About Rose | Rose Weaver

ABOUT ROSE WEAVER

ROSE WEAVER is an award-winning creative powerhouse whose career spans more than 50 years in theater, film, live music, and television. A celebrated actor, singer, writer, and producer, she has built a legacy as a prominent figure in the arts as a member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors’ Equity.

She earned her Bachelor of Arts from Wheaton College and, at age 50, completed a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at Brown University. In 2002, Weaver premiered her groundbreaking solo play MENOPAUSE MAMA—a compelling, often hilarious exploration of menopause and aging that blends music, humor, and multiple characters.

In recognition of her extraordinary contributions to the arts, she has received Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from Wheaton College, Marymount Manhattan College, and Providence College.

From Simple Beginnings in Georgia

Born on April 19, 1949, into a sharecropper’s family in McDonough, Georgia, Rose was the eldest of six children. As a young girl, she explored the outdoors while her parents worked the cotton fields and other crops to support the family. Her story might have echoed the hardships of many Black children growing up in the pre–Civil Rights South, but Rose forged a different path through education and opportunity.

She was selected to participate in the Emory University Upward Bound Program, living on campus during summers in the late 1960s. There she immersed herself in Atlanta’s cultural institutions—exploring theaters, television stations, museums, historic sites, and monuments. An essay she wrote about her Upward Bound experience won her a trip to Central America, expanding her worldview.

Rose also broke barriers at Brown High School in Atlanta, where—during the era of desegregation—she became the only Black student in the drama club and found success on stage. Her path then led her to the Northeast, where she attended the elite women’s college Wheaton, earning a Bachelor of Arts in English Language and Literature while remaining active in the performing arts.

In 1973, Rose made history once again as the first—and still the only—Black woman to be crowned Miss Foxboro (home of the New England Patriots) in the Miss Massachusetts State Beauty Pageant.

Trinity Repertory Company, Providence: After college, Rose won a fellowship with the Tony Award-winning Trinity Repertory Company from founding Artistic Director, Adrian Hall. She began her career at Trinity Rep in 1973 as an Acting Fellow, working her way up to leading roles and earning her Actors’ Equity card in 1976. Most recently, Rose appeared on the Trinity Rep stage for a much lauded turn as Aunt Ester in August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean. Prior highlights over the past fifty years acting at Trinity Rep include roles such as Billie Holiday in Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grille, Dussie Mae in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Bernice in The Piano Lesson, the Witch in Into the Woods, The Good Times Are Killing Me, The Waiting Room, Another Part of the Forest, Measure for Measure, Side by Side by Sondheim, Brother to Dragons, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Aimee, A Christmas Carol, Jonestown Express, Tintypes, Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Boys from Syracuse, School for Scandal, and From the Mississippi Delta.

Rose is the author of the one-woman play Menopause Mama and the full-length scripts Silhouette of a Silhouette, Well Water Blues, At Home With Ethel Waters, Skips in the Record, and Black Women Taking Off the Masks.

Teaching Credits: Rose has taught at Wheaton College, Rhode Island College, and Moses Brown School.

Other Theatre Credits: Rose has appeared on stages nationwide, including performances at the Los Angeles Women’s Theatre Festival, the Kennedy Center’s Arts Across America, the Mark Taper Forum, Walnut Street Theatre, the Old Globe, Arkansas Rep, National Theatre Company, and FirstWorks.

Selected Film and TV credits include About Fate, The Engagement Plan, The Sixth Amendment, A Snow White Christmas, In the Heat of the Night, Poetic Justice, L.A. Law, Tales from the Crypt, The Accused, Not in My Family, Lady in White, and Go Tell It on the Mountain.

Honors and Hall of Fame Inductions: Rose’s accolades include the Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts, the Rhode Island Foundation Black History Month Award, Juneteenth RI Excellence in the Arts Honoree, induction into the Rhode Island Heritage Harbor Hall of Fame, the Lucille Lortel Playwriting Award, GoLocal Providence’s Rhode Island Woman of the Year Award, the Achievement in the Arts Award from Business Volunteers in the Arts/Rhode Island, the YWCA Woman of the Year in Arts & Culture Award, and the Rhode Island Historical Society’s History Maker Award.

In service to her professional community, Rose has held multiple board terms with the Screen Actors Guild Boston, the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, and Trinity Academy for the Performing Arts. She is also the creator and curator of the Directory of Black Artists in Rhode Island (https://blacklivesbiz.com/blackartists/ri), a growing platform dedicated to showcasing and celebrating the work of Black creatives across the state. Arts as a Catalyst for Change: Rose Weaver is dedicated to harnessing the power of the arts as a tool for education, social change, and personal transformation.

She created the non-profit organization Waterspill Junction in Providence, Rhode Island, to serve as a confluence where various streams of creativity merge, aiming to research, write, stage, and produce artistic projects. Waterspill Junction provides a platform for artists to collaborate and bring diverse creative endeavors to fruition.

Grant Awards and Fellowships: Most recently, Rose received a Papitto Opportunity Connection (POC) Award to support her research and the development of her newest project exploring the tragic voyage of the slave ship Sally and its deep ties to Rhode Island. She has also been honored with multiple Rhode Island State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowships, Rhode Island Foundation Fellowships, and Rhode Island Foundation New Works Awards.

Her work sparks vital conversations around aging, addressing experiences such as menopause in women and andropause in men, while also exploring memory loss, Alzheimer’s disease, and the emotional challenges they bring. Through her dramatic writings and performances, Weaver gives voice to these realities, fostering empathy, awareness, and resilience.

Her activism reflects her unwavering belief in the transformative power of the arts to raise awareness, build community, and inspire self-discovery—at every stage of life.

Learn more: Rose Weaver on Wikipedia