Sharon Bridgforth

Bridgforth was born in Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Illinois, and moved to South Central Los Angeles when she was 3 years old. She discovered the diversity of the city during her long bus commutes to school.

From 1993 to 1998, Bridgforth worked as the founder, writer, and artistic director of the root wy'mn theatre company.{{cite web |url=http://www.afterellen.com/people/2008/6/sharonbridgforth?page=0,1 |title=Artist and Activist Sharon Bridgforth |publisher=AfterEllen.com |date=2008-06-10 |accessdate=2012-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209011411/http://www.afterellen.com/people/2008/6/sharonbridgforth?page=0%2C1 |archive-date=2008-12-09 |url-status=dead }} root wy'mn's touring roster included: the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival, The Theater Offensive in Boston, La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, California, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

From 2002 to 2009, she served as the anchor artist for the Austin Project, produced by Omi Osun Joni L. Jones and the John L. Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, University of Texas at Austin. Her work, "Finding Voice Facilitation Method" was published in Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project edited by Osun Joni L. Jones, Lisa L. Moore, and herself.{{cite web |url=http://e-tap.org/history.htm |title=The Austin Project |publisher=E-tap.org |accessdate=2012-11-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425021214/http://e-tap.org/history.htm |archivedate=2012-04-25 }}

In 2008, Bridgforth received a National Performance Network Creation Fund award, for delta dandi, co-commissioned by Women & Their Work, in partnership with the National Performance Network. Freedom Train Productions in New York presented a reading of the work in 2008.{{cite web |url=http://freedomtrainproductions.org/html/sbridgforth.html |title=freedom train productions |publisher=freedom train productions |accessdate=2012-11-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402221952/http://freedomtrainproductions.org/html/sbridgforth.html |archive-date=2012-04-02 |url-status=dead }} A workshop production of the work was produced in 2009 at the Long Center in Austin, Texas.{{cite web|author=Michael |url=http://austinlivetheatre.blogspot.com/2008/11/upcoming-delta-dandi-rollins-theatre.html |title=Austin Live Theatre: Upcoming: delta dandi, Rollins Theatre, January 9–10 |publisher=Austinlivetheatre.blogspot.com |date=2008-11-27 |accessdate=2012-11-24}}

At Northwestern University, as the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation artist-in-residence in the performance studies department, Bridgforth presented a workshop production of delta dandi during the 2009 Solo/Black/Woman performance series.{{cite journal|title=Visiting Artist Sharon Bridgforth to perform Delta Dandy|journal=The Newsletter of the Department of Performance Studies at Northwestern University|date=Fall 2009|volume=4|issue=1|url=http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/departments/performancestudies/news/newsletter/Fall_09.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100611033130/http://www.communication.northwestern.edu/departments/performancestudies/news/newsletter/Fall_09.pdf|url-status=dead|archive-date=2010-06-11|accessdate=18 January 2013}} Since 2009, Bridgforth has been resident playwright at New Dramatists, New York. Her work blood pudding, was presented in the 2010 New York Summerstage festival.{{cite web |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/City-Parks-Summerstage-Season-Continues-With-BLOOD-PUDDING-Kicks-Off-723-20100719 |title=City Parks Summerstage Season Continues with BLOOD PUDDING, Kicks off 7/23 |last=Sierra |first=Gabrielle |date=July 19, 2010 |website=Broadway World |access-date=August 30, 2021}}

She was the 2010–2012 Visiting Multicultural Faculty member at the Theatre School at DePaul University and is the curator of the Theatrical Jazz Institute at Links Hall, produced by the school, Links Hall and herself.{{cite web |author=Theatrical Jazz Institute |url=http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/dance/node/35925 |title=Sharon Bridgforth Theatrical Jazz Institute |publisher=Chicago Artists Resource |accessdate=2012-11-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329071412/http://www.chicagoartistsresource.org/dance/node/35925 |archivedate=2012-03-29 }}

In 2022, Bridgforth was featured in the book 50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre, with a profile written by theatre scholar T. Chester.{{Cite book |last=Chester |first=T. |title=50 Key Figures in Queer US Theatre |publisher=Routledge |year=2022 |isbn=978-1032067964 |editor-last=Noriega and Schildcrout |pages=30–34 |chapter=Sharon Bridgforth}}

Published by RedBone Press, the bull-jean stories give cultural documentation and social commentary on African-American herstory and survival. Set in the rural South of the 1920s through the 1940s, the bull-jean stories uses traditional storytelling and nontraditional verse to chronicle the course of love returning in the lifetimes of one woman-loving-woman named bull-dog-jean.{{cite web|url=http://www.redbonepress.com/products/the-bull-jean-stories |title=the bull-jean stories |publisher=RedBone Press |date= |accessdate=2012-11-24}}

Both a performance and a novel, Love Conjure/Blues places the fiction-form inside a traditional Black American voice, inviting dramatic interpretation and movement within a highly literary text: It is filled with folktales, poetry, haints, prophecy, song, and oral history. Love Conjure/Blues was also published by RedBone Press.{{cite web|url=http://www.redbonepress.com/products/love-conjure-blues-by-sharon-bridgforth |title=love conjure/blues |publisher=RedBone Press |date= |accessdate=2012-11-24}}

