I have been providing coverage of various shows at the United Solo Theatre Festival since 2014.

My interview with five-time Emmy Award winner Sharon Lawrence for this year’s show The Shot caught the attention of Wendy-Lane Bailey, the Assistant Artistic Director of the United Solo Theatre Festival.

After meeting Wendy-Lane at The Shot, we discovered Wendy-Lane has been a fan of mine because I have interviewed many of her friends, including award-winning composer Michele Brourman.

When Wendy-Lane told me she had a show, She Has Wings, in this year’s United Solo Theatre Festival that featured Michele’s music, I knew I had to spotlight Wendy-Lane. The stars were perfectly aligned!

In this interview Wendy-Lane answered my call to share:

• The rewards & challenges being the Assistant Artistic Director of United Solo Theatre Festival
• How she balances co-running a major theatre festival while being a featured performer
• What she has discovered about herself
• The boundaries she puts up when performing
• So much more

Connect with Wendy-Lane: Website, Facebook, Instagram

She Has Wings is a tribute to our fellow artists who strive continually to discover their wings & soar to new heights, taking us along for the ride. It was conceived in partnership with & directed by festival Founder & Artistic Director Omar Sangare & features music by composer Michele Brourman with images by photographer Bill Westmoreland.

She Has Wings will play at United Solo Theatre Festival’s Closing Night Gala on November 20, 2022 at 7pm.

Connect with United Solo Festival: Website, Facebook, Instagram

Wendy Lane Bailey
Photo Credit: Bill Westmoreland

1. You are in the midst of co-running the United Solo Theatre Festival AND you have your own show, She Has Wings, being presented at the closing night of the festival during the United Solo Gala. How do you balance being Assistant Artistic Director of the United Solo Theatre Festival & write, rehearse & perform your own show? I think the secret of balance is flexibility. I always make a plan for the day, but I am also aware that things will happen that might alter that plan. When they do, I adapt.

Quite often the day that develops is much more rewarding and productive than the day I had planned in my head.

2. What has been the best part about being the Assistant Artistic Director of the United Solo Theatre Festival? Oh, wow! There are so many things I love about my job! I think maybe the best thing is meeting artists from around the world, and watching them work.

The creativity in the ways they find to tell their stories is astounding. Solo Theatre takes guts, to walk out on that stage with only yourself to rely on is terrifying. Their courage blows me away!

3. What is the most challenging part? The moments when something doesn’t go according to plan and you have to pivot to plan B. I may be a little odd, but I love a good challenge. Having to think on my feet keeps me sharp.

The first rule of working in theatre is the same as the first rule of parenting - “Don’t panic- Don’t ever panic.” You’d be surprised though how that skill bleeds over into my creative life.

Once you have the confidence of knowing you can handle what’s thrown at you, it makes you fearless. This is a great quality to have onstage.

4. Your show, She Has Wings, was conceived in partnership with and directed by United Solo Theatre Festival Founder and Artistic Director Omar Sangare. How did you two come to know each other? A mutual colleague asked me to join the creative team for a project Omar was directing right before COVID hit. The project got scrapped due to the pandemic, but I got a great friend and colleague out of it.

Wendy-Lane Bailey at Theatre Row NYC

5. What is it about his artistic vision that aligns with yours that made you want to create this show together & have him direct it? Omar loves to push the boundaries of what is possible in theatre and what is possible for me as a performer. He has an innate understanding of how stories work while always looking for new ways to express them. He loves the idiosyncratic and can illuminate aspects that others might miss.

This has enormous appeal for me as I’ve never been a performer that fits any particular mold. I feel this is one of my strengths. When I am tempted to take the easy, more conventional route, Omar nudges me out of my comfort zone.

Plus we have a lot of fun working together. We share a similar sense of humor, a little wacky, a little absurd, a lot smart. I love working with smart funny people!

6. She Has Wings is a tribute to our fellow artists who strive continually to discover their wings and soar to new heights, taking us along for the ride. How has this show helped you discover your wings & take you to new heights? Every show, if you’re doing it right, is an act of tremendous bravery. It goes beyond the sheer nerve it takes to walk onstage. It’s about allowing your defenses to be down and revealing your truth to an audience. That is a terrifying thing yet there’s something thrilling about working without a net. When I trust my instincts, trust the story and let go of any preconceived outcomes, I fly.

7. This show features music from the catalogue of award-winning composer Michele Brourman (whom I've had the pleasure of interviewing multiple times). What made you want to work with Michele & have her write the music? My first experience of Michele’s music was about a million months pregnant with my son lying on the couch like a beached whale watching a Michael Feinstein special on PBS. He sang Michele and Karen Gottleib’s “My Favorite Year.” I think I fell in love with Michele’s music right there.

Over the years we’ve developed a relationship and she’s been my music director for over a decade. She also co-produced my EP with Stephan Oberhoff. She is a combination of dazzling talent, wit, intellect and bone deep goodness.

