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In the foreword to Three Pieces (1981), Ntozake Shange calls herself "a poet or writer/rather than a playwright." In doing so, she seeks to free herself from the constraints of conventional theater. She believes that for too long "afro-americans in theater have been duped by the same artificial aesthetics that plague our white counterparts"; that is, the well-made play, a "truly european framework for european psychology." While Shange may eschew the title of "playwright," her impact on contemporary American theater cannot be denied. Most notably, Shange created a new theatrical form that she christened the "choreopoem": a merging of poetry, prose, song, dance, and music that grew out of her experiences as an African American woman and out of her collaboration with other poets, dancers, and musicians. In the years since her first choreopoem was produced in New York, Shange has contributed her writing, directing, performing, and teaching talents to theaters and universities around the country, and she has created a distinguished and substantial body of dramatic work.
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