About the Play:

Marie and Rosetta is a full-length dramatic comedy by George Brant. Stirring churches in the morning and the Cotton Club at night, Sister Rosetta Tharpe became a musical legend. With competition growing on the 1940s Gospel Circuit, she auditions a new partner, a beauty with a voice made in heaven. Will they blend, break, or find harmony at last? The saga of the real-life woman who inspired Elvis, Ray Charles, and more on her way to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Marie and Rosetta is about two real-life singers. A huge influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, Sister Rosetta Tharpe was a legend in her time, bringing fierce guitar playing and swing to gospel music. Referred to by some as the "Godmother of rock 'n' roll," Tharpe began fusing Delta blues, New Orleans jazz and gospel music into a signature style that's widely considered to be the precursor to modern rock. She performed mornings at churches and evenings at the Cotton Club, and was a big enough star to fill a baseball stadium for her third wedding, but ended up buried in an unmarked grave in Philadelphia. Marie and Rosetta chronicles her first rehearsal with a young protégée, Marie Knight, as they prepare to embark on a tour that would establish them as one of the great duet teams in musical history. A story of letting loose, finding your voice, and freeing your soul.

Marie and Rosetta premiered in 2016 off-Broadway at the Atlantic Theater Company in New York City. The play has been performed in regional repertory, fringe festival, college, and community theatre productions.

Cast: 2 women

What people say:

"Mighty music-making ... when it sings, it really swings." — The New York Times

"It is so rare for a play about the inner lives of black women to center on their intimacy and not world politics or degradation that the very fact of George Brant's loving two-character script is refreshing." — The New Yorker

"Four stars ... heavenly ... you don't have to be religious to know when you're in the presence of glory." — Time Out New York

"A spectacular show ... if much of the world has forgotten Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight – and, certainly, a lot of us have – playwright George Brant makes an intimate yet spectacular case for correcting that wrong." — Newsday

About the Playwright:

George Brant is an American playwright. He received his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center for Writers at the University of Texas at Austin and is the author of several award-winning plays, most notably Grounded.