Director Thomas-Whit Ellis made a brilliant move when he decided to stage Ntozake Shange’s “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” in the arena style theatre at Fresno State.

The 20-poem choreopoem originally written by Shange in 1975 tells the story of seven African-American women and what it is like to be a colored woman in modern America.­ Each of the women is embodied by a different color and is known by that color for the play’s entirety. The play deals with a wide range of issues including rape, abortion, breakup, murder and domestic violence. Each issue is told through the women’s stories.

The high level of acting brought by the local actresses personally floored me. In just shy of two hours the audience and I were in tumultuous laughter and were brought to the point of fighting tears.

The play fueled with eloquent words, humor and dancing, takes the audience through the lives of these seven women beginning in childhood.

Because of the arena style seating in the Dennis and Cheryl Woods Theatre, “For Colored Girls” places the audience in the living room of a woman who has been date raped, the backseat of a Buick where a girl loses her virginity, the scene of a crime where a woman plagued by domestic violence witnesses her children’s murders, the streets of Harlem where a woman is taunted, into the imagination of an African-American 8-year-old girls and others.

The costume design was simple, but lacked the flair to embody the sultriness of the women in the play.­ The costumes could have been a little more elaborate. ­I felt they were slapped together a bit.

Throughout the play the acting is what really blew me away. These women owned the four corners of the stage and even ventured into the crowd. They brought such ferocity to the stage that I dare say University Theatre has not felt in years.

Near the beginning of the play the women discuss how they lost their virginity.­ Lady in Yellow confesses to the others that she lost her virginity in the back of a Buick on prom night. After her confession a sea of heads turned as all the other women in turn repeated something in unison like, you gave it up in the back of a Buick! After that line the audience was hooked.

The play continues as each woman takes turns acting out scenarios as herself or that of a male lover. It was interesting and amusing as an audience member to look into the life of each woman through the filter of an African-American woman, especially when it came to viewing the African-American man.

Despite the vibrancy of speech the dancing lacked motivation. The group choreography could have been stronger, but the individual choreography was phenomenal. Especially when it came to Lady in Blues last big number. Her performance had notes of Africana in it. The vigor and tenacity in her lines within the number pulled the audience in engulfing the viewers into the story whole-heartedly. Lady in Blue, hands down, stole the show.

To the naked eye the production may seem like it has a man hating spirit to it, but as long as women are plagued with issues that many times men load onto women, its messages remain relevant.

“For Colored Girls” concludes with the story of a tragic domestic violence dispute, which leads to the uniting of the women.

This production is well worth seeing and I would consider it to be the gem of the season for University Theatre at Fresno State.

The play runs through Nov. 5.

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