Hamilton, an instructor of English at Gary Academy, discusses Shange's departures from conventional drama.

Shange has asserted that the form of the conventional play is too restrictive; in her introductory essay to three pieces, which was quoted in Ntozake Shange: A Critical Study of the Plays, she called it "a truly european framework for european psychology " which cannot serve as a medium in which to express black culture, psychology, and sensibility. In that same essay, she explained that because she views American theater as "overwhelmingly shallow ... stilted, and imitative," she insists upon calling herself a "poet or writer" rather than a playwright. Indeed, for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf has more in common with poetry, music, and dance than with traditional theater scripts, but it is certainly good theater good dramatic theater as well. In a departure from conventional theater, she...