Ford's Theatre Society Announces  Creative Team Update For  SHOUT SISTER SHOUT!

Ford's Theatre Society has announced that Sheldon Epps will be joining the creative team of the musical SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! as the Production Supervisor.

As Ford's Theatre's Senior Artistic Advisor, Sheldon Epps is a highly sought-after and acclaimed director in theatre and television. Epps served as the Artistic Director at The Pasadena Playhouse from 1997-2017 and continues to serve as the Artistic Director Emeritus. He recently published a memoir, "My Own Directions: A Black Man's Journey in the American Theatre." In 2017, Epps produced the premiere of SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! at Pasadena Playhouse. Under his guidance, the musical was brought to Ford's Theatre for its East Coast premiere. Epps has previously collaborated with SHOUT! playwright Cheryl L. West as the director of the 1996 Broadway production of Play On!

"Sheldon's passion and vision as a director will allow this musical to soar to new heights," said Paul R. Tetreault, director of Ford's Theatre. "There is no question his creative force will be felt by audiences who will leave our theatre shouting for more."

"I am thrilled to bring this powerful story about a bold and enormously talented musical artist to Ford's," said Sheldon Epps, Senior Artistic Advisor of Ford's Theatre. "With a strong connection to D.C. and lasting influences globally, Rosetta's music has the ability to bring people together. I have been a great supporter of this project and of telling this remarkable story since the world premiere production at Pasadena Playhouse."

The full cast and creative team for the spring 2023 production of SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! continues to be a collaboration of artists that includes playwright Cheryl L. West, arranger and orchestrator Joseph Joubert, biographer Gayle F. Wald, choreographer William Carlos Angulo and music director Sheilah V. Walker. Carrie Compere stars as Sister Rosetta Tharpe, with Carol Dennis as evangelist Katie Bell Nubin, Tharpe's mother.

The Ford's Theatre 2022-2023 season is sponsored by Chevron and Lockheed Martin Corporation. SHOUT SISTER SHOUT! is also made possible by Lead Sponsor: ConocoPhillips, as well as the following Sponsors: Altria Group, KPMG LLP, Meta and Siemens Corporation.

Sheldon Epps was the Artistic Director of the renowned Pasadena Playhouse for two decades. Currently, he continues to serve The Playhouse as Artistic Director Emeritus. He has also served as Artistic Advisor for Theatre Under The Stars in Houston. He has directed numerous plays and musicals at many of the country's major theatres, including Roundabout Theatre Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, the Guthrie Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Seattle Repertory Theatre, Arena Stage and The Goodman Theatre. He conceived and directed the Tony nominated musicals Play On! and Blues in the Night, which also received an Olivier Awards nomination for Best Musical. He co-directed the Tony nominated Broadway production of Baby It's You! Mr. Epps also has a busy career as a television director helming episodes of shows such as Frasier, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Girlfriends, the new Netflix series The Upshaws and many others. He currently serves as Senior Artistic Advisor at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., and he is the author of the bestselling "theatrical memoir," "My Own Directions: A Black Man's Journey in the American Theatre," published by McFarland Books. At Ford's Theatre, Mr. Epps directed Twelve Angry Men and My Lord, What A Night, and he most recently worked on The Ford's Theatre Legacy Commissions: A First Look festival of new works with Director of Artistic Programming José Carrasquillo and Ford's Theatre Legacy Commissions Advisor Sydné Mahone.

Inspired by Gayle F. Wald's book "Shout, Sister, Shout!," this new musical tells the story of Sister Rosetta Tharpe-one of America's most influential rock-and-roll, R&B and gospel crossover singers and guitarists. Ambitious, courageous and uncompromisingly public, Tharpe became a pioneer of the women's movement for racial and sexual equality and is a musical legend who redefined the national and international music scene in the 1930s and '40s and beyond. Dive into Cheryl L. West's spirited, authentic and emotionally charged story about a charismatic music forerunner and the authentic roots of rock-and-roll. Learn more about the musical at www.fords.org/performance/shout-sister-shout/.