Loving Sharon Bridgforth

Sharon & Samiya
Originally uploaded by Sharon Bridgforth

I had an *amazing* time getting to see the Worldwide Premier of Sharon Bridgforth's newest play, delta dandi. Bridgforth's play explores the legacy of slavery and abuse in black women's lives, the work of the living and our ancestors in overcoming that legacy and reaching out to embrace our fullest lives and the importance of artists and artistic contributions toward that work.

That's sho'nuff a simplistic run-down of the show, but it's a small taste of the extraordinary complexities offered by Bridgforth and her crew of actors, artists, dancers, musicians and others working collaboratively in the jazz aesthetic to produce work that is blowing the envelope wide open. Mixing laughter and tears, deep introspection with multi-layered comic relief, Bridgforth carried the audience from deeply uncomfortable with the light shed on scabbed up truths to heartily at home with the loving treatment the diversity of our world and our lives offers us through lessons she so courageously uncloaks and directs our gaze to embrace.

The cast was led by a bone-shuddering performance by Florinda Bryant, and included heart-stopping performances by Helga Davis and Sonja Perryman -- both of whom brought breathtaking new life to the piece with their brilliant and shimmering professionalism.

delta dandi represents the kind of experimental artwork that inspires us to dig deeper and push ourselves beyond the traditional boundaries we accept for our creative work and our artistic lives. Let us all heed her call.