Off-Broadway's The Acting Company will stage an all-star reading of Spell #7, a choreopoem written by Ntozake Shange (for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf). Directed by Ann C. James (Sunset Blvd, The Outsiders, Lempicka, Pass Over), the play examines the irony of Black performers operating within a white-led entertainment industry.

Produced in association with Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre as part of Expand the Canon’s 4th Season, the reading will be held October 21 at the Public Theater.

The cast will feature Rodrick Covington (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Jovan E’Sean (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Sydney Harcourt (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Dava Huesca (Cats: The Jellicle Ball), Roger Q. Mason (Lavender Men), Lizan Mitchell (Ohio State Murders), Roslyn Ruff (The Skin of Our Teeth), and Garnet Williams (Cats: The Jellicle Ball). Additional casting will be announced at a later date.

Said Artistic Director Kent Gash, “The Acting Company is pleased to bring this important work back to The Public where it premiered as part of Joseph Papp’s New York Shakespeare Festival in 1979. Ntozake Shange’s mastery of heightened language and her deep understanding of Black women is on full display in Spell #7. I am thrilled to see this lyrical, wry, honest, and comically prosaic theatrical experience brought to life by Ann James and this extraordinary cast.”

For more information, visit TheActingCompany.org.