NEW YORK — So, there is life after Danity Kane – and apparently, it’s on the Great White Way.
D. Woods, a former singer in the P. Diddy reality competition-discovered pop group, is set to make her Broadway debut in the eagerly anticipated revival of Ntozake Shange’s seminal play “for colored girls have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf.”
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award nominee Camille A. Brown, the production is set to begin performances at the Booth Theatre on April 1.
Woods, whose given name is Wanita Denise Woodgett, has been cast as the Lady in Yellow in the beloved choreopoem (a series of poems set to music).
The character was portrayed by Anika Noni Rose in the 2010 Tyler Perry big-screen adaptation and Lynn Whitfield in Oz Scott’s 1982 PBS version.
Aku Kadogo and Leona Johnson portrayed the Lady in Yellow in the original Broadway production.
“For Colored Girls” tells the stories of seven women of color using poetry, song and movement to share experiences of survival and enduring racism and sexism in the 1970s.
Originating at a women’s bar in Berkeley, California, in 1974 before being professionally produced in New York City, it debuted at The Public Theater in 1976 and then moved to Broadway where it was nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play in 1977.
Woods, raised in Atlanta, trained at Tri-Cities High School for Visual and Performing Arts before continuing her studies at The Ailey School, New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts before graduating from The Gallatin School of Individualized Study.
Her departure from Danity Kane set a pre-social media internet landscape ablaze.
During the mid-aughts, the “Making of the Band 3″ discovery enjoyed a fast wave of success as a multi-platinum-selling, chart-topping entity.
In 2009, the “Show Stopper” singers were recognized as the first female group in Billboard history to debut their first two albums at the top of the charts by Guinness World Records.
The quintet would later dissolve into a trio before disbanding completely.
Woods pursued acting on the screen and stage, appearing in Patrick Ian Polk’s acclaimed film “Blackbird” and the AllBLK series “Stuck With You.”
She performed multiple roles in the Off-Broadway run of “for colored girls…” at The Public Theater in 2019.
Joining her in the cast of the new production are Amara Granderson as Lady in Orange, Tendayi Kuumba as Lady in Brown, Kenita R. Miller as Lady in Red, Okwui Okpokwasili as Lady in Green, Stacey Sargeant as Lady in Blue, and Alexandria Wailes as Lady in Purple.
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