‘For Colored Girls’ opens this weekend at the box office, will you be there? Tyler Perry’s most talked about film is hitting theaters near you. In his most talked about film since the production of Dairy of a Mad Black Woman, Perry introduces his interpretation of the 1974 award winning Broadway play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.
Los Angeles theater producer Gary Levingston calls “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” one of the most transcendent works of the American stage.
The play made its stage debut, offering a winning combination of poetry, dance, and music. The bright light that it shed on black female issues and experience were front and center. The play won an Obie and Tony Award after two years of gracing the stage on Broadway. Perry exposes his interpretation of the play to the big screen through a narrative, exploring the overall meaning and conception of what it is to be a woman of color or a woman of any color, in the world in which we reside.
Lionsgate and TPS present a 34th Street Films / Lionsgate production. The film overflows with some of the most well known African American actresses and actors of our time. It features well known heavy hitters like Whoopi Goldberg, Kerry Washington, Loretta Devine, Anika Noni Rose, Thandie Newton, Kimberly Elise and Phylicia Rashad, Omari Hardwick, Michael Ealy, Hill Harper Janet Jackson and Macy Gray complete the all star cast.
FOR COLORED GIRLS weaves together the stories of nine different women – Joanna, Tangie, Crystal, Gilda, Kelly, Juanita, Yasmine, Nyla and Alice – as they move into and out of one another’s existences; some are well known to one another, others are as yet strangers. Crises, heartbreaks and crimes will ultimately bring these nine women fully into the same orbit where they will find commonality and understanding. Each will speak her truth as never before. And each will know that she is complete as a human being, glorious and divine in all her colors.
Essence magazine, which is targeted at black women, is showcasing “For Colored Girls” on two different covers of its December issue — one featuring Perry and the movie’s actors, and one featuring the actresses. Regina R. Robertson, West Coast editor of Essence, said word of mouth and the early trailers have ratcheted up interest: “People really seem to be excited now. They can’t wait.”
Fans of Perry can begin to countdown! I am highly aware of the great anticipation and anxiety that many of his fans have as they await the opening weekend of the most talked about film in Hollywood. Save the date, Friday, November 5, 2010. Check your local theaters for times. Will you be in attendance?
About PATH Blogger Shuntia Wheeler: Shuntia Wheeler is a graduate student at Prairie View A&M University. She graduated with honors with a Bachelor’s Degree in Mass Communication from Prairie View A&M University in December 2009. Ms. Wheeler has demonstrated leadership in various organizations; She is the former Financial Secretary of the National Association of Black Journalists PV Chapter, a member of Lambda Pi Eta, the national honors society for communication, she has served as the Academic Editor of The Pantherland Yearbook, and she is a contributing journalist for The Panther. Check out her blog at www.shuntia-wheeler.blogspot.com, as she presents world news from a fresh perspective through fun, fierce, and factual stories impacting the world we live in. Email her at shuntia@pathmagazine.com
