February 2023: Celebration of an Artist
From Page to Stage:
An Appreciation of Poet, Playwright and Librettist
Bridgette Wimberly
Photo Courtesy: Cherry Lane Theatre
By Carol Lippert Gray
Bridgette Wimberly was a soft-spoken playwright and later a librettist who began her writing career as a poet, but never shied away from controversial subject matter in her work.
She was born in Cleveland in 1954. Her brother, Michael Wimberly, a musician, remembers, “Bridgette moved between the arts and sciences early in her teen years, showing an unusual strength in math, chemistry, dance and doodling. Not only did she tutor me in geometry and algebra, she also tutored [many others] in the neighborhood in math for those who needed it.” She graduated from Columbia University in 1978. (Note: Bridgette was a medical researcher working at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center before moving into the writing sphere later in life.)
“Bridgette was writing poems while in medical school at Columbia as well as skits for my comedy troupe at the International House in New York City,” her brother says. “Her dear friend, Edward Morgan, principal dancer with the Joffrey ballet, gave her access to see all the Joffrey ballets, which fed her imagination. She wrote a ballet synopsis using the music of Michael Jackson that Robert Joffrey considered. It was called ‘An Off the Wall Thriller.’ Later, she turned that synopsis into a full-length feature movie that began a conversation with Jackson’s attorney, John Branca. I have the correspondence letter on file.”
In the early 1990s, Michael Wimberly says, “I asked Bridgette to come to the Victoria 5 Theater on 125th Street to hear me play percussion while accompanying a featured poet. The poetry night was hosted by actress/writer Phyliss Yvonne Stickney. After the main featured poet, they opened the floor for anyone to recite a poem. Bridgette nervously approached the stage and began reciting ‘Fire Walker,’ a poem dedicated to our mother, reflecting on the hardships she had to endure so her children wouldn’t have to walk the same path she had to survive. Bridgette didn’t have the second part of the poem that evening, which made the audience clamor to hear the rest of it. She was invited back the following week and her poetry career took off that night.”
Bridgette Wimberly was a soft-spoken playwright and later a librettist who began her writing career as a poet, but never shied away from controversial subject matter in her work.
She was born in Cleveland in 1954. Her brother, Michael Wimberly, a musician, remembers, “Bridgette moved between the arts and sciences early in her teen years, showing an unusual strength in math, chemistry, dance and doodling. Not only did she tutor me in geometry and algebra, she also tutored [many others] in the neighborhood in math for those who needed it.” She graduated from Columbia University in 1978. (Note: Bridgette was a medical researcher working at Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center before moving into the writing sphere later in life.)
“Bridgette was writing poems while in medical school at Columbia as well as skits for my comedy troupe at the International House in New York City,” her brother says. “Her dear friend, Edward Morgan, principal dancer with the Joffrey ballet, gave her access to see all the Joffrey ballets, which fed her imagination. She wrote a ballet synopsis using the music of Michael Jackson that Robert Joffrey considered. It was called ‘An Off the Wall Thriller.’ Later, she turned that synopsis into a full-length feature movie that began a conversation with Jackson’s attorney, John Branca. I have the correspondence letter on file.”
In the early 1990s, Michael Wimberly says, “I asked Bridgette to come to the Victoria 5 Theater on 125th Street to hear me play percussion while accompanying a featured poet. The poetry night was hosted by actress/writer Phyliss Yvonne Stickney. After the main featured poet, they opened the floor for anyone to recite a poem. Bridgette nervously approached the stage and began reciting ‘Fire Walker,’ a poem dedicated to our mother, reflecting on the hardships she had to endure so her children wouldn’t have to walk the same path she had to survive. Bridgette didn’t have the second part of the poem that evening, which made the audience clamor to hear the rest of it. She was invited back the following week and her poetry career took off that night.”
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Later, she pivoted to playwriting. In 1998, her play Saint Lucy’s Eyes came to the attention of Angelina Fiordellisi, founder and executive director of New York’s historic Cherry Lane Theatre. Bridgette had been nominated for the theater’s then-new Mentor Project, whereby an established playwright mentored a new work by a fledgling playwright. “When we read it, we just flipped over it and sent it to [Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright] Wendy Wasserstein. She called and left a message singing to the tune of ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight: ‘Oh Wimberly, oh Wimberly.’”
Saint Lucy’s Eyes, which deals with abortion, starred legendary actor Ruby Dee. It was staged at the Women’s Project Theater in New York in 2001, followed by an eight-week run at the Cherry Lane Theatre. “Bridgette was very quiet at first and would hide her nerves,” Fiordellisi says. “We did six performances a week. She was upset during rehearsals. I just held her hand and told her how wonderful her play was and that everything would be all right. That’s how we bonded.” |
Bridgette with Ruby Dee in the Lobby of Cherry Lane Theatre
Photo Courtesy: Cherry Lane Theatre |
Fiordellisi invited her to join the development staff of the not-for-profit Cherry Lane. “She was so articulate and well written, so I invited her to be development director. No one understood the process [of taking a play from page to stage] from inside out like she did. She raised $400,000 for our programming. She was successful because she was speaking from inside. I invited her to be on the theater’s board of directors.” [Full disclosure: I, too, serve on the Cherry Lane board. Bridgette and I were colleagues for about 16 years, and I always thought of her as a quiet powerhouse. ~ C.L.G.]
