Poet, novelist, and trailblazing playwright Ntozake Shange died this weekend in Bowie, MD., at the age of 70. She was only the second African-American woman ever to have a play on Broadway.
Shange is best known for her famous play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow is Enuf.
For Colored Girls opened on Broadway in 1976, and was nominated for a Tony Award. It has inspired generations of black female playwrights and — more than 40 years later — it still resonates with new audiences.
Thulani Davis is a playwright, novelist and professor of Afro-American Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and a close friend and collaborator to Shange. She spoke with As it Happens host Carol Off from Madison. Here is some of their conversation.