User:JKizzieHumanities/Rose Weaver

Rose Weaver is an African American actress, singer, director and writer in Rhode Island. Weaver is described as a "major figure in Rhode Island entertainment," and she is known for her role in the film Poetic Justice.

Early life
Weaver grew up in and outside of Atlanta, Georgia. Her family were sharecroppers. She was one of the first black people to attend an all-white high school in Atlanta, Georgia and participated in Upward Bound programs in her youth.

Career
Weaver began singing in Boston and Rhode Island clubs in the 1970s. She graduated from Wheaton College in 1973 and was awarded a three-year fellowship by Trinity Repertory in 1973. She spent 11 seasons acting at Trinity, including roles as Silvia in Two Gentleman of Verona, Dussie Mae in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom , and Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues. In addition to her time at Trinity, Weaver was a host of the television program "Sunday Sunday" on WJAR TV in the 1980s. In 1993 she played Aunt Audrey in the film Poetic Justice alongside Janet Jackson and Tupac Shakur.

Weaver continues to act, sing, write and direct in Rhode Island. She performed at the state inauguration in Rhode Island, 1999. In 2000, she earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in Creative Writing from Brown University. She was an artist in residence at Brown University's Rites and Reason Theatre in 2015 where she developed her play about Alzheimer's disease and memory, Skips The Record. Her play Menopause Mama, which she wrote, directed and starred in toured internationally and earned her a fellowship in play writing at the Rhode Island State Council for the Arts in 2017.

Awards and distinctions
Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame, 2019

Rhode Island Woman of the Year, GoLocalProv, 2018

Wheeler School Community Spirit Award, 2018

Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts,Wheaton College, 2018

Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts,Providence College, 2016

Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Merrymount Manhattan College

2001 Rhode Island Historical Society History Makers

Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts, 2000

1973, Miss Foxboro

Miss Massachusetts, Miss Congeniality, 1973.

"Who's Who in Rhode Island Jazz" 1991

Selected Film and Television Roles
A Snow White Christmas, 2018, Mrs. Woods

Brotherhood, 2006, Mrs. Lynch

Poetic Justice, 1993, Aunt Audrey

Tales From The Crypt, "Mute Witness to Murder", 1990, Desk

The Accused, 1988, Nurse

Brother to Dragons, Great Performances, 1975, Family Slave

Published Works
"Mama's Helper" and "Chips on my Shoulder", Monologues for Women by Women, Tori Haring-Smith ed., 1994

NuMuse: an anthology of plays from Brown University's New Plays Festival, 1994