"For colored girls" production

I’m so glad I took time out of my afternoon to go see this production (whose full title is “for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf”). I didn’t really know what to expect, except from what I could gather from the unusual title of the play. The production was loosely structured as a series of monologues, and it included elements of music, dance, and singing. Maybe it was because it was being performed in the lab theatre, but I couldn’t help comparing it to our monodrama performances we did in class. Compared to what I saw today, our monologues were so stiff! Looking back, I know I just sort of stood there while delivering my monologue. But these girls, they weren’t just reading words off a page, they were presenting a piece of their hearts to the audience, if that makes any sense. They moved about the stage so gracefully and naturally. Even though some of the girls had ten-minute or more long monologues, it didn’t feel like I was listening to one person talk non-stop for that long; they were really brilliant at keeping the audience’s attention. But I was so impressed by the amount of passion and depth that those seven actresses brought to the stage. The final monologue performed by Shamiah Palmer’s Lady in Red brought tears to my eyes. I got so lost in what they were saying because there was so much drive behind their words. Also, I liked how the play was performed in such an intimate setting. I feel like some of the connection the audience feels with the characters would have been lost if this were performed on a bigger stage. That being said, this production also deserved a bigger audience.