For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf

for colored girls who have considered suicide/ when the rainbow is enuf features seven nameless Black or African-American women living in the United States of America during the mid-to-late 1970s. Shange only identifies each woman by the color of the clothing that she wears: the lady in brown, the lady in yellow, the lady in purple, the lady in red, the lady in green, the lady in blue, and the lady in orange. Even though each woman identifies her location as “outside of” one of several major cities, this information doesn’t provide insight into character or setting because Shange does not consistently apply it.

For instance, the lady in blue identifies herself as outside of New York and later specifies that she was raised in New Jersey, while one of her monologues takes her to the Bronx. However, the lady in red identifies herself as outside of Baltimore, and later one of her performances is in Los Angeles. Similarly, the lady in brown is outside of Chicago, but one of her monologues takes place in Saint Louis. Location does not create character insight, and the women do not take on a singular trajectory that forms a