Text of Review:

All Men Are Created Equal. Or so Thomas Jefferson wrote in the Declaration of Independence. It’s kind of weird then, to know that Jefferson owned slaves. And it’s even weirder to realize that one of them, Sally Hemings, was his mistress. What was that about? Which doesn’t stop playwrights and screenwriters and novelists from trying to figure it out.

Thomas Jefferson took to his bed a child, fourteen years old, a human child he owned. The Merchant Ivory film, Jefferson in Paris, presented the 22 year old Thandwe Newton as Hemings. Thomas and Selly, a play produced at Marin Theatre in 2017 showed Hemings as in her late teens, and perhaps a bit of a seductress. That one didn’t go over well in the age of me too.

What Suzan Lori-Parks does in her play, Sally and Tom, first presented in 2022 at the Guthrie,  and now through November 23rd at Marin Theatre, is find a way to tell the story without fantasizing one way of another.

By incorporating the story of Sally and Tom within the framework of an acting company on the verge of bankruptcy, the playwright can present the narrative and comment on it at the same time. The troupe is putting on a play set right after Jefferson returns to Monticello from Paris.  Tom, in the play within the play, is performed by Mike, the director, and Sally by Luce, the playwright. Mike and Luce are themselves an item, grappling with their own issues as well as how, exactly, to tell the story. Luce won’t give an inch when it comes to her play’s discussion of racism and sexism. Mike just wants to keep the company going, and his ex wants to finance the show.

Along the way, we learn about James, Sally’s brother, as well as his performer, Kwame, Luce’s ex, and about the other members of the cast.A two-timeline play is a tough one to pull off, but Parks is successful in making it work, with help from director Lance Gardner keeping confusion at a minimum.

The ensemble is at the top of its game, particularly the two leads, Emily Newsome and Adam Kuveniemann, as well as Titus Vanhook as Kwame. Michael Phillis, as one of the actors, is always entertaining.

Too many speeches that go on too long and repeat themselves, especially toward the end, dampen the play’s power, and a gay subplot seems unnecessary. But Sally and Tom is a gem, puncturing the myth, presenting Jefferson as a bastard as well as an enigma.

Sally and Tom by Suzan-Lori Parks, plays at Marin Theatre through November 23rd. For more information you can go to marintheatre.org. I’m Richard Woiinsky on Bay Area theatre for KPFA.

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