I read this as a pre-teen and it followed me through life. I'm surprise - I'm not sure if it is pleasantly so - that Tyler Perry is producing it. Here's what he said...
"Making a film of 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf' is a dream come true for me. Ntozake Shange's play is a magnificent tribute to the strength and dignity of women of color, and I think audiences of all generations will be able to recognize and embrace the experiences these women represent. Creatively, this movie is one of the most exciting undertakings of my career."http://www.bvonmovies.com/2010/03/23/tyler-perry-for-colored-girls-casting/Here's what Ntozake Shange had to say about the genesis of the play...
"The rainbow: Ntozake Shange (suffering from depression) saw a huge rainbow over the city of Oakland, California, and realized that she and other women had a right to survive, because, as she related in a New York Times interview, they 'have as much and as much purpose for being here as mountains do.' In that same interview, Shange explained that she realized that the rainbow is 'the possibility to start all over again with the power and beauty of ourselves; The rainbow is a fabulous symbol for me. If you see one color, it’s not beautiful. If you see them all, it is. A colored girl, by my definition, is a girl of many colors. But she can only see her overall beauty if she can see all the colors of herself. To do that, she has to look deep inside her. And when she looks inside herself, she will find love and beauty.'"
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tJVXayp6S-YJ:rutgersblackdrama.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/shange.ppt+lady+in+blue,+for+colored+girls+when+the+rainbow+is+not+enough&cd=15&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=usI'm looking forward to seeing it!