Horizon Theatre Company Will Present Encore Of I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME

Horizon Theatre Company will continue its 2025–2026 season with an encore presentation of I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME by Jennifer Blackmer. The solo play will run at Horizon from January 30 through February 15 before transferring to Savannah Repertory Theatre, where it will play from February 26 through March 8.

The production will again star Carolyn Cook in the role of Esther Shannon, a performance that earned Cook a 2025 Suzi Award. I CARRY YOUR HEART WITH ME is the recipient of the 2024 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation and centers on Esther, a government stenographer working in a top-secret Vietnam-era debriefing room whose life is altered after encountering an airman whose testimony draws her into a troubling investigation.

Set during the Vietnam War, the play follows Esther as she transcribes debriefings from non-commissioned officers and prisoners of war returning from the front lines. Raised in a military family, Esther begins her career eager to please her superiors and envisioning a conventional future, but the stories she records begin to challenge her understanding of duty, loyalty, and morality. The narrative unfolds as Esther becomes increasingly entangled in events that place her at odds with her official responsibilities.

“This play lingered with audiences in a way that was impossible to ignore,” Cook said. “The response to the first run made it clear that Esther's story was still unfolding for people, and that there was more to be explored. Returning to the role offers a chance to deepen the work and continue the conversation the play began with Atlanta audiences.”

The production is directed by Lisa Adler, Horizon Theatre Company’s co-artistic director, who has collaborated frequently with Cook over the past three decades. Adler previously directed Cook in The Syringa Tree, Time Stands Still, and Skylight. Adler noted the play’s resonance with military audiences, saying, “The play was particularly meaningful to military veterans and their families in this story that honors their sacrifice and service.”

Inspired by the real-life experiences of Blackmer’s mother, who worked as a stenographer at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during the Vietnam War, the play blends historical research with imagined narrative. Blackmer, whose work has been produced Off-Broadway and nationally, serves as professor of theatre and executive director of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at Ball State University and was in residence at Horizon in 2023 through the New South Young Playwrights Festival.

The creative team includes scenic designers Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay, lighting designer Mary Parker, projection designer Victoria Nation, and sound designer Whitney Leonard.