Savannah Repertory Theatre Presents I Carry Your Heart With Me Feb. 26 – March 8 at The Vintage Theatre

Acclaimed play stars Suzi Award-winner Carolyn Cook

"It's both entertaining and engrossing, doing what good theatre is supposed to do – leave you thinking and contemplating your own life as you walk out of the theatre."

BroadwayWorld

SAVANNAH, Ga. (x, 2026) – Savannah Repertory Theatre presents I Carry Your Heart With Me by Jennifer Blackmer to Feb. 26–March 8 in collaboration with Horizon Theatre Company, where the production was originally developed and premiered to critical acclaim. Starring Carolyn Cook in her 2025 Suzi Award-winning performance, this powerful drama was a surprise hit of last season and earned the prestigious 2024 Steinberg/ATCA New Play Citation. The play centers on Esther, a stenographer inside a top-secret Vietnam-era debriefing room, whose picture-perfect world begins to unravel when she encounters an airman whose story quite literally changes her life. As she transcribes the accounts of noncommissioned officers and POWs freshly returned from the front lines, Esther finds herself at the center of a troubling investigation.

With plenty of twists and turns along the way, this taut, suspenseful play delivers a powerful emotional impact. The production’s strong audience response and critical reception have helped propel Jennifer Blackmer’s powerful solo work to new stages across the region. For tickets and more information, visit savannahrep.org or call the box office at 912-436-3629

In this solo play, Carolyn Cook commands the stage as Esther Shannon, looking back on her formative time in her early 20s as a government stenographer for the U.S. Air Force during the Vietnam War. Raised in a military family, Esther is the new girl and best typist on the base, where she meets attractive officer Andy, who wines and dines her. Like her mother and grandmother before her, she seems destined to become a military wife and mother. Longing to make her father proud and to make a bigger difference, she thinks about taking her skills to Vietnam instead.

Andy persuades her to stay stateside by pulling strings to get her a top-security clearance job on the base. Tasked with transcribing debriefings of POWs and non-commissioned officers returning from the front lines,

she records their fractured memories of the war, which seep into her and change her perspective on the world. Then Esther encounters a POW helicopter pilot whose story has a deep impact on her, ultimately causing a clash with her official duties and complicating her life. As she becomes entangled in an investigation, Esther grapples with her future in a suspenseful and emotionally charged journey.

“This play has a way of staying with audiences long after the lights come up,” said Cook. “Esther’s journey feels deeply human and unexpectedly timely, and I’m honored to share her story with Savannah audiences. Each performance reveals new layers, and I’m excited to continue exploring this remarkable piece.”

A blend of fact and fiction, the play is inspired by Blackmer’s mother’s real-life experiences as a young stenographer with a similar job at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during the Vietnam War. Blackmer’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and across the country, and she serves as professor of theatre and executive director of the Virginia B. Ball Center for Creative Inquiry at Ball State University. Blackmer was in residence at Horizon in 2023 as one of the lead mentors in Horizon’s New South Young Playwrights Festival.

Directed by Horizon Theatre’s Co-Artistic Director Lisa Adler, the production reunites her with one of her favorite collaborators, the talented Carolyn Cook. Adler has directed Cook in many productions over the past three decades, including her acclaimed performance in The Syringa Tree, which played at Horizon and toured venues in the Southeast, as well as her award-winning performances in Time Stands Still and Skylight.

The world of the play is created with an evocative, poetic set by resident designers Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay, shaped by lights from resident lighting designer Mary Parker, costumes by Carrie Giglio, projections from Victoria Nation, and sound by Whitney Leonard. Sound and Projection Engineer: Preston Goodsen. And it’s a homecoming for Savannah Stage Manager Justice Maxey who was mentored as an intern at Horizon in Atlanta early in her career.

Savannah Rep’s two-week engagement runs February 26–March 8. For tickets and more information, visit savannahrep.org or call 912-436-3629.

For full actor and creative team bios visit horizontheatre.com/plays/i-carry-your-heart-with-me

For photos, visit flic.kr/s/aHBqjC4pK5.

Playwright Jennifer Blackmer

Director Lisa Adler

Set Designers Isabel and Moriah Curley-Clay

Lighting Designer Mary Parker

Costume Designer Carrie Giglio

Sound Designer Whitney Leonard

Projection Designer Victoria Nation

Sound and Projection Engineer Preston Goodsen

CAST

Esther Shannon Carolyn Cook