Vy Higginsen is an American theater producer,

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes plays. Etymology The word "play" is from Middle English pleye, from Old English plæġ, pleġa, plæġa ("play, exercise; sport, game; drama, applause"). The word "wright" is an archaic English ...

, former

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

, and radio and television personality. She is the founder and executive director of the Mama Foundation for the Arts, and the co-writer of the 1983 musical '' Mama, I Want to Sing!'', the longest running black

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

musical in American history.

Early life and education

Higginsen grew up in

Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New Y ...

, New York City in a musical family; her parents, sister, and grandmother all sang. Her father was a

Pentecostal Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement

minister. When her sister, singer

Doris Troy Doris Troy (born Doris Elaine Higginsen; January 6, 1937 – February 16, 2004) was an American R&B singer and songwriter, known to her many fans as "Mama Soul". Her biggest hit was " Just One Look", a top 10 hit in 1963. Life and career She ...

, won Amateur Night at the

Apollo Theater The Apollo Theater is a music hall at 253 West 125th Street between Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue) in the Harlem neighborhood of Upper Manhattan in New York City. It is a not ...

and began touring, Higginsen came along with her. Higginsen graduated from the

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. It ...

Career

Higginsen became the first female advertising executive at ''Ebony'' magazine. She later worked as a contributing editor for ''Essence'', then published and edited her own magazine, ''Unique NY''. Higginsen moved on to work in radio for ten years, hosting shows on

WBLS WBLS (107.5 MHz) is an urban adult contemporary formatted FM radio station, licensed to New York City. It is currently owned by Mediaco Holding and operated by Emmis Communications under a shared services agreement, along with sister stations ...

and

WWRL WWRL (1600 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City. WWRL airs an all-news radio format as an affiliate of the Black Information Network (BIN). The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. By day, WWRL broadcasts at 25,000 wat ...

, and reporting for

WNBC-TV WNBC (channel 4) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the NBC network. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Stations division alongside Linden, New Jersey–licensed Telemundo station WN ...

and The Metro Channel. In 1983, Higginsen co-wrote and co-produced the musical '' Mama, I Want to Sing!'' with her husband-to-be, Ken Wydro. The play was based on the life of her sister,

. The show opened at the Heckscher Theater in Harlem in 1983 and ran there for eight years, becoming the longest-running off-Broadway black musical in history. Higginsen played the role of the narrator in the musical. Her brother, Randy, and sister Doris also appeared in ''Mama''. The play was made into a film of the same name, in which Higginsen also appeared along with her daughter, Knoelle. Higginsen and Wydro wrote and produced two sequels to the successful musical: ''Sing, Mama 2'' and ''Born to Sing: Mama 3''. They also wrote and produced the musical ''Alive: 55+ and Kickin''', which was featured on the newsmagazine ''

60 Minutes ''60 Minutes'' is an American television news magazine broadcast on the CBS television network. Debuting in 1968, the program was created by Don Hewitt and Bill Leonard, who chose to set it apart from other news programs by using a unique styl ...

'' in 2015. In 1999, Higginsen founded the Mama Foundation for the Arts, a non-profit arts organization in Harlem. In 2006, she created Gospel for Teens, offering free

gospel music Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is com ...

instruction to teenagers through the foundation. The program was featured on ''60 Minutes'', in a show that won two

Emmy Awards The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2012. The show had previously featured a segment on Higginsen tracing her ancestry, and learning that she was genetically linked with a white cattle rancher from Missouri. In 2012, Higginsen founded Harlem Records, an independent record label.

Selected awards and recognition

* 1988 –

Candace Award The Candace Award is an award that was given from 1982 to 1992 by the National Coalition of 100 Black Women (NCBW) to "Black role models of uncommon distinction who have set a standard of excellence for young people of all races". Kandake, Candace ...

, Business * 2012 – 'Shine A Light' recognition,

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

Awards * 2012 –

Thomas A. Dorsey Thomas Andrew Dorsey (July 1, 1899 – January 23, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and Evangelism, Christian evangelist influential in the development of early blues and 20th-century gospel music. He penned 3,000 songs, a third of them ...

Most Notable Achievement Award, Stellar Gospel Music Awards

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Higginsen, Vy 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 21st-century American dramatists and playwrights African-American company founders African-American dramatists and playwrights American theatre managers and producers American women company founders American company founders American women dramatists and playwrights Fashion Institute of Technology alumni Living people People from Harlem 21st-century American women writers 20th-century American women writers Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century African-American women writers 20th-century African-American writers 21st-century African-American women writers 21st-century African-American writers