ROSE WEAVER: FULL BIOGRAPHY
Television | Films | Theatre | Vocal Performance | Education | Writing | Awards | Memberships
Rose Weaver was born in 1949 into a sharecropper's family in rural Georgia. The first of six children, her biological father was absent much of her youth and her stepfather was alcoholic and abusive. Weaver's might be one more sad story of a black girl growing up in the pre-civil rights south, but she escaped this fate through education and hard work. Thanks to the Johnson Administration's Upward Bound Program, Dr. Weaver was able to complete high school and attend Wheaton College in Norton, Massachusetts, an all-women's school at the time. Weaver learned that education is a lifetime endeavor and that it doesn't just happen at school. As a young single parent, she raised a son, and after being reunited with the daughter she had to give up for adoption at three months old to a wonderful family, she later involved in her daughter's successful acting career. At Wheaton College, Weaver discovered that her career lay in the performing arts. Now at midlife, Rose uses her singing, writing and acting to express that aging is something to be cherished and honored.
Rose Weaver's almost 30 years as an entertainer includes TV shows
o In the Heat of the Night
o L.A. Law
o The Young and the Restless
roles in several films including
o The Accused
o Lady In White
o Poetic Justice
o Go It Tell It on the Mountain
and numerous theatre performances, including at
o 11 full seasons at the Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, RI where she has played such roles as
· Berniece in August Wilson's Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Piano Lesson
· the Witch in Into the Woods
· Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grille, the longest running play in Trinity's history
o the Old Globe in San Diego
o the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles
As a vocalist, Weaver's nucleus of blues and jazz -- which she learned growing up in the woods of Georgia and polished on stages throughout the world -- contributes to her lively singing, passion, and intimate relationship with her audiences. Her repertoire includes the songs of:
o Ellington
o Fats Waller
o Gershwin
o Cole Porter
o Billie Holiday
o Spirituals
o holiday favorites
o patriotic songs
o standards
She has sung solo, with her own jazz ensemble and with the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, America's Smithsonian Orchestra, and The Duke Ellington Orchestra.
Dr. Weaver has
o a BA in English from Wheaton College
o an MFA in creative writing from Brown University
o an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Marymount Manhattan College
Her dramatic writing has been published in Monologues for Women by Women and NuMuse: An Anthology of New Plays 
from Brown University. Her play Skips in the Record focuses on three generations of a southern black American family as they peel away the layers of their common history to reveal memories that may either bring them together or tear them apart. Her play Silhouette of a Silhouette is based on the true story of the death of one of her brothers from a combination of AIDS and gunshot wounds and explores how the sins of the father can be passed on to the son. (Click here to read about Weaver's other works.)
Weaver is a recipient of
o the Lucille Lortel Playwriting Award
o the Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts
o YWCA's Outstanding Woman of the Year in Arts and Education
o Business Volunteers in the Arts RI Individual Achievement Award
o RI Foundation: Antonio Cirino Memorial Fellowship and New Works Award 2001
and she was nominated for a New England Emmy in Acting.
She is member of
o Screen Actor's Guild
o Actor's Equity Association
o the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
For more information about Rose Weaver and her work, including her CV, visit www.roseweaver.com. You can find more information about Menopause Mama at www.menopausemama.com.