Spell No. 7

spell #7
Cover of the 1982 Penguin edition of Three Pieces. Photograph shows the cast in the Prologue of the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Spell #7
Written by	Ntozake Shange
Date premiered	1979
Place premiered	New York Shakespeare Festival in New York, NY
Original language	English

spell #7, or spell #7: geechee jibara quik magic trance manual for technologically stressed third world people, is a choreopoem written for the stage by Ntozake Shange and first performed in 1979.

The story is about a group of black friends who are actors, musicians, and performers. In a series of dreamlike vignettes and poetic monologues, they commiserate about the difficulties they face as black artists. The piece is framed by the narrator, lou, a magician who wants to use his magic to help the characters come to terms with their blackness and rejoice in their identities: "i'm fixin you up good/ fixin you up good & colored / & you gonna be colored all yr life / & you gonna love it/ bein colored/ all yr life/ colored & love it / love it/ bein colored. SPELL #7." The set design calls for a "huge black-face mask" to dominate the stage, and minstrel masks are worn in the opening. These images put frustrations of the characters in conversation with the history of racism in theater, as the images of "grotesque, larger than life misrepresentation" call forth minstrel shows and Blackface. spell #7 culminates in a repetition of lou's refrain, with all the cast members singing together.

spell #7 was first produced It was also produced at Crossroads Theatre (NJ) under the direction of Dean Irby and choreography by Dyane Harvey-Salaam. In 1979 as part of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival it was restaged . It was directed by Oz Scott and choreographed by Dianne McIntyre, with original music by David Murray and Butch Morris. The cast included Mary Alice, Avery Brooks, LaTanya Richardson, Reyno, Dyane Harvey-Salaam, Larry Marshall, Laurie Carlos and Ellis E. Williams. During the play's run Samuel L. Jackson and Jack Landron also made appearances. It first opened as a free workshop, under the title Spell #7: A Geechee Quick Magic Trance Manual. After receiving good reviews the production was moved up to the Anspacher Stage at The Public Theater. natalie's sharp monologue in the final act about her hypothetical life as a white woman was cut from this revised version, and Shange herself acted in a scene as sue-jean, a conflicted and violent mother. Her performance had "an unforgettable quality of coming from inside."