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Lynnie Godfrey

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Caroline “Lynnie” Godfrey (born 1952) is an American actress, singer, author, director and producer.

Early life

Lynnie Godfrey was born in 1952 in New York City[1]. She began performing as a child, singing with her mother and family members in Pentecostal churches in Harlem and Brooklyn[2].

As a child, Godfrey attended The Modern School[3], a private school for black children in Harlem (Sugar Hill). It was founded by Mildred Johnson[4], whose uncle, James Weldon Johnson[5], wrote the Negro National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing[6].” Godfrey later attended George Washington High School in Washington Heights, whose alumni include, Harry Belafonte, Henry Kissinger and Ron Perlman. Godfrey also studied voice with Dr. Chauncy Northern, one of the first black opera singers to perform on the Italian stage[7] at the Northern Vocal Arts School[8] at Carnegie Hall.

Godfrey attended Northern’s alma mater, Hampton University for a year. Returning to New York City's Hunter College, she studied with Lloyd Richards[9] and began auditioning.

Career

After graduating from college, Godfrey performed in both theatre productions and nightclubs, including the new Cotton Club. She appeared as Elaine in Christopher Durang’s “The Nature and Purpose of the Universe”[10] and appeared in the title role of “Mama Liberty’s Bicentennial Party”[11] for Theatre for the New City, a street theatre performance for children.

In February 1978, Godfrey appeared in a new musical showcase: “Shuffle Along” with Dabriah Chapman, Vernon Spencer and Roger Lawson, which led to a new musical revue, “Eubie!.” Based on the life and work of Eubie Blake, who, along with collaborator, Noble Sissle, created “Shuffle Along,” one of the first Broadway musicals written and directed by African Americans.[12] The show moved to Broadway in September 1978 and Godfrey was cast to perform several Eubie Blake songs, including “Daddy, Won’t You Please Come Home?” and “I’m Cravin’ for That Kind of Love”; along with “I’m Just Wild About Harry.”[13] She was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for her Broadway debut.[14] The show’s original cast includes: Gregory Hines, Maurice Hines, Alaina Reed, Janet Powell, Marion Ramsey, Ethel Beatty, Terry Burrell, Leslie Dockery, Lonnie McNeil, Jeffery V. Thompson, Melvin Johnson Jr.[15]

A member of Negro Actors Guild of America (NAG), Godfrey also appeared in film and television, including 704 Hauser, a Norman Lear sitcom[16], created as an African American spinoff to All in the Family.[17]

Godfrey has also originated several theatre roles, including The Snow Queen[18], which she continues to perform today. One of the first women of color to be cast in famous musical roles, these include Lola in Damn Yankees [19]and Jenny Diver in Three Penny Opera.[20]

In 2002, Godfrey founded Godlee Entertainment, a production company committed to nurturing emerging playwrights and producing new work. As Producing Artistic Director, she also oversees “The Essence of Acting,” a New York City-based acting group, created to encourage aspiring African American actors[21]. Most recently, she has been directing, producing and performing in a new play, “Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed,” by Celeste Bedford Walker[22]. The play chronicles the rise and fall of Greenwood, a black community in Tulsa, Oklahoma[23]. Known in the 1920s as “Negro Wall Street,” Greenwood was a prosperous community, destroyed over two days in 1921, when a white mob burned it to the ground[24]. Godfrey has produced the play at the New York Theatre Workshop, University of Delaware[25], Theatre Institute at Sage in Troy, NY[26] and ArtsQuest, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.[27]

Awards and honors

Drama Desk Nomination – Best Supporting Actress in a Musical

NAACP Image Awards – Best Supporting Actress in a Play

Audelco Awards - Best Supporting Actress in a Musical

Dramalogue Theatre Awards – Outstanding Achievement in Theatre Performance

NAACP Image Awards – Best Producer

Tyrone Guthrie Award – Excellence in the Area of Directing

Personal

Married to Carl Lee in 1979. They were introduced by Gregory Hines, who served as best man at their wedding.[28]

Professional work

Theatre

Eubie! Musical Revue, Ambassador Theatre (Broadway debut)

Shuffle Along – Theatre-Off-Park

Snow Queen, Prince Music Theatre, New York State Theatre Institute, Unicorn Theatre[29], West End London, England (Originated role)

’39 (Pre-Broadway Production)

Ain’t Misbehavin’ – Pennsylvania Stage Company, Woodstock Playhouse, Theatre-by-the-Sea

Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed, New York Theatre Workshop

The Dispute, Shakespeare Theatre Company

Let My People Go, Narrator/ Harriet Tubman, Kennedy Center

Gem of the Ocean – Aunt Esther, Arena Stage

Millennium 7 - Naomi Pilgrim, 78th Street Theatre Lab

Wild Christmas Binge – Ghost, Arena Stage

Night Life, Musical Revue, West Beth Theatre

L’histoire Du Soldat, Red Cross Girl, Bay Street Theatre

A, My Name is Alice, Lynnie, American Place Theatre (Original Cast)

No Place to Be Somebody, Cora Mae Beasley, Matrix Theatre

Ragtime Blues, Belle, Amas Repertory Theatre

Sweet Charity, Helene, Starlight Theatre

Damn Yankees, Lola, Hartford Stage Company

Ain’t Misbehavin,’ Nell/Armelia, Regional Tour

Three Penny Opera, Jenny Diver, Empire State Institute for the Performing Arts

The Desert Song, Azuri, Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera

Juice Problem, Vicky, O’Neill Playwright’s Conference

Absurdities, Josephine Baker, European Tour

The Nature & Purpose of the Universe, Elaine, Direct Theatre, Theatre for a New City

