by Sandra Beckmeier

Contemporary women playwrights remain on the edge, shifting the margins of today's mainstream theater. If silence equals death, many theater groups popping up around town are redefining the heyday of heroism in Austin's theater palate.

Sharon Bridgforth has been creating cultural silhouettes for several years. Formerly a self-professed "closeted" writer, she brought her performance pieces and poetry to the stage with her first production, Sonata Blue, in 1993. Premiering at the Vortex, Bridgforth's company, Root Wy'mn, was born.

Bridgforth's work is unrecognizable, at least to me. It carries the voice of an artist progressing, unfolding "herstory" for those who don't know, uncovering spirituality, and offerings through characters I sometimes tend to believe are really re-born deities, including Bridgforth's child of soulful diligence, BullJean.

The great cultural divides make us shift our feet, lose days and hours of sleep, moving from survival mode toward growth, artists have to examine the relationship within our communities, old and new. Her latest piece, Blood Pudding took her on a pilgrimage to the culture of the Mardi Gras Indians of Algiers, where her father was raised.

Receiving a new form initiative grant (regional NEA), Bridgforth's idea began to crystallize as she researched. "As time passed I became more clear about the mixing of blood and the ways that we survive," she said. "I was very careful about where I was getting my information. I wanted to be as much as possible, talking with people-of-color-historians, people with lineage from that area; if it was oral tradition I would gather it. It started becoming about the history of New Guinea, about the cultures and the ways people survived."

Described as a "bluesical," Blood Pudding brings a lot of discoveries and subtly challenges the audience to the stage, lifting another veil and adding "many creative layers," including collaborating with the hailed yet unfamed Laurie Carlos, who came to Frontera on a grant to work with playwrights and performers. For Bridgforth, collaboration with Carlos meant the opportunity to layer the work with an artist accustomed to working with non-traditional playforms and spiritually based work. Carlos is a legend of performance art, an original cast member of For Colored Girls...

The lights dim in Hyde Park Theater, and I sit quietly next to Bridgforth and my date, all three of us listening to each other's responses to the soul food delivered from the root. Suddenly the lady is on the stage -- BullJean, a young revolutionary child-woman whose voice becomes stronger as the storytelling engages the audience beyond where we think we're being led.

Although Blood Pudding was produced by Frontera, Root Wy'mn Theatre Company came from a script and an experience Bridgforth had recalling an elder sharing the process of preparing and cooking greens, and the strength that comes from women sharing their stories while cooking in the kitchen. Bridgforth began exploring the idea of survival in a woman's way, and began her journey by telling the stories of African American women -- staying in tune to issues concerning elders, homosexuals, and Native Americans. The result has been a unique method of storytelling as a means to make the message universal.

"Sometimes what I say or the way I say it, people may not agree with, and that pushes buttons. But that's okay because at least it makes people think," Bridgforth said. "I feel very strongly that if we are going to survive as people, not just as people of color, it's going to take a universal effort. That's why it's important to me that the work have a universal message. Blood Pudding addresses people who were indigenous to that area and were slaughtered. Looking at indigenous people, and recalling what happened when the French came, some were killed off. A lot of people ended up having to fight -- sometimes each other -- to survive capitalism-driven people who were coming in and taking over."

Bridgforth says of her writing process, "the hardest thing for me is always getting started. This piece was really hard for me to write. It took me a while to get to the point of starting and the more research I did I knew I wanted to honor the fact that within the culture of these indigenous people they don't tell their whole story to people who are not a part of it. I think it's partially because our stories are not often told," Bridgforth clarified. "I think part of it too is that what they do is spiritually based. Once I got going it became more about the magic and beauty of the stories they told and the history of New Guinea cultures and the ways people survived. It became compulsive, like fitting pieces together."

1998 is a banner year for Bridgforth, not only considering the success the play had with Frontera, but also celebrating being published after years of rejection -- a sign of the times. Bridgforth found a home for a collection of short stories, The BullJean Stories, with RedBone Press in September of 1998. After submitting some of her writing to the activism-rooted publisher for an anthology of African American lesbian coming out stories, Does Your Momma Know?, and corresponding for several years, one of her pieces was selected for the book. Bridgforth began what will ultimately lead to a trend of dashing into bookstores and reading last time with other contributors from the collection, and addressing the publishing questions that had lingered on for too long.

"There's nothing like letting things happen like they're supposed to," Bridgforth said. "The pieces I write are for the body, the ear, therefore performance, but I still wanted to see them in print. Last year I ended up contributing to three anthologies, but for years it was frustrating for me because I would be out in cities touring with the company and people would ask me for a book and although I had self-published some of my work, it just became too expensive.

"I can't even find words to express how it feels so I'm looking forward to wearing this hat. Does Your Momma Know? has won several awards, and is being used as a textbook in some places. Lisa Moore is someone who is committed to creating history, but you know herstory is a better term. So on top of this excitement of seeing this stuff in print it just feels special, very special."

Bridgforth and co-director Laurie Carlos successfully brought Blood Pudding to life at Hyde Park Theater this spring, which featured Stacy Robinson, Djola Branner, Zel Miller III, Renita Martin and Florinda Bryant. "Hyde Park has the energy, resources and deep caring about the work to see that it goes out into the world, connecting communities which is what so much of Blood Pudding is about, layering," Bridgforth explained. "In the end when it comes down you have to be realistic about resources and I've found out how much energy I have and where I can put it or else I'll be crazy and won't have anything.

"This was the first time I shared directorship, and the first time another company has produced my work," she said. "This has been very special to me and I'm really excited about other companies producing my work and simply getting to wear the hat of writer. Laurie Carlos is so special, not only as an individual, but in the history of performance art. She is one of the foremothers, and if not for her work I would not be able to work and get paid. If she hadn't already paid her dues and opened doors who knows?"

Luckily, it's only history.