Point Park University Senior Acting Major Dominique Brock, decided to go out with a bang and bring the memorable choreopoem For Colored Girls by Ntozake Shange to campus in hopes of evoking a sense of sisterhood and empowerment amongst the student body.
When asked what she hoped to accomplish by doing this production, Brock said, “I hope teachers come to see how good the actresses are and remember them for future projects. I want the audience to be fully involved in the show as I find a way to build a bridge that allows everyone to understand what is really going on.”
This Pinnacle production, coming Point Park April 3-5, is intended to showcase the talents of the minorities because there are not many productions chosen by the school that offer the opportunity for the entire student body to perform in. The variety of roles in this production will ultimately portray that.
Ashley Nicholas is casted in the production and is “very big in the black movement.” She agreed that this production will not only offer various opportunities but it will further inspire students, faculty and the community to be cognizant of the abundance of culture that is infused and continues to influence us.
Shange’s For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide when the Rainbow is Enuf originally debuted in 1975 from her novel to the stage. It incorporated drama, music, dance, and poetry as it was performed by seven distinct actresses noticed only by their given color of the rainbow. The story includes a series of in depth monologues that speak about the different hardships faced by the women including sexual violence, domestic abuse, and established an atmosphere that offered supported from all the characters and audience.
Sophomore Acting major, Amber Jones is casted in the production and hopes “to bring awareness to Point Park,” with it. “I don’t feel like there is enough awareness on what truly happens in the world and our communities. Often times people think it just happened in movies, but everything in this play is very real.”
Brock told us that she has often discussed with her under-classmen friends the opportunities they had received and would like to receive as acting students here at Point Park. She was inspired by the disappointment in many of them and wanted to offer them a platform to display their talents that they have not gotten the chance to. She ultimately hopes to accomplish this by showing the powerful For Colored Girls production that will unify the student body as they support one another through rough times just as the girls do in the story.
Zhanah Wyche, a cast member of the production, “feels very passionately about the play.” Jones agreed and noted, “You never truly know what a person is going through or has gone through and the story provoked so many different emotions.”
Mark your calendars for April 3 & 4th in the JVH and April 5 in the GRW as Dom Brock’s production of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls hits PPU’s campus.
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