The Rural We: Sharon Washington
The actor (and now playwright) shares her film "When My Sleeping Dragon Woke," about living in a library as a child.
Sharon Washington at the NY Public Library. Photo credit: Jessica Nash
Living inside a New York City public library would seem like a fairy tale for any young girl with a passion for reading. And it was, in some ways, for Sharon Washington, an actor and playwright who lived that experience. But there was a another side to the story, which Washington has explored, first with her solo play, “Feeding the Dragon” (which played Off-Broadway) and most recently, in the documentary “When My Sleeping Dragon Woke,” directed by Chuck Schultz. The film has made it through the film festival circuit and will be screened at Upstate Films on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 7 p.m. Washington, who now lives in Millbrook, is a 2023 Tony Award-nominee for Best Book of a Musical as co-writer of “New York, New York,” and has appeared in many productions on Broadway, and in film and tv.
I would never have made a film about myself. I didn’t think that anybody would be interested. My husband, Chuck Schultz, is a documentary filmmaker, and came up with the idea when I was doing the “Scottsboro Boys” musical. He was fascinated when I told him what was going on behind the scenes at the theater, and said he’d love to do a behind-the-scenes adaptation of my solo play, “Feeding the Dragon.” I had performed eight shows a week in three productions of it. We also did an audio book, which has had over 10,000 downloads.
“Feeding the Dragon” is a story about me writing the script for my solo show, about my parents, and the flip side of the fairy tale that I kept trying to avoid. But theater is truth, and as I was telling the story, these other stories about my mother and father — and what was hidden — started to be revealed. I’d made all these discoveries in the course of writing the play, and it made for a compelling film. Chuck followed the story of how I went from an actress of 30 years to a playwright. There were times I wasn’t thrilled having a camera in my face, but I realized it was my journey and something specific can be universal in all our journeys.
We used animation to help tell my story where we didn’t have photos. It also adds to the fairy tale feeling. It uses my voiceover from the play as I narrate these episodes.
I’m proud of the film. It put my story out there more than I could have imagined. It did very well on the festival circuit. I’ve been waiting to have the opportunity to show it at a theater.
Now I’m working with a writing partner and an illustrator on an adaptation of “Feeding the Dragon” for a tv series, and on a children’s book. That’s the way I’ve always thought of the story. I’m hoping it will be out next year. I’m also writing a play set in New York City in 1917 about the first Broadway drama featuring an all African-American cast. The director and producer were White. It was the event of the New York theater season, but nobody knows about it.
Chuck and I uprooted ourselves and moved to Millbrook in 2018. It’s really special to be able to share the film with our adopted community.
