At ESU: 'For Colored Girls' tells stories of oppression

EAST STROUDSBURG — Presenting the Obie Award-winning drama "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf" is both a celebration and a challenge for East Stroudsburg University’s theater department.
The play will debut at ESU from April 19 to 24.
“As a department, we’re excited to celebrate the diversity on campus by having our actresses of color take on the challenges of the play,” said Margaret Ball, D.M.A., professor and chair of theater.
Written by Ntozake Shange, the play combines poetry, music and dance into a lyrical “choreopoem” that weaves interconnected stories of love, empowerment, struggle and loss into a complex representation of sisterhood.
“'For Colored Girls' is an odyssey of what it is to be a young woman of color in a world that can be racist, discouraging, and abusive, and, at the same time, beautiful, enlightening and self-actualizing,” said Susan P. O’Hearn, professor of theater and the director of the play. “The poetry reads like music and the voices are real, definitive and truthful.”
“These stories come from real women,” said Angelica Ramirez, a freshman from Effort, Pa. majoring in musical theater. “ Professor O’Hearn helped us to go below the surface to crack the depths of the script and find the hidden meanings.”
This play is recommended for age 10 and above.