Referred to by some as the “godmother of rock ‘n’ roll,” Sister Rosetta Tharpe influenced artists like Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash with her fierce guitar playing and unique style of gospel. Marie and Rosetta features electrifying music and brings us to Tharpe’s first rehearsal with young protégée Marie Knight before they set out to become one of the great duos in music history.
Marie and Rosetta
Marie and Rosetta features electrifying music and brings us to Tharpe’s first rehearsal with young protégée Marie Knight before they set out to become one of the great duos in music history.
Marie and Rosetta features electrifying music and brings us to Tharpe’s first rehearsal with young protégée Marie Knight before they set out to become one of the great duos in music history.
Meet The Cast
Carman Cooper
Rosetta
Johnique Mitchell
Marie
Meet The Creative Team
George Brant
Playwright
George Brant’s plays include Grounded, Elephant’s Graveyard, Marie and Rosetta, Into the Breeches!, The Mourners’ Bench, Any Other Name, Salvage, Grizzly Mama, and Three Voyages of the Lobotomobile. An Affiliate Writer at the Playwrights’ Center, his scripts have been produced internationally by such companies as the Public Theater, the Atlantic Theater Company, Cleveland Play House, Trinity Repertory Company, the Studio Theatre, Alley Theatre, London’s Gate Theatre, Page 73, and the Traverse Theatre. His plays have received a Lucille Lortel Award, an Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, the Smith Prize, a Fringe First Award, an Off-West End Theatre Award, an NNPN Rolling World Premiere, the Teatro Netto Festival Grand Prize, a Creative Workforce Fellowship, three OAC Individual Excellence Awards, and the Keene Prize for Literature. George received his MFA in Writing from the Michener Center at UT-Austin and is a member of the Dramatists Guild. He is published by Samuel French, Oberon Books and Smith & Kraus.
Courtney Burkett
Director
Courtney’s DPT directing credits include Cry It Out, Marie and Rosetta, Murder Ballad (Wilde Award Nomination: Best Musical; It’s All Theatre: Best of Season), American Hero, and the touring production of Detroit ‘67. Courtney played Laurie in DPT’s production of Pipeline. Prior to co-founding DPT, Courtney spent five years as Director of Theatre Programs at Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit, where she trained and mentored hundreds of young actors. Directing credits at Mosaic include The Tempest, Candide, Hastings Street, Lil Ham, and The Crucible. Before Mosaic, Courtney was a founding artistic partner with Breathe Art Theatre Project, where she directed and produced many productions and appeared in boom (Winner: The Rogue Critic Best Supporting Actress). Courtney spent two years working at the University of Michigan as the managing director of the CRLT Players. In that position, she oversaw 50 applied theatre performances annually on campuses throughout the country. Courtney also served as the business manager for the University of Detroit Mercy Theatre Company. While at UDM, Courtney taught in the Department of Theatre and directed and performed in Theatre Company productions. Courtney is a fourth generation native Detroiter. She received her BFA from Webster Conservatory of Theatre Arts and her MFA from Wayne State’s Hilberry Theatre program.
Jamie Reed
Music Director
Jamie is an accomplished music director, pianist, arranger, and vocal coach. Jamie holds a music degree in piano performance from Western Michigan University. Music director credits include: Cabaret, Evita, Altar Boyz, Next To Normal, Shrek, Rent, West Side Story, The Last Five Years, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, and Lippa’s The Wild Party. National Tour credits: Wicked, Book of Mormon, Chicago, Beauty and the Beast, South Pacific, and Fiddler on the Roof. After a brief stint in New York, Jamie switched gears to international music directing for Holland America Cruise Line. Jamie is currently music directing in the Detroit Metro area, where she is resident music director for Mason Street Warehouse in Saugatuck, director of music for Orchard UMC, and a vocal coach at Oakland University.
Christianne Myers
Costume Designer
Christianne Myers is a freelance costume designer and Associate Professor of Theatre & Drama at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. New York highlights include the Obie Award-winning productions of Music Theatre Group’s Running Man and Blue Light’s production of Dare Clubb’s Oedipus. Other design credits include productions for The Juilliard School, The Vermont Stage Company, The Lincoln Center Institute, The Clarence Brown Theatre, The Syracuse Stage, The Indiana Repertory Theatre, Theatreworks/USA, The Caldwell Theatre, The Irondale Ensemble, Opera Memphis, and The Santa Fe Opera. At U-M, she has designed more than thirty productions, including Henry IV, A Little Night Music, and Caroline, or Change. She is delighted to be back at DPT since designing Dot last season.
Michaela Tanskley
Sound Designer
Tim Franquist is a 20-year veteran of the concert touring industry. He has worked for and mixed sound for some of the biggest names in music from rock to R&B, funk, soul, and jazz as well as theatrical productions.
Cecilia Durbin
Lighting Designer
At DPT: Marie and Rosetta, Murder Ballad, Sex with Strangers; Other Designs: Sense & Sensibility, Love Alone (Playmakers Rep); South Pacific (Triad Stage); Disgraced (Portland Stage Co & Hangar Theatre); The Taming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theatre); Sex & Other Disturbances (Portland Stage Co), The Little Red Fish (NYC Children’s Theatre), All Shook Up, On Golden Pond (New London Barn Playhouse); Hyena (La MaMa, Edinburgh Fringe, United Solo [Best Lighting]); In the Blood (Theatre Horizon [Barrymore nomination]); Martyrs, Don’t Feed the Indians, Amy Surratt’s First & Last (Show) (La Mama); Stranger from Paradise (Opera Omaha); The Life Model (On the Boards); Numb (Goat in the Road Productions, JACK); Lust (HERE Arts Center); Measure for Measure (Epic Theatre Ensemble); We Are Proud to Present a Presentation…(InterAct Theatre), A Soldier’s Tale (The Bushwick Starr/The Puppet Kitchen). MFA from NYU; member USA 829. www.durbinlighting.com
Neal Wright
Guitar
Neal Wright has been playing guitar as a freelance musician in Metro Detroit for the past decade. He graduated from Oakland University in 2015 with his degree in classical guitar performance and is currently pursuing a second degree in electrical engineering. Since 2008, Neal has played almost 100 different productions with a variety of theaters in the Detroit area, including Shrek, Legally Blonde, Fiddler on the Roof, Hairspray, Rent, West Side Story, The Full Monty, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Violet, Jesus Christ Superstar, and many more. An avid student of guitar and its different musical perspectives, Neal enjoys performing in a variety of settings, from pits to nightclubs, and a variety of styles, from classical and jazz to blues and rock.
Pegi Marshall
Props Designer
Mother of twins, Union Scenic Designer, props artisan, set builder, scenic painter, and advocate for green and sustainable theatre practices. Once upon a time, Pegi professed to students at such places as Baltimore School for the Arts, Morgan State University, Wayne State University, University of North Carolina and California Polytechnic State University. Nowadays, she is happy to get a full night of sleep and overjoyed that her children are growing up witness to her making art for the stage with her beloved Mike James!
