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Sharon Bridgforth

シャロン・ブリッジフォース

Sharon Bridgforth

Profile

Gender
Female
Born
1958-05-15 （Cook County Hospital, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.）
Nationality
American
Languages
English
Residence History
Chicago, Illinois (birthplace) → South Central Los Angeles (moved at age 3) → Austin, Texas (long-term professional base) → New York, New York (residence/activity) → Minneapolis, Minnesota (performance / premiere site)

Career

Occupations
writer, theatre artist, playwright, performer, educator
Active Years
1990-
Affiliations
root wy'mn theatre company (founder), New Dramatists (resident playwright), Theatre School at DePaul University (visiting faculty), Northwestern University (artist-in-residence), John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin (anchor artist for the Austin Project)
Memberships
New Dramatists (resident)
Nominations
Osborn Award (American Theatre Critics Association) nomination for script 'no mo blues' (1997), Alpert Award (theatre category) nomination (2002–2003), Lambda Literary Award (Best Lesbian Fiction) nomination (1998), American Library Association 'Best Gay/Lesbian Book' nomination (1998)

Awards

Lambda Literary Award (Best Book by a Small Press)
1998
Work: the bull-jean stories
Organization: Lambda Literary
Result: winner
Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize
2008
Organization: Alpert Awards / Hedgebrook
Result: recipient
National Performance Network Creation Fund award
2008
Work: delta dandi
Organization: National Performance Network
Result: recipient
Penumbra Theatre Playwriting Fellowship
2000
Organization: Penumbra Theatre
Result: recipient
YWCA Woman Of The Year in Arts (Austin)
2001
Organization: YWCA
Result: recipient
Creative Capital Performing Arts Award
2016
Organization: Creative Capital
Result: recipient
Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Award (grant)
Organization: The Rockefeller Foundation
Result: recipient

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

the bull-jean stories

1998 short story collection / oral storytelling

Set in the rural South from the 1920s through the 1940s, the collection documents African-American herstory and survival, using traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse to follow the life of a woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean.

jazzbluesAfrican-American historylesbian experienceoral tradition
Adaptations
  • [audiobook] the bull-jean stories (audiobook)

Love Conjure/Blues

2004 novel / performance text

Both a performance and a novel, the work places fiction inside a traditional Black American voice, filled with folktales, poetry, haints, prophecy, song, and oral history, inviting dramatic interpretation.

conjurebluesoral traditiongender

dat Black Mermaid Man Lady

2018 performance / performance text / multimedia

Exists as a show, oracle deck, performance/novel, sung children's book, and artistic mentorship toward homeownership. The performance celebrates different embodiments of gender through three characters alongside Yoruban deities Oya, Osun, and Yemaya.

gender embodimentAfrican diasporic spiritualitycommunityritual
Adaptations
  • [stage performance] dat Black Mermaid Man Lady (stage) / Ebony Noelle Golden (2018)
  • [oracle deck] dat Black Mermaid Man Lady (oracle deck) (2018)

delta dandi

2008 performance piece

A performance piece supported by the National Performance Network Creation Fund; a reading was presented in 2008 and a workshop production ran at the Long Center in Austin, Texas in 2009.

community creationBlack history and expressionfinding voice

blood pudding

2010 theatre piece

A theatrical piece presented at New York Summerstage in 2010; showcased in urban festivals and venues.

ritualcommunityembodied performance

no mo blues

1997 play (script)

A stage script that was nominated for an Osborn Award.

bluescommunitysocial memory

Bibliography

  • Love Conjure/Blues (RedBone Press, 2004)
  • the bull-jean stories (RedBone Press, 1998)
  • delta dandi (published in anthologies / performance text)
  • Numerous anthology contributions (e.g. Blacktino Queer Performance, Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic, etc.)
  • Album: amniotic/flow (with Sonja Perryman, 2003)

Adaptations

  • dat Black Mermaid Man Lady (stage performance, oracle deck, sung children's book, mentorship projects)
  • the bull-jean stories (audiobook)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
oral storytellingtheatrical jazz aestheticpoetic and rhythmic prosefusion of performance and text
Recurring Motifs
blues and jazz motifsconjure and spiritualitylove and survivalAfrican diasporic memorygender and embodied identities

Legacy

Sharon Bridgforth is recognized for her contributions to theatrical jazz aesthetics and African diasporic storytelling within queer US theatre. Her cross-form practice (stage, text, oracle deck, albums) and community/educational work have influenced new generations of artists.

Trivia

  • She has a daughter, Sonja Perryman, from a past marriage.
  • Publicly identified as a lesbian.
  • Founded the root wy'mn theatre company in 1993.
  • dat Black Mermaid Man Lady exists as a stage work and an oracle deck among other forms.