A musical built from the real-life oral histories of pioneer women opens this weekend at the Roswell Cultural Arts Center, running from Friday through August 23 as part of the city's year-long America250 celebration. Quilters: A Musical brings Broadway veteran Terry Burrell to the 950 Forrest Street venue alongside a cast of Atlanta-based actors, with showtimes set for 7 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays and 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.
As reported by FOX 5 Atlanta, the production was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and it has become a staple at theaters across the country since its brief run on Broadway in 1984. That federal support was substantial: according to the National Endowment for the Arts, the City of Roswell received a $35,000 grant in fiscal year 2024 through the agency's Grants for Arts Projects initiative specifically to support theater programming at the Cultural Arts Center.
Quilters tells the story of American pioneer women who helped shape the developing country, drawing directly from a 1977 non-fiction book. The show was adapted by Molly Newman and Barbara Damashek from The Quilters: Women and Domestic Art by Patricia Cooper and Norma Bradley Allen, a compilation of oral histories from pioneer women in Texas and New Mexico, according to Concord Theatricals. When it debuted on Broadway, the musical marked a rare milestone as a show conceived, written, composed, and directed entirely by women, a distinction noted by Joanna S. Kao's data analysis of Broadway creative teams.
From Denver Workshop to Six Tony Nominations
Quilters first took shape at the Denver Center Theatre Company in 1982 before opening at Broadway's Jack Lawrence Theatre on September 25, 1984, where it ran for 24 performances. The show went on to earn six 1985 Tony Award nominations, including nods for Best Musical, Best Book, Best Original Score, and Best Direction, per Wikipedia's production history. In Roswell, the production is directed by Amelia Fischer and choreographed by Michelle Stowers.
Leading the cast is Terry Burrell, who brings more than 40 years of stage experience to the role. Burrell's Broadway credits include original and replacement roles in Dreamgirls, Into the Woods, Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Threepenny Opera, and Eubie!, according to the Internet Broadway Database. She's joined by Atlanta actors Christy Baggett, Emma Bailey, Amy Coenen, Ruth Mehari, Jo-Jo Steine, Kathryn D'Avis, and Gabby Werly, with Ashley Prince serving as music director, per the Roswell Cultural Arts Center. Tickets start at $36.75.
Echoes of Roswell's Own Mill Town History
The choice to stage a musical about pioneer women and domestic craft resonates locally, since Roswell's own history includes textile mills that once anchored its economy. The city's mill town roots trace back to the late 1830s, when founder Roswell King established the Roswell Manufacturing Company along Vickery Creek, building cotton mills and a self-contained mill village that drove the local textile economy for more than a century, according to the New Georgia Encyclopedia.
That textile legacy carries a darker chapter as well. In July 1864, Union forces under General William T. Sherman occupied Roswell, destroyed its cotton mills, and arrested more than 400 textile workers — most of them women and children — deporting them north by rail as traitors, as detailed by Atlanta Magazine. That history of women's labor and domestic craft under hardship gives Quilters' frontier storytelling an added local resonance for Roswell audiences.
Part of a Yearlong America250 Push
The production is presented as part of Roswell's yearlong America250 celebration, themed A Tapestry of Generations. The national America250 effort is a federal initiative coordinating commemorations nationwide for the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, running through July 2026, according to Hoodline's coverage of other America250 events.
Because Quilters covers pioneer frontier themes including childbirth, illness, death, and environmental hardship, the Roswell Cultural Arts Center has issued a content advisory recommending the show for teen and adult audiences. FOX 5 Atlanta's Good Day Atlanta segment also included backstage access to the production and coverage of choreographer-led dance instruction in Roswell tied to the show's run.
