Nona Hendryx
Nona Bernis Hendryx (born October 9, 1944) is an American vocalist who recorded and played live with Talking Heads in the early 80's. Hendryx rose to prominence through her collaboration with the group Labelle.
Musical Career
Patti Labelle and the Bluebells, Labelle
Hendryx would begin to perform with Patti Labelle and the Bluebells in the 60's. By the 70's, the nauture of the group had changed, and the act rebranded itself as simply "Labelle" The group, like many other disco acts of the era, allowed Black women to "take center stage." Hendryx described the transition as "Patti Labelle and the Bluebells were a girl group. Labelle was a girl band."[1]
Theatre
For years Hendryx has been involved with the theatrical world, working on everything from writing music for individual productions to programming a monthly series at a theater.
2018 Vanguard Residency
In 2018, Hendryx became the inaugural recipient for "The Vanguard Residency," a grant award that was given to Hendryx to "sustain and lead their own artistic community while creating a body of work that stands apart from their peers."[2] This effectively saw Hendryx continuing to create theatrical works as well as taking on the role of programmer for Joe's Pub theater in New York City. According to the director of Joe's Pub, "As we developed the program, the name that kept coming up was Nona Hendryx. She is not only a vanguard artist who has changed the form and field of American pop culture but she is deeply connected to Joe's Pub and its larger community of artists."[3]
In addition to her own works Hendryx created during this period, she also invited many other performers to the theater, who epitomized her "Fearless Manifesto" by being "antithetical to the 'normal, expected and accepted,' the status quo. The fearless are creatively restless, they push the boundaries, provoke, shock, endeavor to achieve a transcending effect, an awakening, evolving into some-thing new."[4]
2020 production of Blue
Hendryx worked with writer-director Charles Randolph-Wright creating music for the play Blue. On April 21, 2000 the play would open at Arena Stage in Washington, DC. She described Randolph-Wright as having "unabated self-assurance" and "very wide taste."[5] While the play was slated to be Hendryx's Broadway debut in April 2020, the run was first moved off-Broadway to the Apollo Theater before being cancelled entirely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[6][7][8]
2021 production of Trouble In Mind
Trouble In Mind was an off-Broadway play written by Alice Childress that opened on November 3, 1955.[9] Years later, following Childress' death, the play would be revived om 2021 for Broadway and directed by Charles Randolph-Wright. This revival would include original music written by Hendryx, who said that "I wish Alice Childress was here. She was a spectacular human. [...] And now, Alice, it is where you wanted it to be and in the hands of Charles Randolph-Wright, who appreciated your work. He did not change a word and wanted to be true to your script. And I wrote music to support that truth." [10] This 2021 production would be Hendryx's Broadway Debut.[11]
Sources
- ↑ Flanagan, Michael. ““Disco: Soundtrack of a Revolution” - PBS Documentary Dances and Dishes.” Ebar.com, The Bay Area Reporter, 23 July 2024, www.ebar.com/story.php?ch=bartab&sc=nightlife&id=334451&title=disco:_soundtrack_of_a_revolution_-_pbs_documentary_dances_and_dishes.
- ↑ Musbach, Julie. “Inaugural Joe’s Pub Vanguard Gala to Honor Nona Hendryx.” BroadwayWorld.com, 23 Mar. 2018, www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Inaugural-Joes-Pub-Vanguard-Gala-to-Honor-Nona-Hendryx-20180323. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ McBride, Walter. “Photos: Joe’s Pub Will Launch Vanguard Residency with First Honoree- Nona Hendryx.” BroadwayWorld.com, 16 Oct. 2017, www.broadwayworld.com/article/Photo-Coverage-Joes-Pub-Will-Launch-Vanguard-Residency-with-First-Honoree--Nona-Hendryx-20171016. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Musbach, Julie. “Nona Hendryx Debuts Liza Jessie Peterson’s down the RABBIT HOLE at Joe’s Pub.” BroadwayWorld.com, 13 Feb. 2018, www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Nona-Hendryx-Debuts-Liza-Jessie-Petersons-DOWN-THE-RABBIT-HOLE-at-Joes-Pub-20180213. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Pressley, Nelson. “A Writer-Director’s Special Shade of “Blue” at Arena, Charles Randolph-Wright Widens His Eclectic Canon.” The Washington Post, 22 Apr. 2000, www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2000/04/23/a-writer-directors-special-shade-of-blue/dd19bb1e-ce63-472c-b582-cceec0f627b5/. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Clement, Olivia. “Phylicia Rashad to Direct Charles Randolph-Wright’s Blue on Broadway.” Playbill, 22 Apr. 2020, playbill.com/article/phylicia-rashad-to-direct-charles-randolph-wrights-blue-on-broadway. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Wild, Stephi. “Tickets Are Now on Sale for BLUE at the Apollo Theater.” BroadwayWorld.com, 1 Feb. 2020, www.broadwayworld.com/off-broadway/article/Tickets-Are-Now-On-Sale-For-BLUE-At-The-Apollo-Theater-20200201. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Evans, Greg. “Coping with COVID-19 Crisis: Producer Brian Moreland, Phylicia Rashad and John Legend Were Set to Take Broadway to the Apollo, and Then the Pandemic Arrived.” Deadline, 21 Apr. 2020, deadline.com/2020/04/coping-with-covid-19-crisis-brian-moreland-blue-apollo-producer-boundaries-broadway-1202912175/#. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Internet Off-Broadway Databas. “Trouble in Mind.” Www.iobdb.com, www.iobdb.com/Production/6952. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Brunner, Jeryl. “After 66 Years Alice Childress Gets a Voice on the Broadway Stage.” Forbes, 21 Nov. 2021, www.forbes.com/sites/jerylbrunner/2021/11/21/after-66-years-alice-childress-gets-a-voice-on-the-broadway-stage/. Accessed 22 July 2024.
- ↑ Program for Trouble in Mind at the American Airlines, New York. Playbill, 2021.