Photo Flash: Rebecca Naomi Jones, Kecia Lewis and More in Rehearsal for MARIE AND ROSETTA at Atlantic Theater

Atlantic Theater Company welcomes Kecia Lewis (Mother Courage, Once on This Island) and Rebecca Naomi Jones (American Idiot, Hedwig and the Angry Inch) in the world premiere production of George Brant's play with music, Marie and Rosetta, directed by Atlantic Artistic Director Neil Pepe this fall. Marie and Rosetta will begin previews Wednesday, August 24, officially open Monday, September 12, and play a limited engagement through Sunday, October 2, 2016, Off Broadway at Atlantic Theater Company's Linda Gross Theater (336 West 20Street). BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at the company in rehearsal below!

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.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was widely acclaimed among the greatest Sanctified gospel singers of her generation; a flamboyant performer whose music often flirted with the blues and swing, she was also one of the most controversial talents of her day, shocking purists with her leap into the secular market - by playing nightclubs and theaters, she not only pushed spiritual music into the mainstream, but in the process also helped pioneer the rise of pop-gospel.

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, music direction by Jason Michael Webb and casting by Telsey + Company.

Photo Credit: Ahron R. Foster