When I first read this show, Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow in Enuf, being described as a “choreopoem”, I misread it as “chloroform”. Then I got my head on straight, looked up root words, and realized that the show I was planning to see was basically a collection of poems and monologues interpreted with a combination of music, acting and dance – all based on the lives and issues of African American women. But wait! Other ethnicities welcome! Especially in this particular version.

Usually when someone mentions that an artistic work of any kind is “based on African American culture”, about half of the population feels automatically excluded. Thinking either that they won’t “get it” or that they won’t be welcome, they tend to skip right on to the next thing. Nay! Forsooth! (And other exclamations!) Iron Street Production’s run at the Dr. Mary T. Christian Auditorium at Thomas Nelson Community College uses color-blind casting! That’s right, a show with “Colored Girls” in the title has roles played by Caucasians. This admirable choice brings home the fact that women’s problems, concerns and cares truly are universal – no matter your race.

Set and costumes are fairly basic, as one might expect from a new group such as Iron Street. Fortunately, this minimal approach perfectly suits this concept-based show. The basic white screens and marbleized white boxes bring audience focus to the performances in center stage. A large white screen in the back is backlit to show silhouettes in the beginning and during bows… sadly under-used, in my opinion.

Costumes were basic black with a brightly colored sash designating the roles of the various women. Lighting was also fine, although a saturated blue in the beginning made the black costumes look more like burgundy.

This is the second review in a row where I’ve written that

the second act is better than the first.

The strongest performances of the evening came from the ladies in Red (Tyneka D. Stith), Blue (Natalie W. Baker), and Brown (Pat Theriault). Each of these ladies had moments where they shined, though most of those moments were in the second act or just before intermission. Even these obviously capable actors didn’t quite have the confidence and believability in the beginning that they did later.

One exception is Blue’s monologue about getting pregnant from a rape. This scene takes place about half way through the first act. Her poem “I used to live in the world”, which is in the second act was nicely done to start with, then got old as the lines repeated themselves. Saying the same line over and over again about ten times can be difficult to keep interesting. Variety is vital.

Theriault as the Lady in Brown has a fun monologue in which she gets to play the same women at three different stages of life. I don’t want to give anything away because her rendition, especially as an eight year old, is just too charming to spoil.

As far as I’m concerned,

the best portion of the evening was the Lady in Red’s monologue “A nite with beau willie brown”.

Unfortunately, there are weak links in this show… Fortunately, most of those sections occur in the first act or early in the second, letting us get absorbed in the stronger sections. Angel King as Yellow has the lack of focus that is common to the beginning actor. My guess is that she needed a bit more direction than Director Le’Royce E. Bratsveen had time to give her with this opening season to run.

Jessie Orozco and Orange and Sylvia D. Hutson as Purple simply did not seem right for their parts… and I do not think that it’s because they are the only Caucasian women in the cast. Orozco was cast in a role that has a lot of movement (she is not a dancer) and a thick Spanish accent. While the accent was mostly consistent, it seemed to be more of an acting crutch that got in the way more than it enhanced the character. Hutson also used an accent, Texan this time, and this time it was not all that consistent. It’s hard to put a finger on the exact problem. I can only guess that there was a lack of self confidence.

Hutson just did not seem comfortable in her role.

Angela Reid and Green gave a strong performance in the little that she had to do. Her one main monologue “Somebody almost walked off wid alla my stuff” was formidable, but a bit of a Johnny One Note. I would’ve liked to see if she had more to show us, but alas her part was limited.

This is a courageous show to do in a theatre company’s first season. Pulling off a very sectional, esoteric, emotional roller coaster like this takes a lot of effort, and I believe that in that end, they pull it off. It also takes some guts to do color-blind cast in a show specifically written for “Colored Girls”. You can never tell if the audience is going to accept it. For the most part, the audience on opening night seemed to handle it pretty well. There were a few however who snickered when one of the white women would refer to themselves as colored or black. Of course, these are probably the same people who still laugh at fart jokes. We can only hope that time will hit them on the head a few times until they can grow up a little.

For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf runs through June 17^th at the Dr. Mary T. Christian Auditorium at Thomas Nelson Community College. For ticket information call 757.224.8937 or visit http://ironstreetproductions.com.