Kecia Lewis & Rebecca Naomi Jones to Headline George Brant’s Marie and Rosetta Off-Broadway

Kecia Lewis (Mother Courage, Once on This Island) and Rebecca Naomi Jones (American Idiot, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) will star in the world premiere of George Brant’s play with music, Marie and Rosetta. Directed by Neil Pepe, the production is scheduled to begin previews on August 24 and play a limited engagement through October 2. Opening night is set for September 12 at off-Broadway’s Atlantic Theater Company’s Linda Gross Theater.

A huge influence on Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Ray Charles and Jimi Hendrix, Sister Rosetta Tharpe (Lewis) was a legend in her time, bringing fierce guitar-playing and swing to gospel music. Tharpe was the queen of "race records" in the 30’s and 40’s, a woman who played guitar as passionately as Clapton, who performed mornings at churches and evenings at the Cotton Club, who 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 Sister Rosetta’s first rehearsal with a young protégée, Marie Knight (Jones), as they prepare to embark on a tour that would establish them as one of the great duet teams in musical history.

Marie and Rosetta will feature scenic design by Riccardo Hernández, costume design by Dede Ayite, lighting design by Christopher Akerlind, sound design by Steve Canyon Kennedy and music direction by Jason Michael Webb.