Interview: Donna Baldwin Bradby
- by Creative Greensboro
Public Record: Greensboro’s Creatives is a video interview series that seeks to illuminate the lives of artists, makers, and creative people in Greensboro. Formed by Creative Greensboro, this project was developed in collaboration with the Thomas S. Kenan Institute for the Arts' Creative Catalyst Initiative.
Donna Baldwin Bradby was born and raised in Greensboro. Her mother, Ethel, was a nurse at UNC Greensboro in the student health center and a singer. Her father, Arris, was a bartender, musician and actor. Her first acting gig was at age four performing an Easter speech at Mount Olivet African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church.
Bradby earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in professional theatre-performance from North Carolina A&T State University and a Master of fine arts in arts management from Virginia Tech. Bradby is an Adjunct Professor and Director of Marketing and Publicity for the Theatre Arts Program at A&T and teaches acting, arts management, stage management, theatre projects, and senior showcase. She has taught at Bennett College, Elon University and Virginia Tech.
As an actor Bradby has appeared in “Crowns,” “Dreamgirls,” “Once on This Island,” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “Eubie!,” and “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” – just to name a few. She has directed “The America Play,” “Ethel Waters: His Eye is on the Sparrow,” “From the Mississippi Delta,” “The Old Settler,” “The Color Purple,” “This One Girl’s Story,” “Breath”, “Boom,” “A Raisin in the Sun,” “Mad at Miles: A Black Woman’s Guide to Truth,” and many more.
She is the executive director of Touring Theatre of North Carolina, a non-profit theatre dedicated to celebrating the on-going human search for dignity across lines of ethnicity, gender, economic status, religion, and age.
In the interview, Bradby discusses growing up in a family of artists, her work with Touring Theatre of North Carolina, and how art should dissect and deconstruct your life.
This portrait of Bradby was made in the Paul Robeson Theatre at A&T, where she teaches.
Learn more about Bradby here and Touring Theatre of NC here.
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