Black History Month

Three Pieces

Ntozake Shange

Plays, published 1981

The dramatic elements in Ntozake Shange's Three Pieces -- a collection that includes A Photograph: Lovers in Motion, Spell #7: geechee jibara quik magic trance manual for technologically stressed third world people (A Theater Piece) and Boogie Woogie Landscapes -- defy traditional categorization, stressing poetry, music, dance and drama rather than plot. The trilogy won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Poetry in 1981.

In A Photograph, Shange explores the tangle of relationships among Sean David, a photographer, and four other characters: Michael, a dancer; Nevada, an attorney; and Claire, a model who works for Sean. Another attorney, Earl, is also attracted to Sean. Sean has had relationships with each of the women, but he is most attracted to Michael, who wants to bolster his career as a photographer. At the close of the play Michael and Sean are together.

Spell #7 begins with a minstrel-show prologue. The play takes place in a bar and features nine friends, all professional artists, who discuss racism in America and consider the fate of black artists, complaining that actors in particular are stereotyped and obliged to play degrading roles such as chauffeurs and prostitutes. The piece addresses the condition of blacks, and especially black women, and acknowledges the resilience and fortitude of blacks. Eschewing traditional theatrical forms, Spell #7 is a choreopoem, using dance and poetry in place of character development.

The experimental, expressionist choreopoem Boogie Woogie Landscapes is the most fragmented work in the trilogy, combining dreams, memories, and monologue in one character's "stream of consciousness." Dealing with the experiences of women in America, its protagonist Layla sings and dances with her "night-life companions," who talk about the oppression of black women. Layla describes the difficulties of her adolescence and her dual identity as both a woman and an African American.