

Nonny Okwelogu ’15, who has been involved in a few BAC|Drama shows and who plays the “Lady in Brown” in “For Colored Girls”summed up the purpose of the choreopoem by saying, “What Scot has been telling us is that it’s not us out there, and that it’s the lady in [whichever color] ... There are points when we are reenacting things, but for the most part, we are just telling stories, so it’s not necessarily all about us or even our characters, but it’s just these stories and our trying to tell them the best we can.”

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She concluded by saying, “I think people that have not seen it will be pleasantly surprised and people who have seen it will be pleasantly surprised.”

Correction: Due to an editing error, an earlier version of this article misstated that the show is an adaptation. The 'Prince' regrets the error.