Photo Credit: Elvis Nolasco
Make Up By: Sonja Perryman
New Dramatists
Dramatists Guild of America
A Writer/working in the Theatrical Jazz Aesthetic, New Dramatists member Sharon Bridgforth, is a two time Alpert Award Nominee in the Arts in Theatre and is recipient of the 2008 Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize. Fall 2009 Artist In-Residence in Performance Studies at Northwestern University, Bridgforth is listed in the Campus Pride 2009 “HOT LIST” — Top 25 Favorite LGBT Artists, Speakers, Lecturers, Music Acts, Comedians, Activists & Much More. Her work has received support from the National Endowment For The Arts Commissioning Program; The National Endowment For The Arts/Theatre Communications Group Playwright in Residence Program; National Performance Network Commissioning Fund; the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media; and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Award. Bridgforth is the author of the Lambda Literary Award winning, the bull-jean stories and love conjure/blues, a performance/novel. Both books are published by RedBone Press. She is an affiliate of The Austin Project, sponsored by The John L. Warfield Center For African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin (CAAAS). Bridgforth’s Finding Voice Facilitation Manuel will be published in, Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project, edited by Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Director, CAAAS, Associate Professor, Department of Theater and Dance U.T. Austin; Dr. Lisa L. Moore, Associate Professor, English and Women’s and Gender Studies, U.T. Austin; and Bridgforth (Summer, 2010 by University of Texas Press). For more go to: sharonbridgforth.com.
A Writer/working in the Theatrical Jazz Aesthetic, New Dramatists Sharon Bridgforth is a two time Alpert Award Nominee in the Arts in Theatre and is recipient of the 2008 Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize. Fall 2009 Artist In-Residence in Performance Studies at Northwestern University, Bridgforth is listed in the Campus Pride 2009 “HOT LIST” — Top 25 Favorite LGBT Artists, Speakers, Lecturers, Music Acts, Comedians, Activists & Much More. Her work has been anthologized and produced widely and has received support from the National Endowment For The Arts Commissioning Program; The National Endowment For The Arts/Theatre Communications Group Playwright in Residence Program; National Performance Network Commissioning Fund; the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media; and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Award. Bridgforth’s work has presented nationally at venues including: the Walker Arts Center in Minneapolis, MN., The Theatre Offensive Out on The Edge Festival in Boston, MA., LaPena in Berkeley, CA., The Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival, Penumbra Theatre Company in St. Paul, MN.
Bridgforth is the author of the Lambda Award winning the bull-jean stories and love conjure/blues, a performance/novel. Both books are published by RedBone Press. Bridgforth has broken ground in the creation and presentation of the performance/novel and in doing so has advanced the articulation of the Jazz aesthetic as it lives in theatre. She is one of three artists featured in Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones’ forthcoming book titled, Jazz Ase and The Power Of The Present Moment. Bridgforth’s work has fostered the study of Black lesbian performance literature in academic settings. Some of the professors who have taught her work are: Lisa Anderson, Arizona State, Phoenix; Lisa Arnold, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities; Daniel Banks, NYU, Tisch School For The Arts-Drama; K. Bradford, Columbia College, Chicago Il.; Jill Dolan, Princeton University; Kirsten Gardner, University of Texas, San Antonio; Carol Guess, Western Washington University; Amy Karp, University of Maryland; Laura Harris, Pitzer College; Lisa Hernandez and Doug Norman St. Edward’s University; Kristen Hogen, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge; Phyllis Jackson, Pomona College; Joyce Ann Joyce, Temple University; E. Patrick Johnson, Northwestern University, Chicago IL.; Cherrie Moraga, Stanford University; Matt Richardson, University of California, Berkeley; Francesca Royster, De Paul University; Meg Sullivan, Texas A&M; Natasha Tinsley, University of Minnesota; Stacy Wolf, Princeton University; Vershawn Ashanti Young, University of Iowa; Lisa L. Moore, Deborah A Paredez, Kristen Hogan, Daniel Alexander Jones, Jafari Sinclaire Allen, Matt Richardson and Timothy Turner; University of Texas at Austin
Bridgforth has developed a method of facilitating creative writing that she calls, Finding Voice. With the Finding Voice method Bridgforth mentors/and or facilitates writers through a creative process, encouraging them to use the page as a canvas; to use identity-culture-memory-family histories-dreams to articulate and examine the socio-political realities of their lives in a form that is part poetry, part oral history, part performance art; to examine their creative process; to work in community as they use art as a vehicle for social justice. Bridgforth is an affiliate of The Austin Project, sponsored by The John L. Warfield Center For African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin (CAAAS). Her Finding Voice Facilitation Manuel will be published in, Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project, edited by Dr. Omi Osun Joni L. Jones, Director, CAAAS, Associate Professor, Department of Theater and Dance U.T. Austin; Dr. Lisa L. Moore, Associate Professor, English and Women’s and Gender Studies, U.T. Austin; and Bridgforth (Summer, 2010 by University of Texas Press). For more go to: sharonbridgforth.com.
CV available upon request
(Photo Credit: Cheryl Coward)
