In honor of Black History month and the late Ntozake Shange, Dr. Allison Francis directs the award-winning writers most famous work, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf.  A world-renowned poet and playwright, Ms. Shange passed away in October of last year, leading to a national resurgence in productions of For Colored Girls. Dr. Francis will be helming the Hawaiʻi run of this production, which is a spellbinding collection of vivid prose and free verse narratives about and performed by Black women.

Ntozake Shange was one of America’s greatest writers, an acknowledged master in the genres of drama, fiction, memoir, and poetry. In a hugely prolific career, Shange wrote 15 plays, 19 poetry collections, 6 novels, 5 childrens books, 3 collections of essays, and a memoir called Lost in Language & Sound. Her theatre piece For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow Is Enuf (dubbed a choreopoem for its highly original combination of music, poetry, and dance) was a stunning success on Broadway in 1976-1977. Considered a landmark not just in American theatre but also in theatre worldwide, it won an Obie while still off-Broadway at the Public Theater. For Colored Girls has been performed continuously since then both in the United States and abroad, has remained in print since its publication in 1974 and was made into a movie by Tyler Perry in 2010.

Director Allison Francis, PhD, is a Professor of English, and Coordinator of the English Department at Chaminade University of Honolulu. She is a performance poet featured at venues in London Edinburgh, New York, and Honolulu.

Do not miss For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf. Starring a collection of strong black women of different ages and lifestyles, this production will honor the past while looking boldly towards the future.

For more information, please contact allison.paynter@chaminade.edu and purchase tickets here.

Evening shows: Fri, 2/15, 7:30pm, Sat, 2/16, 7:30pm, Tues, 2/19, 7:30pm, Sat, 2/23, 7:30pm
Matinees: Sun, 2/17, 3:30pm, Sun, 2/24, 3:30pm