Exists as a show, oracle deck, performance/novel, performance, sung children's book, and artistic mentorship towards homeownership.{{Cite web|url=https://www.datblackmermaidmanlady.com/about/|title = About}} The performance celebrates the different embodiments of gender through the journey of three characters alongside Yoburba deities Oya, Osun, and Yemaya. The show premiered at the Pillsbury House + Theater in Minneapolis, MN, on May 30, 2018, and ran through June 17, 2018.{{Cite web|url=http://pillsburyhouseandtheatre.org/announcing-2018-season/|title = Announcing our 2018 Season! | Pillsbury House Theatre| date=5 January 2018 }} The performance was written by Sharon Bridgforth, directed by Ebony Noelle Golden, with dramaturgy by Alexis Pauline Gumbs, and vocal composition by Mankwe Ndosi.

In addition to a performance, "dat Black Mermaid Man Lady" is an oracle deck.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9STvPmV9jrMkBwxgobN6aO7LxGejLO9K |title=dBMML Playlist |date=December 7, 2020 |website=YouTube |access-date=August 30, 2021}} The deck consists of characters from the performance/novel and features artwork by Yasmin Hernandez. The oracle deck is a working deck that Bridgforth used for a series of weekly readings.

Partnering with Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association{{cite web |url=https://www.ppna.org/ |title=Homepage |website=Powderhorn Neighborhood |access-date=August 30, 2021}} and City of Lakes Community Land Trust,{{cite web |url=http://www.clclt.org/ |title=The CLCLT welcomes You |website=City of Lakes Community Land Trust |access-date=August 30, 2021}} Bridgforth worked with five to seven emerging artist of color to create new works and more toward homeownership.

In 1997, Bridgforth's script no mo blues was nominated for an Osborn Award (sponsored by the American Theatre Critic's Association).{{cite web|url=http://academics.hamilton.edu/organizations/kirkland/bridgforth.html |title=Sharon Bridgforth and Luz Guerra |publisher=Academics.hamilton.edu |date= |accessdate=2012-11-24}} The bull-jean stories won a Lambda Literary Prize for "Best Book by a Small Press" in 1998. The collection also received a nomination for a Lambda Literary Prize in the category of "Best Lesbian Fiction" {{cite web|url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/07/15/lambda-literary-awards-1998/ |title=11th Annual Lambda Literary Awards |publisher=Lambda Literary |date= 15 July 1999|accessdate=2012-11-24}} and a nomination from the 1998 American Library Association for "Best Gay/Lesbian Book". Bridgforth was nominated for the 2002–2003 Alpert Award in the theatre category.{{cite web |url=http://www.womenarts.org/news_archives/June2005Interviews.htm |title=June 2005 Interviews |publisher=Womenarts.org |accessdate=2012-11-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328110402/http://www.womenarts.org/news_archives/June2005Interviews.htm |archivedate=2012-03-28 }} She has received the 2000 Penumbra Theatre (St. Paul, MN) Playwriting Fellowship and 2001 YWCA Woman Of The Year in Arts Award in Austin, Texas.{{cite web|url=http://www.ywca.org/site/pp.asp?c=9oIILUOtGlF&b=1840123 |title=Past Winners - Greater Austin |publisher=Ywca.org |date= |accessdate=2012-11-24}}

A recipient of the 2008 Alpert/Hedgebrook Residency Prize,{{cite web |url=http://alpertawards.org/archive/winner08/collaborations.html |title=2008 Alpert Award in the Arts |publisher=Alpertawards.org |accessdate=2012-11-24 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20120718035453/http://alpertawards.org/archive/winner08/collaborations.html |archivedate=2012-07-18 }} her work has been supported by 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 and community fund; the Paul Robeson Fund for Independent Media; and the Rockefeller Foundation Multi-Arts Production Fund Award.{{cite web |url=http://www.torchpoetry.org/Torch%20Fall%2006/Flame/sharonbridgforth%20fall06.htm |title=Sharon Bridgforth Flame - Fall 2006 |website=Torch |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101223121257/http://www.torchpoetry.org/Torch%20Fall%2006/Flame/sharonbridgforth%20fall06.htm |archive-date=December 23, 2010}} Bridgforth was also the recipient of the Creative Capital Performing Arts Award in 2016.{{cite web |url=http://creative-capital.org/artistprojects |title=Artist Projects |website=Creative Capital |access-date=August 30, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161231044000/http://creative-capital.org/artistprojects |archive-date=December 31, 2016}}

She has a daughter, Sonja Perryman, from a past marriage.{{cite web|title=Bridgforth|url=http://www.cherylcoward.com/content/index.php?s=bridgforth|work=CherylCoward.com|accessdate=18 January 2013|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425021217/http://www.cherylcoward.com/content/index.php?s=bridgforth|archivedate=25 April 2012}} A lesbian,"Black lesbian author receives award". Windy City Times, March 26, 2008. her partner is Omi Osun Joni L. Jones.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}} Jones also has a daughter, Leigh Gaymon-Jones, from a past marriage.{{citation needed|date=October 2022}}

