For Colored Girls Who ..., Broadway revival delayed, new dates to be announced

The Broadway revival of Ntozake Shange's play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf has been temporarily delayed, and will not begin performances at Broadway's Circle in the Square from 18 Aug 2008, as previously announced.

The delay has been caused by the recent withdrawal of one of the production's key backers. A revised production schedule is to be released as soon as it is possible.

The revival will see two-time Grammy Award winner India.Arie make her Broadway stage debut in a new, re-envisioned production of Ntozake Shange's play, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf, produced by Whoopi Goldberg and DreamTeam Entertainment Group.

Directed by Shirley Jo Finney and choreographed by three-time Tony Award winner Hinton Battle, For Colored Girls Who ..., performed by a cast of seven, is a series of prose poems and stories illuminating the identity of black women in America, as they reveal themselves, their lives, triumphs, hardships and ultimately their discovery of inner strength and love.

This re-envisioned production of For Colored Girls Who ... will feature new and updated material from Ms. Shange. covering subjects such as the Iraq war and living with AIDS.

Complete casting is still to be announced.

For Colored Girls Who ... originally began Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in May 1976, before transferring to Broadway on 10 Sep 1976, where it played 876 performances at the Booth Theatre.

The original Off-Broadway production and Broadway transfer was honored with an Obie Award and an Outer Critics Circle Award, as well Tony and Grammy Award nominations. Following the success of that production, For Colored Girls Who ... went on to tour throughout the U.S. for two years.

Ntozake Shange (en-toe-ZAH-kee SHANG-gay) is a poet, playwright, novelist and performer who first garnered national attention with For Colored Girls Who .... Since then, she has written three novels, four volumes of poetry, several screenplays, essays and numerous stage plays. Among her many awards and citations, Ms. Shange has been honored with the Columbia Medal of Excellence, The Los Angeles Times Award for Poetry and a Guggenheim Fellowship.

India.Arie has won numerous awards including two Grammy Awards, 16 Grammy nominations and three NAACP Image Awards among others. She is currently working on her fourth studio album, Testimony: Vol. II, Love & Politics.

Shirley Jo Finney will make her Broadway directorial debut with For Colored Girls Who .... Finney has directed in theatres throughout the country including the McCarter Theatre, Pasadena Playhouse, Goodman Theater, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Cleveland Playhouse and The Mark Taper Forum, among others.

Choreographer and actor Hinton Battle is a three-time Tony winner for his performances in 'Sophisticated Ladies' (1981), 'The Tap Dance Kid' (1983) and 'Miss Saigon' (1991) . A recipient of the NAACP Image Award and The Fred Astaire Award, his choreography can be seen in the recent films 'Idlewild,' 'Bolden' and 'The Great Observer,' and on ABC-TV's 'Dancing with the Stars.'

The new Broadway production of For Colored Girls Who ... features set design by Scott Bradley, costume design by Paul Tazewell, lighting design by Victor Tan and sound design by Mitch Greenhill.