Photo courtesy of Jacqueline Roberts-Kpan

When senior acting major Dominique Brock discussed what opportunities her underclassmen acting friends receive and would like to receive as students, she was inspired by the disappointment in many of them and wanted to offer them a platform to display their talents. 

She hopes bringing the choreopoem “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf” to campus will evoke a sense of sisterhood and empowerment amongst the student body. 

“I hope teachers come to see how good the actresses are and remember them for future projects,” she said. “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.” 

“For Colored Girls” will be performed April 3 and 4 in the JVH Auditorium and April 5 in the GRW Theater at 8 p.m. Admission to the show is free.

The show is intended to showcase the talents of minorities because there are not many productions chosen by the school that offer the opportunity for the entire student body to perform, according to Brock. The variety of roles in this production will ultimately portray that. 

Ashley Nicholas was cast in the production and is “very big in the black movement.” She agreed that this show 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. 

Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls” originally debuted in 1975. It was adapted from her novel to the stage. The show incorporated drama, music, dance and poetry as it was performed by seven actresses seen only 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 and domestic abuse, and established an atmosphere that offered supported from all the characters and audience. 

“You never truly know what a person is going through or has gone through, and the story provoked so many different emotions,” Brock said. 

Sophomore acting major Amber Jones, an actress in the production, hopes “to bring awareness to Point Park.” 

“I don’t feel like there is enough awareness on what truly happens in the world and our communities,” she said. “Often times, people think it just happened in movies, but everything in this play is very real.”