By Harry Haun
05 Nov 2010

	Khalil Kain and Anika Noni Rose in "For Colored Girls"
	photo by Quantrell Colbert

The play has become such a staple in African-American drama that all the cast could claim previous interaction with the work. Thompson first encountered it in college, Rashad caught it on Broadway, and Devine actually auditioned for it. "I auditioned for it, and I was cast, too," she remembered, "but I was in graduate school, and they wouldn't let me out so I had to make a choice whether I was going to do the play or not, so I finished grad school. Now, I've come full circle, and I'm glad I did."

Caroline, or Change's Rose and A Raisin in the Sun's Rashad are the two Tony-winning actresses making the jump into the dark poetry of Shange's play.

The former found it refreshing: "I'm an actor, and I try always to choose something that is different from the last thing that I did. Otherwise, you just see a different shade of me. That's boring. So I just try to shake it up and find something that is challenging and different and will allow me to attempt to do something better."

Rashad found a throbbing universality in the piece. "Early on in the process of filming," the actress recalled, "we would sit in the makeup trailer, and we would all talk about anything related to the film, and it came to us all — collectively, in an instant — that all women in the world are colored girls, because the color that Ntozake Shange is referring to has not to do with the color of one's skin.

"It has to do with mood, heart, spirit, experience, emotion, expression, understanding — or lack of it, thereof. That being said, and understanding more about who the poet/playwright/star/dancer Dr. Shange is, we understand this piece as an outgrowth of her studies — in literature, in women's studies, her experiences as a professor of literature, her development as a dancer, her expression as a poet and a playwright — that's a lot. I think it's a right of passage for all people. That's what I think. When we understand women correctly, society changes. When women understand ourselves correctly, we change society."

	Phylicia Rashad in "For Colored Girls"
	photo by Quantrell Colbert

Men, for the most part, are beasts in "For Colored Girls" — but, notably, not entirely. "I think the biggest add-on for me is Hill Harper's character," Perry said. "I thought it important to show a different side of what a black man is. There are black men who love their wives, take care of them and are faithful and are good people.

"As a man, if you want to understand the journey of a woman, you must understand what women are going through and what they've been through. I think this film gives great insight to the women we love and care for and care about. Those of us who are fathers who have daughters — even our mothers — it speaks to what a lot of women carry. For me, it made me much more appreciative of their journey and their struggle, and it made me more sympathetic — not empathetic but sympathetic."

It was on the fifth bounce that Perry finally agreed to bring "For Colored Girls" belatedly to the big screen, and his hesitancy is understandable. "This is the most intimidating work I've ever taken on," he confessed. "I walked away from it many times by saying no, and then, when I'd started it and said yes, I quit four times. I kept wondering, 'Can I do this? Can I do this?' Well, once I surrendered to it, I didn't think about all that. I just knew this is special — this is very special to a lot of people — and I have to do my absolute best with it. And when I shot this film and got to the end of it, I said to myself, 'I did the best work that I can do at this time in my life,' and I was happy with that. I wrote it from a place where I thought this would work. I listened to Ntozake's voice and spoke to her many times, making sure I was on the same page.

"I've always known about women bonding, just seeing the things with my mother and my aunt and my sisters, but I've never been around this many women who bonded in this kind of way. I felt that I was in a bit of a web they were weaving around me to pick me up. They were pushing me to make sure I did a good job, as well, so they taught me a great deal. More than anything they taught me about this bond that women have, and it is unbreakable. It's a sisterhood that men don't get a chance to see so it was really a great education for me."

Tyler Perry discusses "For Colored Girls":