By Ari Roth, Founding Artistic Director and Serge Seiden, Managing Director & Producer
WASHINGTON, DC — “How Hope Happens,” the Fourth Season at Mosaic Theater Company, will open with Marie and Rosetta, written by George Brant and directed by local artist Sandra L. Holloway. This play featuring gospel music, blues, and rock n’ roll tells the story of the first rehearsal between Sister Rosetta Tharpe (recently inducted into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame), and her young protégée Marie Knight.
“I’m very pleased and proud to be opening our Fourth Season with this empowering musical celebration of two extraordinary Black Women. Marie and Rosetta is full of repeated flights of joy and gospel jubilation, in which we transcend time to regard a momentous legacy,” said Ari Roth, Founding Artistic Director of Mosaic Theater Company. “Many people don’t realize that Rosetta Tharpe, a Black Queer Woman, essentially invented Rock and Roll music, and it is a true honor to be telling her story.”
The role of the vivacious legend that is Sister Rosetta Tharpe will be played by Roz White, a Helen Hayes Award winner for Bessie’s Blues at Studio Theatre and frequent star at MetroStage. The young and talented but more traditional Marie Knight will be played by Ayana Reed, who recently played Antigone in The Gospel of Colonus. Sandra L. Holloway, who recently directed the acclaimed remount of The Gospel at Colonus at WSC Avant Bard, will direct this project, with her frequent artistic partner e’Marcus Harper-Short (Black Nativity, Theatre Alliance) serving as Musical Director.
“I grew up in the same religious community as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, the Church of God in Christ, which deeply values music as a way to be moved by the Holy Spirit” said Harper-Short, “so I feel a very close connection to her music and her story. That religious tradition is in many ways the foundation on which gospel music is built, and it is why Rosetta’s playing was just so phenomenal. She would just go and go, and work up a sweat, and reach this nirvana of performance, and it allowed her to be the first artist from the Church of God in Christ to cross over to blues and other mainstream music. Both she and I have received negative responses from the Church because of our interest in other forms of artistic expression, and so I feel like I know her, I feel this kinship with her, and I can’t wait to invite the audience into her world.”
Marie and Rosetta premiered at the Off-Broadway Atlantic Theater Company in New York City in August 2016 under the direction of Neil Pepe. Since then, it has been produced at the Cincinnati Playhouse and Cleveland Play House. This production will be Marie and Rosetta’s DC premiere. The world of 1946 Mississippi will be brought to life by a top-notch design team, including set design by Andrew Cohen (The Crucible, Olney Theatre Center), lighting design by Jonathan Alexander (King Lear, WSC Avant Bard), costume design by Michael Murray, sound design by Gordon Nimmo-Smith (Caucasian Chalk Circle, Constellation Theatre Company), and props design by Tim Jones (The Last Night of Ballyhoo, Theater J).
Sixteen performances of Marie and Rosetta will be followed by robust post-show discussions. Topics will include conversations about gospel and blues music, the burdens of Jim Crow laws on Black entertainers, the relationship between Black churches and other performances venues, the sexual identity of Rosetta Tharpe, and the connections between Tharpe and DC (her third wedding was combined with a concert, and occurred at Griffith Stadium in the Shaw neighborhood.) Two of these post-show discussions will be led by local scholar and professor Gale Wald, whose book Shout, Sister, Shout: The Untold Story of Rock-and-Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe inspired many parts of Brant’s script.
“I was honored when Ari approached me about this project,” said director Sandra L. Holloway. “I’m very excited to be delving into the relationship between these two women in a way that allows us to see their remarkable spirit. There are just people in the world who are going to do what they came here to do, and I feel like Sister Rosetta Tharpe is an extraordinary example of that kind of person. That spirit is a gift, and then she reached out to a younger talent—Marie Knight—and helped her discover her own gift. I’m extremely proud to be sharing this gift with Mosaic audiences, with the help of my long-time friend and collaborator e’Marcus Harper-Short and the talented actors Roz White and Ayanna Reed.”
Marie and Rosetta
Opening Night: Monday, August 27 at 7:30 PM
Closes: Sunday, September 30 at 3 PM
Ticket Prices: $20-$68
PWYC Preview: Wednesday, August 22 at 8 PM
Performance Times: 8 PM Wednesday-Saturday evenings; 3 PM Saturday & Sunday matinees; 7:30 PM on Sunday evenings
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