Premiering at the Guthrie this month is a new play by Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks, in association with The Public Theater (responsible for many ground-breaking shows from
Hair to
Hamilton).
Sally & Tom is not just the story of America's third president Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemmings, an enslaved woman whom he owned and with whom he had a 30-year relationship and six children. The playwright uses a clever play-within-a-play format to also comment on theater itself, and the role it plays in tackling the big issues of the day. The good news is that
Sally & Tom is both highly entertaining and engaging (both the play itself and the play-within-the-play) and provides relevant social commentary, particularly on the legacy of slavery upon which this country was founded, and its repercussions still being felt today. It's a brilliant new play, and we're lucky to see it here first! (
Continuing through Nov. 6.)
