Tyler Perry directs ‘For Colored Girls’

When: Opening Friday at local theaters

Cast: Kimberly Elise, Janet Jackson, Loretta Devine, Thandie Newton, Anika Noni Rose, Phylicia Rashad, Whoopi Goldberg

Director: Tyler Perry

The story: The lives of nine women intertwine as they struggle to survive, and overcome, past and present traumas involving abuse, infidelity, poverty and other issues.

The buzz: Writer-director Tyler Perry takes a break from comedy with this update of Ntozake Shange’s award-winning 1974 Broadway play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf," creating a contemporary context for Shange’s "choreopoems," dramatic monologues about the complexities of black female identity.