Lionsgate acquires 'Suicide'

Studio nabs rights to stage play

By DAVE MCNARY

Stewart

Lionsgate has acquired the feature rights to the stage play “For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf” and signed musicvideo director Nzingha Stewart to helm from her screenplay adaptation.

“For Colored Girls,” written by Ntozake Shange, was first performed in 1975; it was made into a 1982 telepic with Shange, Laurie Carlos, Trazana Beverly, Alfre Woodard and Lynn Whitfield for PBS’ “American Playhouse” banner.

The play is a series of 20 poems telling stories of love, abandonment, domestic abuse and other issues faced by black women.

Lionsgate made the announcement Wednesday and touted its “leadership role in producing and distributing a diverse roster of motion pictures about black characters.”

The mini-major noted that its upcoming release slate includes the Sundance award winner “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” the documentary “More Than a Game” and the next two films in the Tyler Perry franchise, “I Can Do Bad All by Myself” and “Why Did I Get Married Too?”