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American Stage: Phyllis Yvonne Stickney is in the house
Dave Chappelle was once Phyllis Yvonne Stickney’s opening act at Caroline’s, the legendary standup comedy venue in New York’s Times Square. Chappelle reminded her – Stickney had all but forgotten it – many years later.
“There’s this great picture of us in full laugh,” Stickney says. “Good thing we both had good dental at the time.”
A rich career in comedy, and acting, brought Phyllis Yvonne Stickney to St. Petersburg, where she’s playing the headmistress of a Ghana boarding school in American Stage’s comedy School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play through Feb. 27.
Next Monday (Feb. 21), Stickney will perform, as herself, in the theater’s cabaret space. Her show is called Laughter & Lyrics.
Here’s an actress whose film resume is, well, more than impressive: She’s been in Malcom X, The Inkwell, What’s Love Got to Do With It, New Jack City, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Die Hard With a Vengeance, among others.
It almost never happened. “I never thought that I would be an onstage, onscreen or on camera performer,” she reveals. “But it was always something that I enjoyed doing.”
“School Girls; Or, the African Mean Girls Play” at American Stage. Stickney is in the back, wearing orange. Photo provided.
Acting, Stickney says, arrived in her life through a side door. “I always had the ability to memorize. At Easter, when I was in church with my parents, I would always memorize these amazing long poems. People would look at this little 6-year-old girl and say ‘How does she do that?’
“But when I took theater in high school, I was never cast in any of the shows. I was always on the crew. So when I thought about what I wanted to do, through the CETA program I was able to work in the Drama Department at the University of Delaware.”
She became a “jill of all trades,” working lights, sets and costumes. “I knew then that I could be in this industry,” she says. “I could do this thing that brought me so much joy and satisfaction, even if I wasn’t onstage. Because everyone is important.”
It was her uncanny ability to “do” accents and voices that got her discovered. “One day someone said ‘You know what? You have a great voice. Would you be our host on this show?’
“Why, I don’t know. This is just how I popped out. And I hit the planet wearing pumps, let me just say that.”
While attending the Institute of New Cinema Artists, learning filmmaking and television production, she got involved with Harlem’s New Heritage Theatre.
For five years, she appeared in play after play. And it was through New Heritage that Stickney met Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis. They became close friends. “Ruby took a liking to my tenacity. She saw that I had a certain light, a certain fire. She told me ‘Never let them kill your fire.’”
Stickney’s charitable, community and philanthropic work – she guides and mentors young people – is a direct result, she says, of the doors slammed in her face.
“In this rainbow society, I was always too Black,” she explains. “In my comedy I talk about it – I flip it. Because I know that there are other “too Black” girls and boys that are out there that are hearing this.
“So my comedy really was an outgrowth and birth from my desire to be accepted. I said ‘I’m not the prettiest, but I’ll be the smartest, the best dressed, the best dancer. And I’ll make them laugh.
“When they’re laughing, they cannot be judging me.”
Laughter & Lyrics will include comedy, monologues, music and freewheeling performances pieces adapted from Stickney’s poetry journals.
Maybe not in that order, though.
“I say ‘I load my gun with what I want to talk about.’ I don’t work from a script. I started working in comedy improvisationally – extemporaneously – and that’s how I enjoy the ride. I’m one of those comics who enjoy flying without a net.”
