"Ntozake Shange was born Paulette Williams into an upper middle-class African American family. Her father was an Air Force surgeon and her mother a psychiatric social worker. Cultural icons such as Dizzie Gillepsie, Miles Davis, and W.E.B. DuBois were regular guests in the Williams home. Shange attended Barnard College and the University of Southern California, earning both a BA and MA in American Studies. Shange’s college years were difficult, however; frustrated and hurt after separating from her first husband, she attempted suicide several times before focusing her rage against the limitations society imposes on Black women. While earning an MA degree, she reaffirmed her personal strength based on a self-determined identity and took her African name, which means “she who comes with her own things” and she “who walks like a lion.” Shange would go on to a successful triple career as an educator, performer/director, and writer whose work drew heavily on her experiences of being a Black female in America." 

This biography excerpt is written by the Poetry Foundation (2021). 

"Spell #7 by Ntozake Shange is performed in a bar- an actor's bar. This set provides a 'safe' environment for the nine struggling aritsts we meet, who can express their hopes, fears, chagrins and dreams during a typical night out after the curtains come down on and off-Broadway.

A huge blackface mask hangs from the ceiling representing the normal expressions of talent usually granted Black performers. This mask is raised and lowered during the Play, pervading the atmosphere throughout.

PLAYER #4 is the magician who weaves the fabric of the evening. He can grant any wish, but he deals in Black Magic; his hope is that all the entertainers will, at the Play's end, "be colored & love it."

A minstrel dance performed in blackface and pickanniny clothes reiterates the premise of the mask hanging from the ceiling. One of the Players throws off his mask and begins a recital of his independence from those other-imposed 'roots.'

The rest of the Play is a sometimes desperate, often unsettling, yet deeply joyous celebration of the fight to maintain sanity and personal integrity in a world where the rules have been dictated, rather than chosen."

Choreopoem Play, including the above synopsis, by Ntozake Shange.

This production of "Spell #7" by Ntozake Shange will be directed by Dr. Melinda Wilson Ramey and Bree Robinson and choreographed by Dr. Linda Goodrich and Dr. Halifu Osumare.

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The cast is as follows: