Lillian Trimble Bradley

Lillian Trimble Bradley (1875 – 1959) was an American theatrical director and playwright, considered the first female director on Broadway. After attending schools in Paris in her youth, Bradley went to study at the Moscow Art Theatre, where she directed four student productions for Constantin Stanislavski's group. By the time she finished her studies she had written two plays and had ambitions to move back to the United States to become a stage director. Once there, Bradley met producer George Broadhurst and her career launched. Her career went on for forty-one years as she directed numerous productions. Critics both applauded and were threatened by a female presence in the directing world. Early life Lillian Trimble Bradley was born in Milton, Kentucky, in 1875. Her family was always on the move, so from a young age, Bradley set about to design her own education. She was educated in a convent school in Paris, where she attended the theatre regularly and applied as an apprentice to Andre Antoine. She then assisted with two of Antoine’s productions. Following her education in Paris, Bradley went to Moscow for two years to study at the Moscow Art Theatre. There she directed four student productions for Stanislavski’s group and learned as much about technical theatre as she could. By the time her studies at the Moscow Art Theatre ended, she had written two plays, and she returned to the United States with ambitions to become a stage director. Once back in the United States, Bradley married a wealthy stock broker named D. I. Bradley. He was sixty-five years old while Bradley was twenty-eight. After his death, Bradley acquired all of his land and money that she used to obtain a large house in which she built a laboratory for lighting and set design experimentations.