By John Keenan
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Published Saturday
April 17, 2004
Alternately funny, touching and tragic, Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" is given a solid, at times transcendent reading in a new production at the John Beasley Theater .
Directed by Amy Laaker , "Colored Girls" is a cycle of 20 poems, recited by seven women, that delve into the experience of black women in America . The show, which originally was performed in 1974, is something of a theater chestnut, but that doesn't diminish its power in the hands of a strong cast.
Laaker has one, which includes Iris Perez as the Lady in Green, Yolanda as the Lady in Red, Tammy Ra as the Lady in Orange , Anne Holeyfield as the Lady in Yellow, Tammy M. Tyree as the Lady in Brown, LaToshia Carter as the Lady in Purple and Pasionetta Prince as the Lady in Blue.
The poems' subjects run the gamut - love, murder, date rape, abortion, sisterhood, healing. The success of the "choreopoem," as it is called, hinges not on the well-written verses but on the passionate deliveries of the actresses.
Prince, as the Lady in Blue, was a particular standout. Making her stage debut, Prince was particularly impressive in the harrowing "abortion cycle," but she also was very often funny. The humor in "Colored Girls," a very adult-themed play, can be ribald and cutting, and Prince handled herself with real style.
Another stage newcomer is Carter, who gave an assured performance as the Lady in Purple, particularly while working with Prince and Holeyfield in "pyramid" and during a sequence called "no more love poems."
There were impressive moments throughout the show - Tyree's version of "toussaint," about a young girl's crush on Haitian leader Toussaint L'Ouverture, was both hilarious and touching - but the poem cycle really begins to gather steam in the last eight sequences, which focus more directly on love, specifically lost love.
All seven actresses are given time in the spotlight as the play begins to move toward its powerful conclusion, as betrayal after betrayal pile up on the speakers.
Perez's cutting, indignant rendition of "somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff" drew applause, while the ensemble's disdain for the word "sorry" drew laughs in that poem. But the capper on the evening was provided by Yolanda, whose reading of "a nite with beau willie brown" becomes progressively more frightening and tragic.
By the time the 80-minute show concludes with the redemptive "a laying on of hands," audience members may feel wrung out.
A powerful work performed by a very strong ensemble, "For Colored Girls" is just the latest evidence that the John Beasley Theater is a force to be reckoned with on the Omaha theater scene.
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