FOR COLORED GIRLS to Get New Staging From The Last Acting Studio

The Last Acting Studio (LAS) will present a theatrical exploration of Ntozake Shange's groundbreaking choreopoem, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, for a limited engagement beginning August 7 at the studio's West Adams performance space.

The production is directed by LAS founder and actor Desean K. Terry, known for his series-regular role as Daniel Henderson on Apple TV's The Morning Show.

Terry's staging reimagines Shange's historic work for five voices rather than the traditional seven, emphasizing the ensemble nature of the choreopoem. Rather than assigning each performer a fixed identity, the production approaches the women as a shared chorus, carrying one another's stories as they move through memory, survival, grief, joy, sisterhood and the fullness of Black womanhood.

Seven performers rotate across the five voices in different combinations throughout the engagement, creating a distinct ensemble configuration for each performance.

The choreopoem opened on Broadway at the Booth Theatre on September 15, 1976, where the original production ran for 742 performances and received a Tony Award nomination for Best Play. Fifty years later, Shange's seminal work continues to occupy a singular place in American theatre, fusing poetry, music, movement and ritual into the form she called a 'choreopoem.'

'This production is about reclamation,' said Terry. 'For many people today, for colored girls is known primarily through its film adaptation. But Shange created a work for the theatre. Its spirit lives not only in pain, but in language, movement, survival, embodiment, memory, joy and the radical act of Black women telling their own stories. We want to honor Shange's original theatrical vocabulary and invite audiences to encounter the work as a communal, embodied experience in the room.'

Part play, part poetry event and part ritual, the production uses music and movement to transform the performance space. Shange's text is visibly incorporated into the staging as a living theatrical score. As the ensemble configuration changes, each performance reveals different relationships within the work.

The engagement also marks the fifth anniversary of The Last Acting Studio. Founded by Terry in 2021, LAS has grown into a creative home for rigorous actor training, performance development and artist-centered theatrical exploration.

The studio's West Adams location carries particular significance for Terry, a Los Angeles-raised actor, director and educator who began his training nearby at Amazing Grace Conservatory. Five years after founding LAS, he is building an artistic home in the same community that helped form him, participating in West Adams's living tradition of Black artists creating institutions, careers and community.

'I founded the studio during a moment of profound clarity about the kind of artistic home our community needed,' Terry said. 'Five years later, it feels deeply meaningful to celebrate with a work centered on voice, truth and collective experience.'

The August 15 performance and fifth-anniversary celebration are sold out. Tickets remain for performances on August 7, 8 and 14.

The ensemble features Ashley August, Sequoiah Blaire, Serenity Calhoun, Briana Price, Aliysa Shareef, Ryn Stafford and Alise Willis. Price is a series regular on Tyler Perry's Divorced Sistas, and Willis is a series regular on Tyler Perry's Ruthless.

The creative and production team includes Desean K. Terry as director; Billy J. Baker as producer; Izzy Donenberg as stage manager and lead designer; and Alexia Maree as assistant director and assistant stage manager.

Performances are scheduled for August 7, 8, 14 and 15 at 8:30 p.m. at The Last Acting Studio, located at 1914 Raymond Avenue in Los Angeles. General-admission tickets for the remaining performances are $35, with LAS student tickets available for $25.

Tickets are available at thelastactingstudio.com/performances. The approximate running time is 90 minutes. Seating is limited.

for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf is presented by special arrangement with Concord Theatricals. Certain changes in the order and staging of the play were made with the agreement of the Ntozake Shange Trust as an accommodation to the production.

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