Arts The Michigan Daily Tursday, June 4, 1981 Pag99 Not just for coloured girls' By SUSAN McCREIGHT In the hall outside the Lydia Men- delssohn Theatre, the tempo of the rehearsal was as spirited as the script. The play they were working on, "for coloured girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf," by Ntozake Shange, opens tonight, inaugurating the tenth anniversary season of the New Common Ground Theatre Ensemble. as a vehicle to reflect their own concer- ns and chooses its dramatic material accordingly. In doing so, they sidestep the conditions that lead to discrimination, narrow roles, and one- show performances for blacks in the theatre. "The ensemble picks writing not-because it is by a black or a Jew, but because of the way it was written," said Bryant, adding that black playwrights are producing a wide range of material "more in touch with humanism." The ensemble, also performs an unusually wide range of dramatic material. They are interested in writing their own drama, but mostly adapt the work of America's women writers. At present, the ensemble is looking for- ward to adapting "Song of Solomon" by Pony Morrison for the stage and examining novels and poetry for dramatic use. THE NEW COMMON Ground (NCG), originally named "Theatre Company of Ann Arbor," was conceived in 1971 by Annette Martin from EMU as a non- commercial community theatre outside of the University. The all-female com- pany - combining veterans, fledgling actors, would-be playwrights, and directors - embarked upon the project with a goal of creating a "people's theatre" with an underlying theme being to direct women's awareness in society. Box-office sales, revenue from tours, and a' Michigan Council Grant (now long-ago spent) pay the company's way. Producing a show a year, they generally only break even in town, while their greater revenue comes on tour. Except for intermittent outbursts of pre-recorded sounds throughout the play, most of the music is from an original score written by David Shoen- bach, modified and directed by Stephanie Olser. "The music is another way of communicating the nuance and depth of the literature and was con- ceived around that standpoint," said Olser. The hardest work the writers faced was coordinating the music with the literature, forcing them to make a lot of last-minute changes in the music. By "playing off of the poetry, (and using the music as) another counter- point to literature, the music.comes in and out like a person on stage, respon- ding to the lines in the play." LIKEWISE, dance is used to vivify the series of vignettes that flesh out the literature. Some of the performers that were trained in dance share their knowledge with the others. "We don't think of the dance, we think of creating movement to go with poetry. Our goals are to incorporate movement and voice as one experience," said Bryant. The "choreopoem," written in black idiom by feminist author Shange, expresses the thoughts behind words through movement, "Twitch hips wit me cuz done forgot abt words" "Regardless of the experience of the cast, the literature stands by itself. The poetry is dynamic. Shange mixes the language of the Afro-American culture with ideas of the adacemia," said Bryant. While a measure of the NCG's achievement can be gauged from the critical acclaim that it has garnered. its primary standard will remain its own judgement - their performance measured up against what they have See COMMON, Page 10 Pictured here are the members of the acting ensemble of 'for coloured girls ...." They are (back row-left to right) Stephanie McIntosh, LaVelvet Harrison, Elise Bryant, (middle row) Pat Vereen, Sandra Herron, Karen Scott, (front row) Kathy Motley, Karen Belle. In the course of its life, the company, located in the former Canterbury Loft, has distinguished itself through a num- ber of productions, among them "Mad Madonna" and "Bitch You Crazy." Both plays are intense evocations of the feminine perspective that had a strong following in the women's community. THE CURRENT play is certainly in- fluenced by the philosophies of black awareness, but withstands the clamors for cultural separatism; "Rather than focus on the systematic oppression of blacks in a racist society, it focuses on the human struggle of women over- coming their problems and regaining personal power," said Elise Bryant, a member with six years of experience with the ensemble. Bryant is black, but feels she can play roles that do not typecast her as a black female without calling her support for black issues in- to question. 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Box 43331 300 Renaissance Center Detroit, MI 48243 or Call: (313) 568-3563 OPEN HEARING for Review of the Department of. - Geography Monday, June 8, 1981 Regents' Room- First Floor, Fleming Administration Building 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Those wishing to make a public statement should call Edward Dougherty, 764-9254.