by Hauwa Gambo

‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf’ is a multi-award winning play written by Ntozake Shange that depicts the interconnected lives of seven women, exploring their stories and struggles as black women in America. The play has been performed on Broadway, adapted as a novel, television series, and most recently as the movie ”For Colored Girls” written, produced and directed by award winning producer/director Tyler Perry.

In August 2011, Flytime Promotions, Nigeria’s premier entertainment solutions provider, received the rights to stage performances of ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf’. This critically acclaimed play has now been adapted for the Nigerian audience by playwright and stage director Wole Oguntokun and will be performed on stage by an all-star female cast comprising of Joke Silva, Ireti Doyle, Matilda Obaseki, Marcy Dolapo Oni, Reanne Weruche Opia and Olajumoke Ladi Bello on 29 and 30 December, 2011 at Shell Hall, Muson Centre Lagos.

‘For Colored Girls The Nigerian Adaptation’ while remaining true to the original play will be a poetic exploration of what it means to be an African woman living in the 21st century. The play has been lauded by many for the dialogue it fosters in its audiences long after the curtains are drawn and the lights are dimmed. In Nigerian society, issues of rape, homosexuality, abortion, physical and sexual abuse are generally considered taboo. As a result, thousands of Nigerian women –our mothers, our aunts, our sisters, our friends, our wives—have to bear this pain and shame on their own. ‘For Colored Girls’ raises questions and conversations surrounding these issues and womanhood in general in the hopes that subjects that are often swept under the carpet are confronted; strength is invited and healing can begin.

Oluwapelumi