• "The love conjure/blues Text Installation" script, anthologized in Blacktino Queer Performance, Northwestern University Press (2016), {{ISBN|978-0-8223-7465-7|}}
• "delta dandi", anthologized in solo black woman performance, Northwestern University Press (2013), {{ISBN|978-0-8101-2947-4|}}
• Excerpt from "con flama", anthologized in Windy City Queer: LGBTQ Dispatches from the Third Coast, University of Wisconsin Press (2011), {{ISBN|978-0-299-28404-6}}
• Writing exercises are featured in Wingbeats: Exercises and Practice in Poetry, edited by Scott Wiggerman and David Meischen. Dos Gatos Press, {{ISBN|978-0-9760051-9-3}}
• Experiments in a Jazz Aesthetic: Art, Activism, Academia, and the Austin Project, (ed. with Lisa L. Moore and Omi Osun Joni L. Jones), University of Texas Press (2010), {{ISBN|978-0-292-72287-3}}
• "Litany-Blood In The Soil/Texas", anthologized in A Students' Treasury of Texas Poetry, Texas A&M University Consortium Press (2007), {{ISBN|978-0-87565-353-2}}
• "a wo'mn called sir", anthologized in First Person Queer: Who We Are (So Far), Arsenal Pulp Press (2007), {{ISBN|978-1-55152-227-2}}
• excerpt "dyke/warrior-Prayers", anthologized in Voices Rising: Celebrating 20 Years Of Black Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender Writing, Other Countries and RedBone Press (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-9786251-3-9}}
• "Street/Angels & Clarity", anthologized in Check The Rhyme: An Anthology Of Female Poets & Emcees, Lit Noire Publishing (2006), {{ISBN|978-0-9719052-3-8}}
• "interlude #21: the road to Higher Power", anthologized in Spirited: Affirming the Soul and Black Gay Lesbian Identity, RedBone Press (2006), {{ISBN|978-0965665933}}
• "Doña Julia", anthologized in Red Light Superheroes, Saints, and Sluts, Arsenal Pulp Press (2005), {{ISBN|978-1-55152-184-8}}
• Love Conjure/Blues, Redbone Press (2004), {{ISBN|978-0-9656659-6-4}}
• excerpt from "con flama", anthologized in New Monologues For Women By Women, Heinemann (2004), {{ISBN|978-0-325-00626-0}}
• excerpt from "con flama" anthologized in "Is This Forever, Or What?: Poems & Paintings From Texas", Greenwillow Books (2004), {{ISBN|0-06-051178-8}}
• "bull-jean slipn in" & "bull-jean & trouble", anthologized in Role Call: A Generational Anthology Of Social And Political Black Literature & Art, Third World Press (2001), {{ISBN|978-0-88378-239-2}}
• "dyke/warrior-Prayers" and "blood pudding", anthology in Recreations: Religion And Spirituality In The Lives Of Queer People, Q Press (1999), {{ISBN|978-1-895564-06-8}}
• the bull-jean stories, Redbone Press (1998), {{ISBN|978-0-86381-279-8}}
• Excerpt from sonnata blue, anthologized in Ma-Ka Diasporic Juks, Sister Vision Press (1998), {{ISBN|978-1-896705-14-9}}
• "that beat" anthologized in Does Your Mama Know?: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Coming Out Stories, RedBone Press (1997), {{ISBN|978-0-9656659-0-2}}

• amniotic/flow, with daughter,with Sonja Perryman (2003) [http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/sbsp available digitally]
• the bull-jean stories, [http://www.redbonepress.com/products/the-bull-jean-stories-audiobook available digitally]

• delta dandi
• The love conjure/blues text installation
• con flama
• blood pudding
• dyke/warrior-Prayers
• no mo blues
• lovve/rituals & rage

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://web.archive.org/web/20111015101928/http://sharonbridgforth.com/content/ Sharon Bridgforth's Official Website]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20131024085205/http://blip.tv/sharon-bridgforth Blip TV-Sharon Bridgforth]

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridgforth, Sharon}}

Category:1958 births

Category:Living people

Category:American feminists

Category:American women short story writers

Category:20th-century American short story writers

Category:20th-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:American lesbian writers

Category:African-American LGBTQ writers

Category:Lesbian feminists

Category:American LGBTQ dramatists and playwrights

Category:LGBTQ people from Illinois

Category:American women dramatists and playwrights

Category:21st-century American short story writers

Category:21st-century American dramatists and playwrights

Category:Writers from Chicago

Category:Writers from Los Angeles

Category:20th-century American women writers

Category:21st-century American women writers

Category:20th-century African-American women writers

Category:20th-century African-American writers

Category:21st-century African-American women writers

Category:21st-century African-American writers