Sasha Allen Joins For Colored Girls at Public Theater; Production Is Extended

Powerhouse Broadway alum Sasha Allen has joined the company of the Public Theater's highly anticipated new staging of the late Ntozake Shange's groundbreaking work For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf. Allen replaces the previously announced Jocelyn Bioh, who has withdrawn from the off-Broadway production due to a scheduling conflict. The Public has also announced a weeklong extension through November 24; previews are slated to begin on October 8 ahead of an official opening set for October 22.

Allen has been seen on Broadway in Hair and on tour in Pippin. She was also seen off-Broadway in Bare: A Pop Opera.

For Colored Girls returns to the Public for the first time since it premiered in 1976, before its breakthrough run on Broadway. Shange's form-changing work tells the stories of seven women of color using poetry, song and movement. Each woman voices her survival story of having to exist in a world shaped by sexism and racism.

Joining Allen in the cast will be Celia Chevalier, Danaya Esperanza, Jayme Lawson, Adrienne C. Moore, Okwui Okpokwasili and Alexandria Wailes.

Leah C. Gardiner is at the helm of the production, set to feature choreography by Tony nominee Camille A. Brown, scenic design by Myung Hee Cho, costume design by Toni-Leslie James, lighting design by Jiyoun Chang, sound design by Megumi Katayama and original composition by Martha Redbone.