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The women of For Colored Girls gathered in a close healing circle on stage.
Production dossier · New Nordic Voices

For Colored Girls

dark phrases of womanhood /
of never havin been a girl /
half-notes scattered /
without rhythm / no tune

this is for colored girls who have considered suicide /
but moved to the ends of their own rainbows.

PlaywrightNtozake Shange
ProducerMichael Omoke
DirectorDr. Shirley Basfield DunlapBio
Fragments of the choreopoem

sing a black girl's song /
bring her out /
to know herself /
to know you

but sing her rhythms /
carin / struggle / hard times /
sing her song of life

she's been dead so long /
closed in silence so long /
she doesn't know the sound /
of her own voice /
her infinite beauty

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Reading note

This dossier follows the production through selected plates and brief poem cues. Some stills are named, some carry only a charged line, and some are left without commentary so gesture, spacing, and relation can hold the room on their own.

Scene one

The entrance

let her be born /
let her be born /
& handled warmly.

The ensemble in a bright collective image on stage.
Performers gathered on stage around a set of boxes.
A vivid moving stage image from For Colored Girls.
Scene two

Solo studies

i'm outside chicago /
i'm outside detroit /
i'm outside houston /
i'm outside baltimore /
i'm outside san francisco /
i'm outside manhattan /
i'm outside st. louis

A performer in blue lying powerfully on the stage floor.
Close portrait of a performer in green against darkness.
A performer in green seated in a poised solo moment.
A woman in green poised low to the floor in a sculptural solo image.
sechita
Scene three

Graduation night

it was graduation nite & i waz the only virgin in the crowd /
smellin of thunderbird & ladies in heat /
we rambled from camden to mount holly /
laughin at the afternoon's speeches

Three performers against red brick light in a dramatic tableau.
Two women in a moody red and green stage composition.
Portrait of a performer in purple dress.
Four women seated together in a burst of laughter and delight.
graduation nite laughin at the afternoon's speeches
A performer in yellow leaning forward in a vivid solo moment.
i waz the only virgin in the crowd
Women in yellow, coral, and purple moving across the stage in a bright dance image.
we gotta dance to keep from cryin /
we gotta dance to keep from dyin
Scene four

After the wound

one thing i don't need /
is any more apologies

A woman in red holding a woman in blue in a moment of care.
Two women in green and brown in a close embrace.
A close circle of women supporting one another on stage.
Four women standing together, one covering her face in an after-wound image.
one one thing i don't need / is any more apologies
Two women in purple and pale pink in a quiet close bond.
pyramid
Four women arranged in an embrace of sisterhood and composure.
pyramid three friends / one laugh / one music
The women gather close around one woman in a shared act of care and witness.
a laying on of hands
A woman in coral pointing upward in a moment of self-recognition.
i found god in myself /
& i loved her fiercely
Scene five

Backstage, before the bow

three of us like a pyramid /
three friends /
one laugh /
one music

The cast backstage before going on stage.

three friends / one laugh / one music

one flowered shawl /
knotted on each neck

come to share our worlds witchu /
we come here to be dancin

Final image

Curtain call

hold yr head like it was ruby sapphire /
i'm a poet /
who writes in english /
come to share the worlds witchu

The ensemble linking arms at the curtain call.
Four performers standing together in a final lineup.
A bright ensemble image from For Colored Girls.

come to share our worlds witchu

we come here to be dancin
In memoriam

A dignified witness in the room

H.E. Ambassador Zindziswa Mandela joined an evening of For Colored Girls in Denmark. She passed away a few months later, and this image with Michael Omoke remains here in memoriam: not as decoration, but as witness.

H.E. Ambassador Zindziswa Mandela pictured with Michael Omoke at an evening of For Colored Girls.

Michael Omoke & H.E. Ambassador Zindziswa Mandela

She belongs on this page because the production was not only staged. It was received, marked, and carried into a wider public field of dignity and recognition.

Her presence honors that evening; her memory now deepens it.

Credits

Cast & production team

The women and collaborators who gave the production its poise, precision, and force.

Actors
Performers
Rebecca Langley · Alice Knuth · Shasyaa Harsh · Victoria Wanjiku · Pernille Nordtorp · Doreen Madonsela · Ellen Gram
Production
Director
Dr. Shirley Basfield Dunlap
Producer
Michael Omoke
Stage Manager
Anna-Marie Bilicher
Light Designer
Cheryl Williams
Choreographer
Elisha Ngoma
Finance
Anders Juhl
Production Coordinator
Zach Khadudu
Presentation
Project format
New Nordic Voices / ACT
Partner
Intercult
Venue
Kulttuurikeskus Caisa, Helsinki
Dates
7–9 March 2019
Supported by
Nordic Council of Ministers
A New Nordic Voices production that insisted on dignity without stiffness, elegance without passivity, and beauty without surrender.
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