Career
In the early 1960s, she appeared off-Broadway in Jean Genet"s "The Blacks" (with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson), and in "Brecht on Brecht", in which she sang (among other things) "Pirate Jenny". In 1964, Grant appeared as "Ella Hammer" in the Howard da Silva"s off-Broadway revival of Marc Blitzstein"s The Cradle Will Rock, opposite Jerry Orbach and Rita Gardner. Much of her early work was done with director Vinnette Carroll, the first African-American woman to direct on Broadway.
They collaborated on Don"t Bother Maine, I Can"t Cope and Your Arms Too Short to Box With God, both enjoying critical acclaim and long Broadway runs.