Choreopoem. That’s the word author and playwright Ntozake Shange invented to describe her seminal masterpiece, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. The collection of 20 poems about seven African-American women first came to life in 1974 at The Bacchanal, a lesbian bar near Berkeley, California.
Now, 50 years later and at the close of a presidential election centering a Black female candidate, for colored girls makes its debut at the University of Iowa’s Mabie Theatre on Friday, Nov. 8, kicking off a week-long run. I had the pleasure of virtually conversing with director Dr. Tawnya Pettiford-Wates and choreographer Christine Catherine Wyatt about their interpretation of the famed production, its role in social justice, and why the play remains relevant in today’s tumultuous social climate a half-century later.
Pettiford-Wates — or Dr. T, as she prefers to be called — was raised by activists. Her parents met as supporters of the civil rights movement of the 1960s, and their influence shows in every aspect of Dr. T’s creativity.
“The conversation [of social justice] was always around me,” Dr. T recalled fondly of her childhood. “In my life, the presence of activism has always been. The Black aesthetic is social justice, and art is always political.”
The names of her prominent artistic influences are a who’s-who of Black literary excellence: Lorraine Hansberry (the first Black woman to have a Broadway play), James Baldwin, Langston Hughes and Nikki Giovanni. All encompassed the stories of Black people with an authenticity that is lacking in many writers’ rooms of today.
“We need more of us to be writing from the Black aesthetic in order for more of us to do the performances,” said Dr. T, an actor herself.
Wyatt nodded in agreement onscreen, adding that the music and movement she infused in their iteration of for colored girls aligns with Shange’s vision. What makes their production unique, she offers, is having two Black women at the helm of the production — a rarity in many live performances.
“It’s deeply connected to the African diasporic of music, from Shange’s references to Shango’s drums, merengue and bomba music, jazz, resistance dance,” she said. “My choreography represents the Black continuum.”
Wyatt got her start in choreography as an apprentice with the famed Brooklyn dance company Urban Bush Women. Over the past 13 years, she has studied with choreographers MK Abadoo and Alicia Diaz, honing her expertise in Africanist movement — background that brings light and life to for colored girls.
During our virtual conversation, it was evident how well Dr. T and Wyatt work together as creative partners. They complement one another well, focusing on their singular goal for this production: authenticity of Shange’s vision.
“We are grounded in the aesthetic of Ntozake’s words,” Dr. T said. “That said, the movement of the play is just as central as the writing. As collaborators, we aim to recreate both aspects of the aesthetic and invite the audience in. The audience will not be spectators — they will be witnesses.”
Wyatt added, “I hope folks can recognize the autonomy, the joy, the evolution of these women through their physicality.”
As we wrapped up, I posed a final question about our current political climate as the fateful 2024 Election Day neared: “In light of the subject matter of for colored girls, what does this election mean for Black women and girls?”
“I think the timing of this piece is monumental,” Dr. T began with reverence. “This is for the Harriet Tubmans. It’s a legacy piece for the theater world, for Black women, for all women.”
For Wyatt, her feelings about the election aligning with the production is twofold. “It’s empowering in a way, but it’s also like, ‘It’s about damn time!’” she said with a chuckle. “I’m invested in people’s embodiment matching their vote.”
When I asked Dr. T to name a word or phrase to describe she and Wyatt’s interpretation of for colored girls, she said without hesitation: “It’s Blackity-Black-Black!” The three of us laughed before signing off, and I left the dialogue feeling loved, connected and heard. I hope the feeling was the same. These women have created something that would make the late Ntozake Shange proud.
