Though she was more actor than writer during her time at Grady, Gabrielle Fulton-Ponder says her experiences at the school encouraged her to explore the script side of theater. The class of 1993 alumna and former Miss Grady’s play Uprising was performed at the Hertz stage of the Alliance Theater at 8:00 on Aug. 8.
Uprising is a historical drama set in a free black community in early Civil War-era America. When writing the play, Fulton-Ponder drew inspiration from historical figures including Sojourner Truth and a “little known revolutionary” named Osborne Perry Anderson, as well as from her family’s history. The play’s main character, Sal, is based off of Fulton-Ponder’s great-grandmother.
“My grandfather used to tell all of these stories about his mom, who [he said] could pick a hundred pounds of cotton,” Fulton-Ponder said. “I loved hearing him tell these stories, so Sal is based off of this very strong great-grandmother figure of mine.”
Despite years of playwriting experience, Fulton-Ponder admits that finding the time and inspiration can be a very difficult process at times. She started working on Uprising in 2009, but didn’t finish it until years later.
“I had probably the first half of the first act done in 2009, but then I realized what was going to happen to my main character,” Fulton-Ponder said. “I was pretty upset, and I had to step away from it for a while.”
Fulton-Ponder worked on the play on and off for the next few years. She noted that playwriting classes and workshops were especially helpful when she was working on the second act, specifically a playwriting class taught by Linda Sherbert at the Alliance Theater.
“I would highly suggest getting in a class because just having someone to bring their imagination to your work, as teachers do in playwriting classes, can really help you get a great amount of progress,” Fulton-Ponder said.
Fulton Ponder also remembers Grady teachers being positive mentors when it came to her high school acting and writing experience.
“[My Grady teachers] were influential to my development as a playwright. I came to playwriting as an actor … but my interests and engagement in acting were directly with drama club and Ms. [Lisa] Willoughby as well as the magnet program, the Dionysia festival,” Fulton-Ponder said.
Willoughby remembers the first monologue Fulton-Ponder wrote. She wrote it for Dionysia, an old Grady festival in which each student at the school “had to become a character and present an original monologue as a character,” according to Willoughby.
“She performed her monologue, because she had such a strong one, as a demonstration for every student at the school because at the time we made everybody do it and it was a school-wide thing,” Willoughby said. “I realized [she] was a kid who’s really got charisma on stage, you know, she could sell it.”
Fulton-Ponder still uses the monologue as a writing sample today.
During her time at Grady, Fulton-Ponder participated in a number of extracurriculars, including National Forensics League, The Southerner, and theater.
Fulton-Ponder came to Grady in 1988, just a year after the Murray Theater was built, and was involved in the drama club for all four years of high school. Fulton-Ponder directed Jane Martin’s Coup during her senior year and, according to Willoughby, became the first student to direct a full-length production, opening the road for theater productions like Senior One Acts.
“There are all kinds of neat resonances … that she is still connected with Grady,” Willoughby said. For example, Fulton-Ponder has volunteered at the Playwriting Workshop in the Writing Center in the past.
After graduating, Fulton-Ponder went on to get degrees from Columbia University and Northwestern University, had plays put on in New York, Chicago and Atlanta, worked in production for BET, and taught playwriting and creative drama.
Fulton-Ponder has more exciting plans for the future. Her short film, Irreconcilable, which was part of the HBO Short Film Competition in New York City, is going to be broadcasted on HBO in February 2015. Another Grady alum is in this film: Fulton Ponder’s sister, Danielle Deadwyler, who was involved in the literary magazine and drama at Grady.
Uprising was shown at the Horizon Theater Saturday, August 8, at 8:00 pm.