1,000 Years of Jazz, Musical Revue, LA Music Theatre, National Tour

If This Ain’t It, Musical Revue, WPA Theatre

Television

704 Hauser

Civil Wars

Brewster Place

LA Law

Amen

227

thirtysomething

Cop Rock

Frank’s Place

New Monkees

Living Dolls

Eubie (Showtime)

Memories of Eubie (PBS)

Film

V.I. Warshawski (Disney Films)

Women Without Implants (Independent)

Enemy Territory (Independent)

Vocalist

Original Broadway Cast Album of EUBIE !! (Warner Bros.)

Lynnie Godfrey: Doin’ It Her Way (CD)[30]

Spending the Holidays with Lynnie Godfrey (CD)[31]

Ladies of Song: A Tribute to Ethel Waters, Ella Fitzgerald and Sarah Vaughn (Theatre/Cabaret)

Director

To Be Young, Gifted and Black, Theatre-Off Park

Waves of America, Empire State Institute of Performing Arts

Unentitled, ArtsQuest, Bethlehem PA

Lois’s Wedding, Arts Quest, Bethlehem, PA

Red Blood of War and Legacy, Bethlehem, PA

Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed, New York Theatre Workshop, University of Delaware, Theatre Institute at Sage, Troy, NY.

Author

Sharing Lessons Learned While Seeking the Spotlight, by Lynnie Godfrey, Blue Heron Book Works, 2016[32]

References

  1. ^ "Lynnie Godfrey". International Movie Database. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  2. ^ Duckett, Jerry (October 16, 2013). "Lynnie Godfrey Brings Jazz Upstairs at Symphony Hall". Northampton Press. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  3. ^ "After a Sale, School's Future is Uncertain". The New York Times. August 8, 1999.
  4. ^ "Mildred Johnson Edwards Founded Harlem School". Vineyard Gazette. August 24, 2007.
  5. ^ "James Weldon Johnson". www.Britannica.com.
  6. ^ "Black Authors Spoken Word Poetry". www.pbs.org.
  7. ^ "Chauncey Scott Northern, Tenor, 90". New York Times. October 1, 1992.
  8. ^ Northern Vocal Arts School http://articles.dailypress.com/1992-10-17/news/9210170059_1_hampton-alumni-association-carnegie-hall-northern-brothers-quartet Northern Vocal Arts School. {{cite news}}: Check |url= value (help); Missing or empty |title= (help)
  9. ^ Martinez, Barbara E. (March 16, 2003). "Telling Stories in Song". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 27, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  10. ^ "The Nature and Purpose of Everything". www.christopherdurang.com.
  11. ^ "History - 1970". Theatre for the New City.
  12. ^ Wilson, John S. (February 11, 1978). "Shuffle Along: Reprise of a Hit". The New York Times.
  13. ^ Quindlen, Anna (August 31, 1979). "New Face: Lynnie Godfrey Bitty Thing With a 'Daddy, Won't You Please Come Home' Voice". The New York Times.
  14. ^ "Lynnie Godfrey". Playbill. July 27, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  15. ^ "Eubie! Broadway Cast". Broadway World. July 27, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  16. ^ "704 Hauser". Internet Movie Database. 1994. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  17. ^ Roberts, Sam (December 19, 1993). "The Cranky Spirit of Archie Bunker Haunts This House". The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  18. ^ Mitchell, Adrian (1998). The Snow Queen. London: Oberon Books. p. 6. ISBN 978-184002-025-0.
  19. ^ Frankel, Haskel (December 9, 1979). "Some Errors Mar a Rousing Yankees". The New York Times. Retrieved July 27, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  20. ^ "Lynnie Godfrey: Biography". www.FilmReference.com. August 3, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  21. ^ "Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed". Theatre Institute at Sage. August 3, 2017. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= requires |archive-url= (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  22. ^ Bazile, Dan (March 18, 2017). "Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed". WNYT-TV. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  23. ^ Pallone, Tony (March 16, 2017). "Play at Troy's Russell Sage tells story of race riot". Times Union. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  24. ^ Pinkins, Josie (May 31, 2013). "The Destruction of Black Wall Street". Ebony.
  25. ^ "Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed". University of Delaware. April 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  26. ^ "Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed". The Sage Colleges. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  27. ^ "Greenwood: Staged Reading". Northwestern Press. October 15, 2015. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  28. ^ Howell, Dave (January 14, 2016). "Concerts, plays and a new book keep Lynnie Godfrey on a happy whirlwin". The Morning Call. Retrieved August 3, 2017. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  29. ^ "Regional Roundup". Backstage. February 21, 2001.
  30. ^ "Lynnie Godfrey: Doin' It Her Way". Jazz Weekly.
  31. ^ Willistein, Paul (December 17, 2004). "Lynnie Godfrey Celebrates the Standards and the Holidays". Times News. Parkland Press.
  32. ^ Godfrey, Lynnie (January 7, 2016). Sharing Lessons Learned While Seeking the Spotlight. Blue Heron Book Works. p. 94. ISBN 0996817751.
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