Theatre Events

In the Zulu language of Xhosa, ntozake means " she who comes with her own things" and shange means "she who walks like a lion". Fearless in her quest to affirm the realities of women of color, Ntozake Shange ( pronounced 'n-toe-ZAHK-kay SHONG-gay ) demonstrates that her name reflects her approach to both her art and her llife.

Born Paulette Williams in Trenton, New Jersey, Ms.Shange was raised in St. Louis, Missouri. Her mother - an educator and social worker - and father - a surgeon - surrounded their children with art, literature, and all manner of intellectual fodder. Additional inspiration came from a number of prominent family friends, including Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and W.E.B. DuBois, all frequent visitors to the Williams home. "It was a very political household", Ms.Shange recalls, "and it made me realize that I was part of something...part of a continuum to improve our status in the United States."

After graduating from high school, Ms. Shange attended Barnard College and struggled through one of the most tumultuous periods of her life. She separated from her first husband, and became increasingly isolated and frustrated, attempting suicide several times. It wouldn't be until years later that she would learn that she was bi-polar and suffering from clinical depression. Further fueling her sense of ostracism and angst was a realization that even the most progressive literature largely marginalized women. "Reading the works being published at the time - like Black Fire by LeRoi Jones and Larry Neal - I realized that if I wanted to hear the voices of women, I'd have to become one of them, because at that time there was barely a reflection of women's reality."

Despite her personal turmoil, she graduated with honors in 1970 and went on to earn a master's degree from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. In California, Ms. Shange found an environment that allowed her myriad talents to flourish. She joined Halifu Osumare's dance company and also performed music, dance and poetry at local venues, mastering the potent trifecta she eventually brought together in her groundbreaking work, for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf: a choreopoem. The play burst onto Broadway in 1976, earning Ms. Shange Obie, Golden Apple and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as Tony, Emmy, and Grammy nominations.

A depiction of seven women who recount life experiences including rape, abandonment, domestic abuse and abortion, for colored girls... stirred up controversy as critics, particularly in the black community, railed against the perceived negative images of African-American men. However, as Ms. Shange pointed out in a Chicago Tribune interview, "Half of what we discussed in for colored girls... the U.S. Census Bureau already had. My job as an artist is to say what i see." Furthermore, the male presence in the play functions as a mere backdrop for the work's true focus: women who triumph over adversity by discovering their own strength and self-worth.

While Ms. Shange is first and foremost a poet, she has constantly extended her talents into other realms. Aside from for colored girls... she has written numerous critically acclaimed plays, among them Three Pieces: Spell #7, Boogie Woogie Landscapes, & A Photograph in Motion, which won A Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry, and Mother Courage and Her Children, for which she received her second Obie Award. In addition, she is the author of several novels and books of poetry and essays, including the celebrated Sassafrass, Cyprus and Indigo, Betsey Brown as well as several children's books; one of them, Ellington Was Not a Street, was the 2005 winner of the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Once Upon a World Award. Ms. Shange has even put her passion on a plate with a soulful cookbook titled If I Can Cook, You Know God Can.

Embracing her responsibility to those young, aspiring artists who strive to add their talents to the creative landscape, Ms. Shange has devoted much of her time in the realm of education. She has served as an associate professor in the theater departments at both the University of Houston and the University of Florida at Gainesville, and has been a visiting professor at Villanova, Brown University and Rice University.

Though Ms. Shange has been tirelessly prolific in her artistic contributions, the past decade has proven to be a harrowing one for her as she has had to face some extraordinary challenges. In 2004 and then again in 2007 she suffered several strokes that left her unable to speak or to write. But through a determined resolve and intense rehabilitation, and the love and inspiration from friends, such as Maya Angelou, and family - especially her daughter, Savannah, Ms. Shange rebounded to the other side of her own rainbow and relearned to speak and write; and subsequently penned three more children's books and performed in two Off-Broadway productions of her own work. Most recently, she is proud of the recent release of "Some Sing, Some Cry", an epic novel written by Ms. Shange and her equally talented playwright sister, Ifa Bayeza, that recounts the rich and lyrical history of seven generations of a determined African-American family.

Over the years, Ms. Shange's work has given women and girls of color honest, inspiring visions of themselves. Through her poems, books, and more, she teaches us all to find the strength and courage within to "walk like a lion".

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: E N D ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::