All of this and more comes through in her music. She’s another one of those smart, funny people that has been my joy and privilege to know and work with.

8. What do you relate to most about Michele's song writing? How much time do we have here? Michele’s songs are one act plays. The story is certainly there lyrically, but also musically. Every note is a deliberate choice providing the framework for the story. She doesn’t write to show how clever and technically wonderful she is, she writes in service of the story. She is clever and technically wonderful, but it is combined with an emotional depth that stays with you long after the tune has ended. And vocally her songs just feel great to sing. She is definitely a singer’s composer!

9. I remember seeing an interview with Celine Dion where she mentioned that while she is on tour, she does not speak in between shows. She writes everything down to preserve her voice. When you are performing, do you put up any boundaries like that? I’d love to tell you I have some fantastic mystical show day ritual, but really for me, it comes down to making sure I get enough sleep, hydrating, eating enough of the right things and being aware of how I’m using my voice on a daily basis.

If there are any magic secrets for vocal health and performance longevity I think these things are it. If you aren’t taking basic care of your instrument nothing else matters.

10. What is something we didn't get to talk about in this interview that you'd like my readers to know about you? I love what I do. The one thing I always say when I’m asked by kids thinking about going into the business is be able to do a lot of things and say yes whenever possible. I have gotten to do a lot of fantastic things because I didn’t limit myself. Every on stage experience feeds my soul as an artist, and it will always be my home.

However, every producing, directing, designing, artistic directing gig I have teaches me things that I can carry over into my artistic life, whether it’s about the practicalities of running your own business (which is what a career in the arts is) or creative problem solving or just making a connection that will serve you in another way somewhere down the line. It’s all connected.

Wendy-Lane Bailey, Photo Credit: Bill Westmoreland

More on Wendy-Lane Bailey:

When Wendy-Lane Bailey was a little girl her mother would put Wendy-Lane to bed at night with tales of her childhood in the Mississippi Delta. Other girls may have wanted to hear Cinderella or Snow White, but Wendy-Lane wanted to hear about Herman the Rooster who met her Mama at the school bus every day until he met his end in Wendy-Lane’s Grandma’s stew pot. And there was always music in Wendy-Lane’s house. She grew up singing along to her mother’s 1950’s pop, and Broadway cast albums. Wendy-Lane remembers sitting in the empty front room of her house in Pearl River, Mississippi, with a book open on her lap, singing the stories it contained. Even then Wendy-Lane knew that singing was more than making noise; it was telling a story. It doesn’t matter what genre - pop, musical theatre, jazz, country, folk -  if a song is well written and tells a great tale, that’s enough for her. While some of the songs Wendy-Lane loved most were written long before she was born, wonderful new songs are being written every day and she loves them too. Great songs never go out of style.

After high school Wendy-Lane set her sights on being a serious actress so she went off to drama school at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts and HB Studios both in New York City. She enjoyed it... but missed music. Eventually Wendy-Lane realized she could use everything sheI learned about acting in her music. Every song is like a short play complete with plot, and characters. For Wendy-Lane, there is nothing more exciting than bringing those plays to life which lead to her project: Hot Coffee, MIssissippi, a one-woman theatrical piece with music, based on the stories she grew up with. Wendy-Lane has been blessed with terrific collaborators in Michele Brourman and Gretchen Cryer.

Wendy-Lane has performed at some great venues - The Kennedy Center, Blues Alley, and Signature Theatre in her adopted hometown of Washington, DC., Town Hall, Symphony Space, The Metropolitan Room in New York City, The Gardenia in Los Angeles, The Blue Room in New Orleans, Odette’s in New Hope, PA and numerous house concerts and private venues. Wendy-Lane is a proud Foie Graae backing up the hysterical Jason Graae whenever & wherever she can.

After being a guest vocalist on a number of recordings for other artists, including Susan Egan’s Winter Tracks and Lesley Gore’s track on Carol Hall’s Hallways, Michele Brourman convinced Wendy-Lane it was time for her own recording. So with Michele as arranger, accompanist and co-producer with Stephan Oberhoff, Wendy-Lane recorded and released her debut EP Breathing.

Wendy-Lane is energized by working with other performers. While in Washington, DC she founded a regional networking organization for musicians, and for six years Wendy-Lane was the Associate Director of the Cabaret Conference at Yale University. Whether as a producer, director, teacher, coach or consultant, helping bring a performance from the gleam of an idea to the stage is as thrilling as it gets. There’s nothing else she’d rather be doing than singing or working with fellow artists on a project.

With the ten minutes Wendy-Lane has left after all of this, she can be found ballroom dancing, haunting estate sales and vintage stores to feed her sparkle addiction, and working on perfecting her brownie recipe (Wendy-Lane’s current favorite involves dried cherries reconstituted in cherry brandy and topped with buttercream icing, but she’s open to suggestions).

Wendy-Lane is currently the Assistant Artistic Director for United Solo Theatre Festival.