Colorful Tales Come to Black Box Theatre
by Billy McEntee
The Lady in Orange spins onto the stage. She takes in her audience, and a moment later the Lady in Red hustles on from somewhere else. Then the Lady in Purple, glancing flirtatiously at her crowd. It makes for a nice rainbow, and even nicer staging, as soon eight young women circumvent café tables where patrons sit, almost entrancing them.
The Cast
The Bonn Studio Theater has been transformed into an underground piano bar for Boston College Theatre Department’s production of for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf by Ntozake Shange. Scenic and lighting designer Ben Wilson creates this subterranean locale by having half the audience sit on the stage deck at various café tables complete with high tops, Thonet chairs, and flickering electric candles. There is no real offstage in for colored girls… and thus nowhere to hide; actresses and audience alike are always at least dimly visible. Despite the sunless atmosphere, flashes of color from Jackie Dalley’s costumes breathe light into the underground bar. So do the ladies’ vivid tales.
The eight women take turns sharing stories of sexuality and abortion, of loss and empowerment. Director John Houchin and choreographer Pam Newton have the women weave and dance around the café tables, allowing them to address their audience from different angles. The café setup almost mirrors an arena stage, characteristic of intimate shows though prone to sightline issues, but Houchin skillfully uses the open center stage and Wilson’s platforms to keep the actresses in sight and at home with their audience.
Structurally unique, Shange bills her abstract play as a “choreopoem.” There is no plot, no scene changes, and no conversation save the actresses’ direct addresses. Instead, the women from different cities and social classes congregate in a common space where they can share their poetic narratives. Houchin succeeds in creating this sense of community, both with his actresses and the audience. The ladies listen to each other’s monologues and often take on roles in other’s stories. They snap fingers in affirmation. They offer warm hands during poignant recounts. And by the play’s celebratory finale, the audience is snapping, stomping, and swaying with the eight buoyant women.
The young actresses handle Shange’s lyrical text proficiently. However when one performer soulfully connects with a monologue it makes a less focused story pale in comparison. Sydney McNeal, as the Lady in Purple, is the most consistent and grounded in her poetry. In a sold out Bonn Studio Theater volume is easily swallowed, but McNeal’s lucid diction and range of emotions easily makes the audience understand and connect with her stories of a one-night stand and a man’s porous apology.
When the other women are similarly connected, the poetry soars. Toluwase Oladapo’s story of abuse as the Lady in Green and Raven Tillman’s loss of a child as the Lady in Red are testament to this. During such heightened moments the actresses embodied their characters and let Shange’s poetry captivate, however in expository phrases words were often glazed over.
At only an 80-minute runtime, the added dancing never elongates or distracts from the story. Instead Newton’s choreography is economically used as a way to bridge monologues and let the ladies, and audience, shake off the often harrowing tales.
While dancing, the Lady in Blue (Ashlie Pruitt) contemplates what life would be like if she weren’t a woman of color. Bored by the prospect, she sarcastically proposes, “Let’s think our way outta feelin’.” She laughs, throws her arms up, and twirls, splattering the audience with her effervescent colors.
for colored girls… runs through March 23. Tickets are $10 for students with ID and $15 for adults. The play contains strobe lights and sexual content. For more information visit bc.edu/theatre.