But back to discussion of the Mentor Project. “The African American playwrights who were nominated weren’t as experienced as we wanted, so we developed a program for Black playwrights,” Fiordellisi says. “Bridgette was very excited and helped originate a program for African American History month. So, February was her month. We did play readings Monday to Friday all month long. We did talkbacks, evenings with African American playwrights discussing their process and challenges. She took it and ran with it.”
When that program dissolved, Fiordellisi shares that Bridgette started programming of her own. Around 2009, she received a grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure (a nonprofit organization) to teach playwriting to breast cancer survivors. The result was “From Breast Cancer to Broadway,” which appeared at the Cherry Lane and in Cleveland.
But back to discussion of the Mentor Project. “The African American playwrights who were nominated weren’t as experienced as we wanted, so we developed a program for Black playwrights,” Fiordellisi says. “Bridgette was very excited and helped originate a program for African American History month. So, February was her month. We did play readings Monday to Friday all month long. We did talkbacks, evenings with African American playwrights discussing their process and challenges. She took it and ran with it.”
When that program dissolved, Fiordellisi shares that Bridgette started programming of her own. Around 2009, she received a grant from Susan G. Komen for the Cure (a nonprofit organization) to teach playwriting to breast cancer survivors. The result was “From Breast Cancer to Broadway,” which appeared at the Cherry Lane and in Cleveland.
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Short Video Interview with Bridgette about Charlie Parker's Yardbird
(The Atlanta Opera YouTube Channel) |
The capstone of her career was the libretto to “Charlie Parker’s Yardbird,” an opera about the pioneering jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker. The work, co-commissioned by Opera Philadelphia and Gotham Chamber Opera, had its world premiere in Philadelphia in 2015. It was later performed at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, where it was broadcast nationally, and has since toured the country and been performed in England. It had a run in New Orleans just last month.
“So, when I heard, through my own musician brother, that a New York-based composer called Daniel Schnyder was looking for a librettist to write the book for an opera about the jazz great, I was intrigued and set out in search of Charlie Parker, knowing little about him or his music beyond my grandmother’s stories.” ~ Bridgette Wimberly (The Guardian, June 2017) |
Bridgette died in New York in December 2022, leaving a body of work that shines a light on the Black American experience with eloquence and grace. Her brother says, “Bridgette taught me through her medical research and her artistic writing that anything was possible. Her ideas were bold and, at times, revolutionary. She was a true polymath.”
Fiordellisi adds, “She was a quiet playwright with an enormous gift in understanding humanity. She put humanity on the page and always moved me – as a writer and a person. I loved her. She was a beautiful spirit, kind, gentle and appreciative.”
Bridgette died in New York in December 2022, leaving a body of work that shines a light on the Black American experience with eloquence and grace. Her brother says, “Bridgette taught me through her medical research and her artistic writing that anything was possible. Her ideas were bold and, at times, revolutionary. She was a true polymath.”
Fiordellisi adds, “She was a quiet playwright with an enormous gift in understanding humanity. She put humanity on the page and always moved me – as a writer and a person. I loved her. She was a beautiful spirit, kind, gentle and appreciative.”
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More about Bridgette:
Bridgette Wimberly was commissioned and produced by a number of prominent theaters Off-Broadway and across the U.S. This list includes Cherry Lane Theatre (the longest running Off-Broadway theater), Hackney Empire-London, Opera Philadelphia, Apollo Theatre, Madison Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, and many others. Her poems were published in six anthologies of poetry by the poetry group Cave Canem from 1999 to 2008. Her article, "The Bird in my hand: my journey to Charlie Parker" was published by The Guardian (June 2017). A partial list of her community associations and activities included member of the Board of Directors at Cherry Lane Theatre, lifetime member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre, New York Foundation for the Arts Artspire Artist, and member of The Dramatists Guild. Bridgette’s first play, Saint Lucy’s Eyes starring Ruby Dee, received three AUDELCO Awards, a Kesslering nomination for best new play, and a Lucille Lortel nomination for best actress. She was also the recipient of fellowships/awards from The New York Foundation for the Arts (Poetry), The New York Urban Arts Initiative, and the Harlem Arts Alliance. |
Carol Lippert Gray is an award-winning public relations professional and longtime freelance writer and editor. Her career has spanned books, newspapers, magazines, broadcast and online media in fields as diverse as crafts and corporate finance, parenting and philanthropy. She is a co-associate editor of Sanctuary.
