Ntozake Shange: November 17, 1976

The Poetry Center presents Ntozake Shange, in a rare early recorded appearance, at the César Chavez Student Union building on the campus of San Francisco State University. Shange reads from her poetry, including work from her subsequent book Nappy Edges (St. Martins Press, 1978) and from her "choreo-poem" for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (1976). Bay Area-based small publisher Shameless Hussy Press, run by poet-publisher Alta, brought out the first edition of Shange's for colored girls... this same year, which became an instant popular hit and Tony Award-winning theatrical production, in New York City then across the US. Shange is accompanied by dancer Rosalee Alfonso, invited that day when they crossed paths, having worked together in Raymond Sawyer's Afro-American Dance Company.

The video recording starts subsequent to Lewis MacAdams's introduction, for this full-house performance for The Poetry Center. MacAdams, after Shange's closing remark, announces a forthcoming performance by poet Michael Palmer and the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company.