Ntozake+Shange

=**NTOZAKE SHANGE**=  (pronounced //N-TOH-ZAHK-KEH SHUNG-GEH//; born October 18, 1948) is an American playwright, and poet. As a self proclaimed black feminist much of the content of her work addresses issues relating to race and feminism. Shange is best-known for the Obie Award-winning play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf She also wrote //Betsey Brown,// a novel about an African American girl who runs away from home. Among her honors and awards are fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, and a Pushcart Prize. Shange lives in Brooklyn.Shange was born **Paulette L. Williams** in Trenton, New Jersey to an upper-middle-class family. Her father, Paul T. Williams, was an Air Force surgeon, and her mother, Eloise Williams, was an educator and a psychiatric social worker. When she was 8, Shange's family moved to the racially segregated city of St. Louis. As a result of the Brown v. Board of Education court decision, Shange was bused to a white school where she endured racism and racist attacks.

Shange's family had a strong interest in the arts and encouraged her artistic education. Among the guests at their home were Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Chuck Berry, and W.E.B. Du Bois. When Shange was 13, she returned to New Jersey, where she completed high school. In 1966 Shange enrolled at Barnard College. She graduated cum laude in American Studies, then earned a master's degree in the same field from the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. However, Shange's college years were not all pleasant. She married during her first year in college, but the marriage did not last long. Depressed over her separation and with a strong sense of bitterness and alienation, Shange attempted suicide. In 1971, having come to terms with her depression and alienation, Shange changed her name. //Ntozakhe// means //she who has her own things// (literally //things that belong to her// in Xhosa) and //shange// means //he/she who walks/lives with lions// (meaning //the lion's Pride// in Zulu).

(Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ntozake_Shange)

**PLAYS**
 * //For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf// (1975) Nominated for a Tony Award, Grammy Award, and Emmy Award.
 * //A Photograph: Lovers-in-Motion// (1977) Produced Off-Broadway at the Public Theatre.
 * //Boogie Woogie Landscapes// (1979) First produced at Frank Silvera's Writers' Workshop in New York, then on Broadway at the Symphony Space Theatre.
 * //Spell #7// (1979) Produced Off-Broadway at Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theatre.
 * //Black and White Two Dimensional Planes// (1979).
 * //Mother Courage and Her Children// (1980) Produced off-Broadway at the Public Theatre. Winner of a 1981 Obie Award.
 * //Three for a Full Moon// (1982)
 * //Bocas// (1982) First produced at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles.
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//From Okra to Greens/A Different Kinda Love Story// (1983).
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//Three views of Mt. Fuji// (1987) First produced in San Francisco at the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre; first produced in New York at the New Dramatists.
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//Daddy Says// (1989).
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//Where the Mississippi Meets the Amazon// (1977)
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//A Photograph: A Study of Cruelty// (1977)
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//Mother of Courage and Her Children// (1980)
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">//Whitewash// (1994)

LINKS

 * 1) <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">Lester,N: "At the Heart of Shange's Feminism: An Interview", Black American Literature Forum, 24(4): 717-730
 * 2) <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">** Felicia R. Lee, <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #3366bb; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">[|"A Writer’s Struggles, on and Off the Page,"] //New York Times//, September 17, 2010, accessed September 30, 2010. **
 * 3) <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">**<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #3366bb; font-family: sans-serif; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;"> [] **
 * 4) <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #3366bb; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * 5) <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #3366bb; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * 6) <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #3366bb; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">[]
 * 7) <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;"> Blackwell, H: An Interview with Ntozake Shange," Black American Literature Forum, 13(4): 134-138
 * 8) <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-color: initial; background-position: 100% 50%; background-repeat: no-repeat; color: #3366bb; line-height: 1.5em; list-style-image: none; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 3.2em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 13px; padding-top: 0px; text-decoration: none;">[|http://galenet.galegroup.com.proxy.libraries.rutgers.edu]
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">Thomson, Gale. (2007). "Ntozake Shange". In //Contemporary Authors Online//. Apr 2008.
 * <span style="line-height: 1.5em; list-style-type: square; margin-bottom: 0.5em; margin-left: 1.5em; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.3em; padding: 0px;">Weaver, A . A. (2005). "Ntozake Shange Biographical Information". In //Women of Color, Women of Words//. Apr 2008.