Ensemble Studio Theatre Reveals Inaugural Memorial Writers Fund Recipients & Legacy Gifts
Stephanie Berry and Cassandra Medley receive the Bridgette A. Wimberly Memorial Writers Fund for A WALK IN YAYA'S GARDEN.
Ensemble Studio Theatre is celebrating legacy gifts from the families of two foundational EST playwrights, Arthur Giron and Bridgette A. Wimberly.
The family of Arthur Giron, a Founding EST Member Artist who passed away in 2022, has granted EST all royalties from productions of his work, ensuring Giron's legacy and meaning for EST and the theater community. The gift from the Giron family (Luis Asensio, Jorge Asensio and Julio Raul Asensio) includes the musical Amazing Grace, which ran on Broadway in 2015, and Flight, an acclaimed play about the Wright Brothers that inaugurated the EST/Sloan Project, the theatre's longstanding partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to develop plays about science, in 1997.
"I think both my aunt and uncle would be so happy to know that his artistic legacy will find its forever home with The Ensemble Studio,” said Paulina Asensio Mohamed, Giron's niece.
In addition, the family of Bridgette A. Wimberly is creating a Memorial Writers Fund at the theatre in her name. Wimberly, an EST Member Artist since 2010, was a two-time commissionee of the EST/Sloan Project and winner of an Appreciation Award from EST in 2009. Her breakthrough first production, Saint Lucy's Eyes, was produced at Cherry Lane Theatre, and she was regularly featured in EST's Going To The River festival. Wimberly also passed away in 2022.
The inaugural 2025 recipients of the award are Bridgette's EST contemporaries and theatre veterans Stephanie Berry and Cassandra Medley for their play, A Walk in Yaya's Garden. In subsequent years, the Bridgette A. Wimberly Memorial Writers Fund will honor Wimberly's deep commitment to nurturing emerging artists by providing a workshop and public reading to an up-and-coming writer in the EST community.
“Bridgette's written words continue to express the joy, pain, and hope in our lives while amplifying equality and justice for all. We are so honored to collaborate with EST in its support of writers through the Bridgette A. Wimberly Memorial Writers Fund,” said the writer's brother, Michael Wimberly.
"Each in their way, Arthur and Bridgette represented the best of EST, two pieces of this theatre's soul. From here at our home in Hell's Kitchen, they carried EST with them out into the world, all throughout their admirable artistic lives. It was an honor for EST to be identified with them while they lived, and it's an honor to carry that connection forward as we remember them into the future. On behalf of the theatre, we want to express deep gratitude to the Giron and Wimberly families for giving us that chance. These two wonderful, adventurous writers each occupy a singular place in the history and life of this theatre, and they always will,” said Estefanía Fadul & Graeme Gillis, Co-Artistic Directors.
BIOGRAPHIES
Arthur Giron
Arthur Giron was a founding member of Ensemble Studio Theatre. His play Flight, about the Wright Brothers, inspired the company's partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to create plays about science and technology, a program that continues three decades later. Arthur wrote about Richard Feynman, Voltaire and Emilie du Chatelet, science, social justice, and corruption. He also wrote an adaptation of Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard set in his home country of Guatemala.
His play Edith Stein was presented to Pope John Paul II and is included in the Vatican Library. His musical Amazing Grace ran on Broadway in 2015.
Throughout his life and career, Arthur was a fervent teacher, supporter, and advocate of his fellow playwrights, an original member of the EST Playwrights Unit, an artistic confidante to EST founder Curt Dempster, and together with his wife Mariluz, was a constant presence at the theatre, from readings to opening nights to holiday parties.
Bridgette A. Wimberly
Bridgette A. Wimberly was a beloved and prolific part of EST's artistic life and community for many years, winning an Appreciation Award from EST in 2009. She was a two-time commissionee of the EST/Sloan Project, a member of the EST Playwrights' Unit, and a vital contributor to the pioneering Going To TheRiver program for women playwrights of color.
Her New York debut Saint Lucy's Eyes, starring Ruby Dee and directed by Billie Allen, won many awards and nominations, and her acclaimed opera Yardbird, about the life of Charlie Parker, was staged at Opera Philadelphia.
Bridgette's plays and operas were published and produced across the country, including at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, the Black Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, the Cleveland Play House, and the Cherry Lane in New York, among other theatres.
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