The Rainbow is Enuf: an evolution, a healing, a joy
Last September, I spoke with Veronica Blair. She was cozied up in a long, red sweater just starting her day – it was a few hours earlier for her in San Francisco than it was for me in New York. Blair has a compelling way of being simultaneously serene and passionate. She exudes a charismatic, focused energy one might feel after meditation: grounded, thoughtful, forthright. I had recently seen her production The Rainbow is Enuf, which presented similar moods. It was a playful, authentic, and astute show was inspired by Ntozake Shange’s for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf. The interview was intended to result in a review of the show, but instead, it has found a (most appropriate) home here as the first article in the Women Making Circus About Women series.
Shange’s work premiered at New York City’s Booth Theater in 1976. Forty-six years later, the text has become, as Blair said, a genre of its own. “People are doing productions of it everywhere, all the time, and anyone can be involved in it. It was written by a Black woman and for Black women, but you see various productions with people of Asian descent, and Latinx descent.” Shange coined the term ‘choreopoem’ to describe the work, which includes a combination of poetic text, dance, and song. The unique composition, breadth, and length of the work have created its legacy. I was curious how Blair saw her production fitting into this lineage. The show’s themes “are not unusual,” she said. “They’re not uncommon. I feel like everyone can relate to it. Doing my research and looking at so many different versions of the show with so many different casts wearing the colors of the rainbow, I was able to come up with ideas on how I want...Do you have a story to share? Submit your news story, article or press release.