Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the author of last season’s The Harder They Come, returns to her artistic home with an edgy dramedy that celebrates the craft of theater while taking a hard look at history.
The off-off-off-Broadway theater troupe Good Company is putting on a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Writer Luce is cast as Sally; her romantic partner, and the play’s director, Mike, is cast as Tom—really, people, what could possibly go wrong?
Parks manages to locate touch points between the 18th and 21st centuries in ways that audiences should find provocative and even thrilling. Gently chiding TJ for hiding his intentions, Sally reminds him, “We build our castle on a foundation of your promises.” Well, isn’t that the foundation of the nation? The structure Jefferson et al so hopefully wrought has lived up to its potential for few if any of its citizens, just as Mike and Luce are far from firmly establishing their personal and professional relationship as a Good Company. The promise of full freedom is always just out of reach, yet the attempt to shape our reality to the ideal must be never-ending. We hold that truth to be self-evident.
Director Steve H. Broadmax III keeps the action bubbling, the parallel story lines clear and swift. Set designer Riccardo Hernández even manages to endow the boxy Martinson stage with a bit of mystery and depth. Partway through, a pentimento emerges from a splotchy, black-and-white background wash of … what? Foliage? Dirt? Blood? The story of Sally and Tom will haunt you – as it should.
2024 | Off-Broadway |
Public Theater Off-Broadway Premiere Production Off-Broadway |
Year | Ceremony | Category | Nominee |
---|---|---|---|
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Costume Design of a Play | Rodrigo Muñoz |
2024 | Drama Desk Awards | Outstanding Wig and Hair | J. Jared Janas |
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