Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Bridgforth, Sharon.

Description

1. 5.63 linear feet (14 boxes, 1 oversize folder)

Summary

1. Sharon Bridgforth is a Black lesbian writer, playwright, performer, and theatrical jazz artist.Bridgforth first began writing poetry at the age of fifteen, and continued to develop her style throughout her early career. In 1992, she wrote and directed "shadows...that which is cast to the side" a choreofilm, combining poetry, performance, and video recording; the following year, she wrote and produced "sepia’s blues", a dramatic video presentation. From 1994 to 1997, she worked as a freelance journalist for the "Austin American-Statesman". In 1993, Bridgforth began writing "the bull-jean stories", a collection of theatre pieces, poems, and short stories which she deemed a performance novel. In 1998, "the bull-jean stories" was published by RedBone Press to critical acclaim; it won the 1998 Lambda Literary Award for Best Book by a Small Press, and was nominated for the Lambda Literary Award for Best Lesbian Fiction and the American Library Association Award for Best Gay/Lesbian Boo. Bridgforth herself was voted the Best Author/Poet in "The Austin Chronicle" Best of Austin Readers Poll for 1999 and 2000. Bridgforth established the Finding Voice method of creative writing in 1999, which she developed into a workshop series and later expanded into a web radio show on 91.7 KVRX Radio Caracol. In 2002, she helped organize the inaugural Fire and Ink: A Writers Festival for GLBT People of African Descent, the first national conference for Black LGBT writers helmed by Lisa C. Moore. In 2003, she co-edited "voices for racial justice: eliminating racism, empowering women" with Jennifer Margulies as part of the Racial Justice Program of the YWCA of Greater Austin. "love/conjure blues", Bridgforth’s second performance novel, was published in 2004 and won an Urban Spectrum Black Book Award. In 2007, she directed the "love/conjure blues Text Installation", a multimedia project of short films with live narration and music based on the novel. In 1993, Bridgforth founded the root wy’mn Theatre Company, an all-Black female Austin-based theatre troupe that combined poetry, dance, and music into performance pieces centered on the experiences of Black women. Bridgforth served as the company’s playwright and artistic director from 1993 to 1998, working with Lori Wilson, the company manager, and frequently collaborating with performer Sonja Parks. The company was voted Best Theatre of the South in "The Austin Chronicle" Best of Austin 1996 Critics’ Poll. Bridgforth disbanded root wy’mn in 1998 to focus on her writing career. In 1998, Bridgforth collaborated with Laurie Carlos, international theatre pioneer, who directed "blood pudding" at Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre. She was awarded a grant from the Theatre Communications Group/National Endowment for the Arts for the 2000 playwright-in-residence award at Frontera@Hyde Park Theatre, where she wrote and produced "con flama". That year, she also held workshops at the Esperanza Peace and Justice Center in San Antonio. In 2002, Bridgforth became an anchor artist for the Austin Project, a ten-week program for female scholars, artists, and activists held at the Center for African and African American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. She was subsequently named artist-in-residence at the Austin Latino Lesbian/Gay Organization (ALLGO), a Texas organization for queer people of color, and was later appointed ALLGO’s artist director in 2004. In 2003, she collaborated with her daughter, Sonja Perryman, on "amniotic/flow", a spoken-word and music CD. In 2005, Bridgforth was diagnosed with cervical cancer and underwent a radical hysterectomy. Her next multimedia theater piece, "delta dandi", was commissioned by Women and Their Work through a Creation Fund Award granted by the National Performance Network in 2007, and premiered at the Long Center for the Performing Arts in 2009. Bridgforth has been a resident playwright at New Dramatists since 2009. She founded the Theatrical Jazz Institute, which was produced by the Theatre School at DePaul and Links Hall in Chicago from 2011 to 2012. In 2013, she premiered "River See", a theatrical jazz performance installation funded as part of the 2012 National Performance Network Creation Fund. Her awards include the 2001 YWCA Woman of the Year in Arts and Communications and the 2008 Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize. She most recently received a 2016 Creative Capital Award to fund "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady", a series of interactive community-based events that include oracle readings, performance installations, workshops, processionals, and tiny house building projects.
2. The Sharon Bridgforth papers, 1989-2015, document her personal life and her career as a writer, playwright, and performer. The bulk of the collection consists of her writing and materials related to productions of her plays and films, such as manuscripts and drafts, programs and promotional material, and clippings.

Subject

1. African American women performance artists
2. African American women authors
3. Moore, Lisa C
4. African American radio broadcasters
5. African American women dramatists
6. Authors, Black
7. African American women poets
8. Perryman, Sonja, 1982-
9. African American women motion picture producers and directors
10. African American lesbians

Call number

1. Sc MG 845

Access (note)

1. Participant release forms for events with root wy'mn Theatre Company have been removed.

Source (note)

1. Gift of Sharon Bridgforth, 2011-2015.

Location of other archival materials (note)

1. In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture

Author

1. Bridgforth, Sharon, creator.

Title

1. Sharon Bridgforth papers.

Production

1. 1989-2015.

Type of content

1. text
2. still image

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. sheet

Restricted access

1. Participant release forms for events with root wy'mn Theatre Company have been removed.

Location of other archival materials

1. In the Life Archive (ITLA) miscellaneous collections, Sc MG 736, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
2. Materials Separated from the Resource: Transferred to the Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division: audio and moving image materials. For more information, please contact the division at schomburgaudiovisual@nypl.org or 212-491-2270. Transferred to the Photographs and Prints Division: photographs.

Source

1. Gift of Sharon Bridgforth, 2011-2015.

Connect to:

1. Finding aid

Added author

1. Bridgforth, Sharon. Delta dandi.

Research call number

1. Sc MG 845