Denison University presents "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf," by playwright and performing artist Ntozake Shange. The play was nominated in 1976 for a Tony Award, Grammy Award and an Emmy Award. "For Colored Girls ... " will premiere with an all-Denison student cast at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 24, at the King Arts Complex in Columbus (867 Mount Vernon Avenue, Columbus).

Considered a "choreopoem" by the author, "For Colored Girls ..." is written as a series of 20 poems performed to music by seven actors. Each actor is arrayed in a different color of the rainbow, yet they are all black. The strength of black women, their will to survive through despair and pain, poverty, sexism and racism are all powerfully portrayed through word and movement and music.

The play is directed by Ron Pitts, director and co-founder of the Ujima Theatre in Columbus. Pitts co-founded the Ujima Theatre Company with playwright August Wilson and poet Rob Penny in Pittsburgh in 1972 and opened in Columbus in 1981. The Ujima's goal is "to use the performing arts as a means of increasing awareness of life's complexities and the realism that we encounter within our lifetime."

Cast members include: Courtney Herring (Detroit, Mich.), Hawa Kaba (Boston Mass.), Jessica Blaise (Boston, Mass.), Jamie McDonald (Chicago, Ill.), Tyra Owens (Chicago Ill.), Natasha Wright (Aurora, Colo.) Tiffany Williams (Chicago Ill.) and Shavely Peralta (Boston, Mass.). The play will move to Denison University for two more performances at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 27, and 8 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 1, both at Herrick Hall (500 West Loop).

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