THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 21, 1996 TAG: 9603190092
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 18 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Theater review
SOURCE: MONTAGUE GAMMON III
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines
``For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf'' is a mid-'70s period piece that retains both respectability and popularity.
In productions such as that now at the ZWG Repertory Theater, it can still hold an air of immediate relevance, in part because it's ideal for such groups that draw from a talent pool of widely varying experience and training.
Notozake Shange called her script a ``choreopoem.'' It is a series of recitations, by seven African-American women, of poems and figurative prose about their experiences. Each character or composite of characters is known by the color of her costume. There is a Lady in Red, a Lady in Yellow, and so forth. Pieces of popular music, and of casual dance, occasionally break up the sequence.
Seen from the perspective of 1996, parts of the play remain powerful, some anticipating issues that have only recently become widely discussed. Other bits seem quaint, while a few are frankly immature. Most are about relationships with men, and only a few of these are positive.
Shange was just 26 when the work made its first appearance in 1974, so an occasional late collegiate, lovelorn overtone should hardly be surprising.
The best of this writing has a clear and captivating voice partaking of a rough, urban street lyricism and a compelling immediacy.
The first sustained narrative piece is about a lovingly remembered graduation night by ``the only virgin'' in her ``factory town'' high school class. Monique Taylor, as the Lady in Yellow, demonstrates a strong presence, an ability to command attention, and a clear sense of tone and texture in this piece.
The Ladies in Blue, Purple and Red, played by Patria Westbrook, Marjorie Beale Murchison and Hannah E. Howard, join in a passage about what is today called date rape. Westbrook then gives an affecting reading of a brief, harrowing piece about having a lonely abortion.
It falls to the Lady in Brown, Pinkie Spencer Chapell, to perform one of the most memorable passages. She remembers a time when, as a bookish child in elementary school, she became fascinated by the story of Toussaint L'Ouverture, the black man who led a revolt that freed Haiti from French rule.
L'Ouverture becomes her hero and sort of imaginary playmate. Later, running away from her St. Louis home with him and intent upon reaching Haiti, she encounters a boy whose name happens to be Toussaint Jones. Apparently this is the first person who replaced books as company.
Like the passage about the graduation night, there is a wash of nostalgia that colors this story, but to it is added a charming innocence. In fact, it is one of the few references in the whole evening to anything like innocence and to a life that includes literature.
Chappell gets to display some range when she alternates between the characters of the young girl, likely from a middle class family, and the boy who lives in a poor section of town. As with all these performers, she can hold the viewer's attention and interest.
The Lady in Green and The Lady in Orange are Warkenda Williams-Casey and LaDonya J. Alston. They are at their best in two shorter pieces. ``Somebody just about walked off with all of my stuff'' is a refrain for Green's description of nearly submerging her individuality to that of a former lover. Orange talks to an absent, rejected lover about how ``I brought you joy.''
Near the close of ``For Colored Girls'' the Lady in Red takes the stage. Alternating between characters of a narrator, a young single mother of two, and a drug ravaged Vietnam veteran, she relates a tale that reaches heights of tension, and horror. Even if one knows or guesses the ending, Howard's performance is gripping.
Pedro Abad directed, building a sense of unity in this cast while drawing out each performer's individual strengths. by CNB