Hair color, style, degree of curl--according to Kimberly Joy Morgan, these define black women more than any white girl contemplating a box of blonde hair dye will ever know. Morgan, who styles her own locks in sassy faux dreads, was a winner at the Twin Cities' first-ever Ivey Awards for her performance in Hot Comb: Brandin' One Mark of Oppression, the one-woman show she also wrote. The enthusiastic response to Morgan's passionate, vivid, and funny characters--ten of them, ranging from six to ninety years old, each with a different hairstyle--encouraged a reprise of the show this month. In a season of short days and dirty snow, we'd be surprised if Morgan didn't want to be stranded on a warm and sunny desert island--as long as she had the right hair product. Here's what she'd bring along:
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1. I start every day off by reading the Bible, and I can't imagine going anywhere without it. It also affects the work that I do as a writer and an artist. Sometimes it's good to just be entertained, but I also think that it's important to give people art with some substance to it, and the Bible helps guide how I do that.

2. I use shea butter to re-twist my hair, because I have dreadlocksÑI really need an endless supply.

3. My laptop, because I hate to write longhand. When I write people letters, they come off as so impersonal, because I canÕt engage my thoughts in the same way with a pen in my hand that I can when I'm at the keyboard. The computer helps my brain work better.

4. An endless supply of oranges and watermelons. When I was little, my mom said, they were the first fruits that made me happy. They still do.

5. Since I'm not going to be able to see them anymore, I need a photo album of all my friends and family--the people who have made me who I am today.

Hot Comb returns to the Pillsbury House Theatre on January 20 and closes February 18. 3501 Chicago Ave. S., Minneapolis; 612-825-0459; www.puc-mn.org/theatre.html