Did Sally Hemings love Thomas Jefferson?
That question pops up multiple times in multiple ways—and is answered, both in the positive and the negative–in Suzan-Lori Parks’ sprawling “Sally & Tom” onstage at Marin Theatre.
But it’s only one of the many themes, all involving our shameful national history of slavery, that Parks weaves throughout the play.
Talky, at times confusing, at times repetitive, and often fascinating, the two-act drama with a dollop of humor is particularly dense due to its play-within-a-play structure.
That structure allows Parks to explore many issues, both historical and contemporary.
A scrappy little theater company—in which the actors double as designers and staff, and who must please the producers or funds may be withdrawn — is mounting a new play about the relationship between Sally and Tom.
The director, Mike (Adam KuveNiemann), plays Tom, and his partner, Luce, the playwright, also appears as Sally (Emily Newsome). She’s still frantically fiddling with the script during final rehearsals.
The rehearsals are interspersed with the cast’s ongoing relationships and conflicts, making for a dizzying but often intriguing ride. Parks intertwines the characters’ real lives and relationships in clever and sometimes overly coincidental ways. For example, Luce discovers she’s pregnant, just as Sally does. A major conflict arises between Luce and Mike that doesn’t parallel but nevertheless feels dramatically connected to the unbalanced conflict between Sally and Tom.
Theatergoers who don’t already know that Jefferson kept 800 slaves, that his affair with Sally began when she was 14, that they were “together” for 30 years (she was his slave, duh, as one character points out sarcastically), that he died without giving her freedom, that she bore seven children by him, will learn that and more here, often through direct address from Jefferson or Sally to the audience.
Meanwhile, the financial and interpersonal struggles of a small theater company such as this fictional one ring true. As Mike is beholden to the producer in ways that are destructive for all, his challenges offer a view on our nation’s current efforts to whitewash history.
There’s lots of light entertainment in Marin artistic director Lance Gardner’s lively production, such as a hysterical, screechy stage manager played by Nicole Apostol Bruno and a sweet romantic interlude between two actors.
It’s all staged in beautiful period costumes by designer Pamela Rodriguez-Montero; the actors also wear street clothes. Also appealing is the broad picture emerging as the rehearsal takes place center stage, with cast members simultaneously in their dressing rooms, preparing for their entrances, on the periphery. Kate Noll’s set design, with a grand proscenium arch towering over the play-within-a-play, works beautifully.
The play’s high point comes in the first act, with a fiery monologue delivered by Kwame, the actor who plays James Heming, Sally’s brother. It’s a terrific speech, passionately performed by Titus VanHook, and whether it will be approved by the unseen funder, or if Mike the director will be required to cut it, and the ramifications of it all, feels like the most important issue in the play — more important than whether Sally loved Tom, or any of the other related issues explored by Parks in this dizzying yet often absorbing play.
“Sally & Tom” continues through Nov. 23 at Marin Theatre, 397 Miller Ave., Mill Valley. Tickets are $38-$89 at marintheatre.org.