Phyllis MacBryde
(Author, Composer) is the recipient of the 1995 North Carolina Playwright’s Fellowship for writing Cowboy Cafe, a fellowship awarded by the North Carolina Arts Council. Among her other writing awards are the Academy of Motion Picture’s 1999 Nicholl Fellowship Finals and Montage Entertainments 1998 Diversity in Screenwriting Award sponsored by HBO.
Ms. MacBryde went from Boone, NC, to Broadway where she began her acting career in the musicals No No Nanette and Irene followed by stints in star-packaged productions, her favorite, Kiss Me Kate with Chita Rivera and Hal Linden. In a switch to more experimental theater, she became associated with the Judson Poets Theater and appeared in a number of Al Carmines musicals, most notably: Joan, Off-Broadway at Circle-in-the-Square, and A Look at the Fifties at The Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.
Her playwriting skills earned her membership in New York’s American Renaissance Theater, where she developed a series of projects. Extras, her full-length play with music, premiered at Pittsburghs ART. She is the writer/producer of Branford Marsalis – Steep, a film on the jazz artist which also features Sting, Herbie Hancock, Spike Lee, Billy Crystal and Danny DeVito (Sony Music Video). Ms. MacBryde is the author of the screenplays Zinzi, The Favorite and Melvin.