Tyler Perry To Write, Direct, Produce 'For Colored Girls...'

Now that he's worked under someone else -- when he was featured in this summer's blockbuster 'Star Trek' -- Tyler Perry plans to do the same thing with his production company.

The New Orleans, Louisiana, native filmmaker will write, direct, and producer Ntozake Shange's award-winning 1975 play 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf.'

The film will be the first project for 34th Street Films, Perry's new production company, which is housed at Lionsgate.

The film will feature an all-star cast of female actors. Principal photography is scheduled to begin in Atlanta in Nov. and continue through Dec.with a planned release for next year.

While this will be his tenth film collaboration with Lionsgate, it's Perry's first film to be based on non-original material.

The franchise's eighth title, 'Tyler Perry's Perry I Can Do Bad All By Myself,' opens nationwide on Sept. 11, followed by the opening of 'Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too?' on April 2, 2010.

Perry is also a co-presenter and executive producer, with Oprah Winfrey, of the Sundance Film Festival award-winner 'Precious: Based on the Novel "Push" by Sapphire,' which Lionsgate is releasing in November.

On his new venture, Perry states, "Making a film of 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow is Enuf' is a dream come true for me. Ntozake Shange's play is a magnificent tribute to the strength and dignity of women of color, and I think audiences of all generations will be able to recognize and embrace the experiences these women represent. Creatively, this movie is one of the most exciting undertakings of my career, and I'm excited to start production this November."

'For Colored Girls' is a series of 20 poems, referred collectively as a "choreopoem", performed through a cast of nameless women, each known only by a color: "Lady in Yellow", "Lady in Purple", etc.. The poems deal with love, abandonment, rape, and abortion. The performances of the seven actresses are focused on their specific stories; i.e., Lady in Blue's visceral account of a woman who chooses to have an abortion; and Lady in Red's tale of domestic violence.