History Theatre / ForColoredGirls

* MixedAncestry: Nyla and Tangie are both mixed race it turns out, with a White father and Black mother. Their grandfather arranged this, since he considered [[ButNotTooBlack lighter skin more beautiful]].

* DeggansRule: The film has an all-black and mostly female cast but race is not the main focus of the story.

* DeathOfAChild: Crystal's two young children are killed by their father because his PTSD-fueled delusions have led him to believe that the children aren't his and that this was the reason why Crystal refuses to marry him. He drops them from the sixth-floor of their apartment building. In the play, he kills them because Crystal refuses to marry him.

* RapeAsBackstory: Tangie was sexually abused by her grandfather. We also find out that, Alice, her mother, was abused by her father, too, in the same way. It's also indicated that she had little or no choice in having sex with Nyla and Tangie's father.

* NoBisexuals: Jo believes Carl is gay after learning he's slept with men, which he denies. Neither of them brings the idea he might be "bisexual" up, and she seems convinced that he's just in denial. It's never made clear what his sexual orientation is, since Carl says he likes to have sex with men but only casually and doesn't consider it gay since they don't get involved further.

* ChildByRape: Tangie and Nyla are indicated to be this, since her mother was "given" to a white man, because their grandfather wanted light-skinned granddaughters, not like their dark-skinned mother.

* DrivenToSuicide: Crystal, after being catatonic, tries kill herself with pills.

* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Reluctant, Nyla, after finding out she's pregnant, gets back-alley abortion and is left traumatized after the event (especially since she was left bleeding). Her mother, Alice, tells her that whats in her womb "had to be destroyed". From, Tangie had one, given that she tells her sister where to find said abortionist, Rose, and this was confirmed later that Alice took her to a back-alley abortionist.

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Jo, who's aloof, standoffish, and tends to keep to herself but, underneath, she's actually a good person and, as we find out, she did care about her asistant, Crystal, expressing regret that she didn't help her.

* LawOfInverseFertility: Kelly, with her husband, finds out that she can't have children because of her reproductive organs are scarred from an [=STD=].

* RapeAsBackstory: Tangie was sexually abused by her grandfather. We also find out that, Alice, her mother, was abused by father, too, in the same way.

* YourCheatingHeart: The movie/play opens to Juanita breaking off an affair. Meanwhile, later, while Juanita is arguing with Frank, Tangie propositions a married man.
** We find out that Carl, Jo's husband, was having affairs (with other men) and contracted [=HIV=], passing it onto her. She tells him she wants him gone when she gets home.

* TheFundamentalist: Alice to her two daughters, which stops them (along with her implied mental illness) from having a meaningful relationship with them.

%% * JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Jo.

* AdaptationExpansion: The movie actually builds more on the characters and their backstories.

* DeathOfAChild: Crystal's two young children are killed by their father because his PTSD-fueled delusions have led him to believe that the children aren't his and that this was the reason why Crystal refuses to marry him. He drops them from the sixth-floor of their apartment building.

** Tangie laughs at Nyla after finding out that Alice embarassed her attempting a crude exorcism on her after her abortion. She does have sympathy for her since she had the same thing happen to her before as well.

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The play, from what we can assume, takes place in TheSeventies but we don't know what time period the movie is supposed to take place, since, at the end, Jaunita tells Jo that [=HIV=] isn't a death sentence, so we can assume that the film takes place somewhere closer to modern time.

* ColorMotifs: With the main cast
** Jo is red.

** Jaunita is green
** Kelly is Blue

* DomesticAbuse: Beau Willie, due to his [=PTSD=] (and probably not getting help), is prone to violent outbursts. This is why Crystal refuses to marry him and limits contact with their children. Jo is horrified when she finds out

* DrivenToSuicide: Crystal,after being catatonic, tries kill herself with pills.

* LongTitle: "For Colored Girls" is short for " for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf"

* YourCheatingHeart: The movie/play opens to Jaunita breaking off an affair. Meanwhile, later, while Jaunita is arguing with Frank, Tangie propositions a married man.

* DomesticAbuse: Beau Willie, due to his[=PTSD=] (and probably not getting help), is prone to violent outbursts. This is why Crystal refuses to marry him and limits contact with their children. Jo is horrified when she finds out

* AmbiguousTimePeriod: The play, from what we can assume, takes place in TheSeventies but we don't know what time period the movie is supposed to take place, since, at the end, Jaunita tells Jo that [=HIV=] isn't a death sentence, so we can assume that the film takes place somewhere closer to modern time.
* AssholeVictim: Doubling as LaserGuidedKarma, Bill, [[spoiler: Yasmine's rapist]], gets murdered for trying to rape another woman.

* FreudianExcuse: We find out in the poem "One" that Tangie was abused by her grandfather, was made to get an abortion, and, when she was fifteen, sold to someone to have children.

* RapeAsBackstory: Tangie was sexually abused by her grandfather

* BittersweetEnding: Nyla goes away and the women, with their troubles, learn to move on, but Crystal's children are gone, Tangie still has issues, Jo has [=HIV=],

* AbusiveParents: Alice from what we can see with her daughters. She holds contempt for Tangie and, from what we can guess, didn't do anything about Tangie being sexually abused by her father. She's weirdly nicer (in a sense) to Nyla, showing some favoritism.

* DomesticAbuse: Beau Willie, due to his[=PTSD=](and probably not getting help), is prone to violent outbursts. This is why Crystal refuses to marry him and limits contact with their children
* GoodGirlsAvoidAbortion: Reluctant, Nyla, after finding out she's pregnant, gets back-alley abortion and is left traumatized after the event (especially since she was left bleeding). Her mother, Alice, tells her that whats in her womb "had to be destroyed". From what's implied, Tangie had one, given that she tells her sister where to find said abortionist, Rose.
* GoryDiscretionShot: The death of Crystal's children in the movie. We see their father release them and the scene fades to white. Later, we see Crystal trying to clean up their blood.

* PromiscuityAfterRape: Tangie is rather promiscuous and was even mistaken for a prostitute. We find out later that some of this might be from her being sexually abused by her father.
* RapeAsBackstory: Tangie was sexually abused by her father
* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler: Yasmine is raped on her second date.]]

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!!This work features examples of:

* AdaptationExpansion
* GroupHug: At the end of the movie.
* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Averted.]]
* LongTitle

* RapeAsDrama: [[spoiler: Yasmine is raped on her second date.]].

A 1975 stage play by Ntozake Shange, ''For colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf'' eventually went on to become one of the most acclaimed works of African-American literature. In 2010, the film version, shortened to its first three words was released. TylerPerry wrote, directed and produced the film, which stars an AllStarCast of prominent African-American women.

* AllStarCast: The film version has, among others, Whoopi Goldberg, Janet Jackson and Anika Noni Rose.

* NotScreenedForCritics: Averted with the film version; critics have seen it, and the response is quite negative.

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler:Horribly averted.]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Averted.]]

* InfantImmortality: [[spoiler: Averted hard.]]

->"Ever since I realized there was someone called a colored girl, or an evil woman, a bitch, or a nag, I've been trying not to be that, and leave bitterness in someone else's cup."
-->'''Juanita''' (Lady in Green)

* InfantImmoratality: [[spoiler: Averted hard.]]