10/2/2023 0 Comments Freefall theatre st petersburg![]() “Even today, those songs are so iconic in the church. “I wasn’t familiar with Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s full history – I didn’t know she’d played the Cotton Club, those sorts of things – but I was familiar with the same songs as Hillary, and even hearing them sung in my church growing up. “And so I grew up with the shouting and the speaking in tongues and all of that kind of thing. ![]() “Sister Rosetta Tharpe grew up COGIC, which is Church of God in Christ, and I did too,” she says. “I think it’s really cool to have a piece of theater that pays homage to these ladies.” “Growing up in the church,” Scales-Lewis says, “you know some of the music – ‘Peace in the Valley,’ ‘Didn’t it Rain.’ Then when I started researching Rosetta’s story, and everything about her and Marie, I thought wow, what an interesting story.’ A story that I was never even aware of. Neither actress was one hundred percent familiar with the music of Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Marie Knight, who collaborated on many pivotal songs and recordings that shortened the gaps between gospel, blues, swing and what would come to be called rock ‘n’ roll. Kerven’s resume includes powerhouse roles in Ghost, Sister Act, Ain’t Misbehavin’ and a dozen more, while Scales-Lewis lists The Wiz, Smokey Joe’s Café, Company and many others as career highlights. She’s been a rock for me.”īoth performers are veteran musical theater professionals. “We would have these little moments of bonding over coffee in the morning, and getting ready … ‘Hi, I’m Hillary!’ ‘Where are you from?’Īdds Kirven: “I think we hit if off right away. “It was go-go-go as soon as she got here,” says Scales-Lewis, a native of Virginia. They have to look right together, act right together – and, of course, sound right together, as Brant’s show is jammed with rafter-raising music. Marie and Rosetta are the only characters in Marie and Rosetta as such, their chemistry is paramount. Kirven’s new bestie is Hillary Scales-Lewis, who plays Marie Knight, Tharpe’s real-life young protégé (the play takes place in 1946, when the events actually happened). Kervin and Scales-Lewis: “I think we hit it off right away.” Photo by Bill DeYoung. Plus, I get to work, and I have a new friend now.” “As a performer, I couldn’t be more thankful. I knew I was in good hands,” she explains. “I knew coming into this that they were not going to leave me hanging. Although she’d never worked at freeFall before, she was longtime friends with Artistic Director Eric Davis and Community Development Director Matthew McGee. Kirven, a “glass half full” kind of person, says she didn’t worry about any of it, not for a second. And from the first words out of her mouth, on that first night, she absolutely owned Sister Rosetta Tharpe. ![]() She was in front of an audience before she knew what had happened. She also studied, on tape, the Tharpe songs she’d be singing in the show – including “Didn’t it Rain.”Īll this last-minute precision study was necessary because Kirven had been hired to replace another performer, who’d had to back out of the freeFall production less than a week before it opened. This was one of her line-learning techniques. ![]() In her car, as the precipitation pounded down, Kirven listened to a recording she’d made of Marie and Rosetta, with a friend taking the part of Marie Knight, the other character in George Brant’s historically-rooted play. Noah was glad when the rain stopped droppingĬrying brother Noah can’t you take on more It rained 40 days, 40 nights without stopping “I think it rained all across Louisiana.”īecause the world of theater is full of omens, superstitions and serendipitous suggestions passed down through the ages, this may very well have been a very good sign, as Kirven was on her way to play gospel music pioneer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, whose most famous song is called “Didn’t it Rain”: “The weather was horrible,” Kirven reports. When she rolled across the Louisiana border, the skies opened up. Petersburg, where she’d been cast in freeFall Theatre’s new play Marie and Rosetta. It took actress Illeana Kirven 20 hours and change to make the drive, straight through, from her home in Texas to St.
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