A new play is telling the story of two women instrumental in the preservation of local folk music.

“Song Seekers: The Greenleaf & Mansfield Story” follows Elisabeth Bristol Greenleaf, who came to Newfoundland in the 1920s and enlisted the help of musicologist Grace Yarrow Mansfield to document folk songs from the Great Northern Peninsula and the north coast of the province.

Starring Petrina Bromley and Ruth Lawrence, and written by Bromley, Lawrence and Michelle Rex Bailey, the show weaves in the folk songs, performed by legendary musicians.

Lawrence says without the work of Greenleaf and Mansfield, many local tunes would be lost to history.

She says English, Irish and Scottish songs were being collected at that time, but not so much local Newfoundland songs that documented events of small communities. She says no one was collecting local music with as much passion as the pair of women.

The show runs from December 7-9 at the Majestic Theatre. Tickets are available at the box office or online.