By Diana McFarland News editor

The play isn't just for "col ored girls."

Instead, an upcoming perfor mance of Ntozake Shange's 1970s Broadway play is for any one that enjoys good theater.

The Smithfield Little The atre is presenting "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Sui cide When the Rainbow is Enuf," Sept. 7-9. Proceeds will benefit the Schoolhouse Mu seum in Smithfield.

Produced by Iron Street Pro ductions for the Little T4eatre, the 1970-era play features seven women, dressed in different solid colors, who tell stories of themselves and the men in their lives.

Shange wrote the original book and play, which was first performed in Berkeley, Califor nia, and then on Broadway in 1976. The story uses a bare stage and nameless women who tell their stories in poetry form. Parents, however, should be aware that the story contains adult content and situations.

The Iron Street Productions version, directed by "LeRoyce Bratsveen, took the poetry for mat and shaped into more of a series of stories. And instead of featuring only black women, Bratsveen has updated the play to include a Hispanic woman and a woman of unknown, but obviously mixed, ethnicity.

Bratsveen was nervous about shaking up the original ethnic line-up, but realized something since she read the book for the first time at age 16.

~For every girl in the book, I knew someone like that and they're not all black," she said.

Instead of an angry black women's piece, Bratsveen saw it as a woman's issues story and applicable to the Hampton Roads area, which is increas ingly racially diverse.

"What is color anymore? We need to broaden our definition," she said.

She also didn't want to alien ate men in the audience, who could probably produce their own play about the women in their lives, said Bratsveen.

Bratsveen was also nervous about changing the story some what, given its history; but one thing hasn't changed - the ter rifying and compelling final story told by the "lady in red."

It's a story of a woman, a baby and her man, a Vietnam Vet who had "terrible things" during the war, said Tyneka Stith, a Newport News prosecu tor wpo plays the "lady in red." '

Each time Stith begins the piece, she "trembIEls" at the thought of playing someone like that.

"It's so dark, it's like inhal-

. ,

ing something foreign that's disgusting,,, Stith said, adding that it's heart wretching, "be cause you become angry at the lady in red ~or letting this man back into her life, letting him hol.d the baby ... "

And in her job as a prosecu tor, Stith has often sat in on cases similar}o the "lady in red's" tale.

"We deal with so many women who let people back in ... I'm tearing up just thinking about it," she said ..

Smithfield Little Theatre Vice President Robert Cox said the board decided that while "Colored Girls" was a new di-

rection for the theatre, the big gest consideration was that, "they did a good job with it, it was good theater regardless of the content."

Bratsveen said the Theatre was "brave" to take on the piece, given Smithfield's his torically conservative nature.

Besides, Bratsveen doesn't want to be known as a "black director" who oruy does "black" productions.

"Everyone is welcome," she

said.

Show times are at 8 p.m. on Sept. 7-8 and at 3 p.m. on Sun day, Sept. 9. Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by visiting