Music, life, history spark playwright's inspiration

There was a time when Ntozake Shange did not wear shoes. Some may have considered this strange, but for Shange, it was more a question of the familiarity of life and the substance of art that dictated her wild Bohemian behavior throughout her youth. \n"I didn't know how to wear shoes, I didn't dance in shoes," Shange said. "And then I'm at the Tonys, wearing shoes." \nShange, a Tony-nominated writer best known for her play "For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf: A Choreopoem," visited the Wellz-Metz Theatre Monday to give a lecture on her craft.\nShange, who began writing in the 1970s after obtaining a master's degree from the University of Southern California, believes music is essential. "I Live in Music" is the title of one of her many books. Her love of music, dancing, writing and life is what led her to pen "For Colored Girls…," which premiered on Broadway in 1976. The show ran for a record 786 performances and was only the second play to appear on Broadway written by an African-American woman, the first being Lorraine Hansbury's "A Raisin in the Sun."\n"For Colored Girls…" is the subject of several reviews, commentaries and essays penned by thousands of writers and critics all over the country. The play is about the lives of African-American women -- their histories and culture and the trials of living in America in the '70s. It is a collection of poems, monologues, music and choreography, which led the author to deem it a "choreopoem," the first of its kind.\nStanding upon the Wellz-Metz stage, Shange began reciting several poems she wrote to accompany photographs from a book to be published this December. Each poem is written with prose, integrating native language and vernacular with short harmonious phrases. \nShe also engaged in a comfortable dialogue with the audience.\n"I love texture. I love the feel of things," said Shange about photography. "Because, with the feel of things, over time, you get smell, you get touch and taste."\nShange refers to her works as "venues," emphasizing the purpose in her writing as "moving us somewhere where we become beauty," Shange said in response to a question from the audience. "I need to know what these people are carrying on their heads because they're not where I am." \nIn her novels, which include "The Love Space Demands" and "Betsy Brown," Shange writes about the history of African-American women in a highly poetic form -- a form for which she has become recognized. \n"I see phrases all the time. I don't see why a sentence has gotta be flat," she said. "It should end the way a musical phrase ends. It should tilt. It should fade away into silence."\nSpeaking about her resulting fame and recognition, Shange said being in the spotlight is not the most comfortable place for her but writing "For Colored Girls…" placed her in the media quite often. However, she maintains a grounded attitude toward her popularity.\n"Because I am who I am, people expect certain things from me, and I'm just not interested in that. I like to do what I want, write what I want," Shange said. "That's why I started writing novels. When you write novels, you can stay at home in your silence."\nBringing Shange to IU was no small task, said Ronald Wainscott, chairman of IU's Department of Theatre and Drama. \n"Discussions to bring Ms. Shange to IU started last year, but she wasn't available because of a book tour," Wainscott said. "We thought it would be a really great opportunity for the students. She's basically a household name in theatre." \nGloria Gibson, associate vice chancellor of multicultural affairs, saw the visit as a great collaborative opportunity. \n"'For Colored Girls…' was a pivotal moment," Gibson said. "It spoke about issues that are relevant to black women that are still relevant today." \nInspiration comes to Shange in several forms: people, music, history, dance and life. She said she believes these messages to be a gift -- a crucial way to live in a world in and outside of her head, where words flow freely from the pen to the paper. \n"I hear musical phrases. I hear people talking to me," Shange said, "and they tell me things. It's a gift."\n-- Contact staff writer Olivia Morales at ormorale@indiana.edu.