- 2023-10-08
Thomas and Sally | WORLD PREMIERE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MARIN THEATRE COMPANY PRODUCES THOMAS AND SALLY Production Dates: September 28, 2017 - October 22, 2017 MILL VALLEY, CA—Marin Theatre Company (MTC) kicks off its 51st season with the explosive World Premiere of Thomas Bradshaw’s newest play, Thomas and Sally. Framed through the contemporary scope of two female college students, Bradshaw gets up close and personal with founding father Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who mothered six of his children. Over the past three years, MTC has dedicated resources, space, and artistic energy towards commissioning this piece, including producing two developmental workshops just this year. This darkly comic and subversive play will be directed by MTC’s Artistic Director, Jasson Minadakis: “When we first conceived this project, our goal was to find the human being buried beneath the heroic textbook image of Thomas Jefferson. Bradshaw has taken this work even farther, unmasking the hypocrisies at the heart of the founding of America. This play could not come at a more pivotal time, as the country confronts our Founding Fathers and their complex legacies.” Thomas and Sally’s powerhouse cast of ten actors—including Tara Pacheco as Sally Hemings and Mark Anderson Phillips as Thomas Jefferson, as well as L. Peter Callender, Robert Sicular, and more—will play 23 separate roles. MTC is thrilled to bring to our stage such a unique perspective on the Hemings/Jeffersons, Benjamin Franklin, John and Abigail Adams and more! The Past In Perspective Five years ago, when Thomas Bradshaw and Jasson Minadakis first sat down to have a conversation about the possibility of a future project together, they could not imagine the events that would transpire in our country during the coming years. They did not yet have as reference the widespread success of Hamilton, the breadth of the #BlackLivesMatter movement, the experience of bipartisan division in the 2016 election, or the tragedy and impact of the recent Charlottesville protests. These events (among countless others), and the catalytic national shift toward investigating our country’s origins which has arisen in response to them, set the stage for several years of dialogue and development that culminate in MTC’s production of Thomas and Sally. Mr. Bradshaw’s writing has been influenced by the research of many historical experts on the Jefferson and Hemings families, but the world of this play is completely his own: "Thomas and Sally is a work of historical fiction. You may recognize many of the names in this play, but others are pure invention. History is highly malleable and subject to interpretation. This is my attempt to explore the essence of these characters and the world they lived in. This is a play, and I am playing with history. I hope you enjoy." More about PEN Award-Winning Playwright Thomas Bradshaw Thomas Bradshaw’s play Carlyle premiered at The Goodman Theatre as part of their 2015-16 season. His play Fulfillment co-premiered at American Theater Company (Chicago) and The Flea Theater (New York) in fall 2015. His other plays include Intimacy and Burning (New Group); Mary (Goodman Theatre) Job and Dawn (Flea Theater); The Bereaved (Crowded Fire, Partial Comfort and the State Theater of Bielefeld in Germany); Southern Promises (PS122). He is the recipient of a 2009 Guggenheim Fellowship, the 2010 Prince Prize, a Foundation for Contemporary Arts award in 2012, a Doris Duke Implementation Grant in 2016, and a PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theatre Award in 2017. Mr. Bradshaw has been featured as one of Time Out New York’s 10 playwrights to watch and was named “Best Provocative Playwright” by the Village Voice. A compilation of his work Intimacy and Other Plays was recently published by TCG. Mr. Bradshaw is an Associate Professor at Northwestern University. He is currently under commission from The Royal National Theater in London, The Goodman/Second City in Chicago, and The Foundry Theater in New York. Marin Theatre Company’s Own Jasson Minadakis to Direct MTC’s Jasson Minadakis directs this groundbreaking commission to kick off his twelfth season as artistic director at MTC. His directing credits here include August: Osage County, Guards at the Taj, The Invisible Hand, Anne Boleyn, The Convert, The Whale, Failure: A Love Story, the world premiere of Lasso of Truth, The Whipping Man (San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards for best production and best acting ensemble), Waiting for Godot, Othello, the Moor of Venice, The Glass Menagerie, Edward Albee's Tiny Alice, the world premiere of Seagull, Happy Now, Equivocation (SFBATCC Award for best director), the world premiere of Sunlight, Lydia, The Seafarer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, A Streetcar Named Desire, said Saïd, Love Song and The Subject Tonight is Love. -- WHAT WHO FEATURING WHEN PERFORMANCES Evenings Matinees WHERE ABOUT Tickets starting at $22. Discounts for seniors, teens, military families, Bay Area teachers and groups of 7 or more are available. Contact the Box Office for more details. Press Photos will be available for Thomas and Sally on Friday, September 29. MTC ENGAGEMENT EVENTS ACCESS For visually impaired patrons, Large Print playbills are available with one week’s advance notice. To request a Large Print playbill, call MTC’s Box Office, (415) 388-5208, or use the California Telecommunications Relay Service by dialing “711.” For hearing impaired patrons, amplified sound Assistive Listening Devices are available. Our system will also work with personal assistive hearing devices equipped with a T-coil. CONTACT ABOUT MTC PRESS CONTACT ##### More on Thomas and Sally: Interview with Thomas Bradshaw on his newest play 'Thomas and Sally'
August 22, 2017
THE WORLD PREMIERE OF THOMAS BRADSHAW’S
Opening Night: Tuesday, October 3, 2017
CALENDAR LISTING
Theatre | Performing Arts
Thomas and Sally
By Thomas Bradshaw
Directed by Jasson Minadakis
Mark Anderson Phillips: THOMAS JEFFERSON
Tara Pacheco: SALLY HEMINGS
Ella Dershowitz: SIMONE / MARTHA / POLLY
Charlette Speigner: ELIZABETH (BETTY) HEMINGS / RENEE
Rosie Hallett: KAREN / ABIGAIL ADAMS / PATSY
L. Peter Callender: JUPITER EVANS / FRENCH SERVANT
Cameron Matthews: ROBERT HEMINGS / HUGO
William Hodgson: JAMES HEMINGS
Robert Sicular: JOHN WAYLES / BEN FRANKLIN / FRENCH COOK / FRENCH TAILOR / MAN
Scott K. Coopwood: CAPTAIN HEMINGS / JOHN ADAMS / OVERSEER / LAFAYETTE / JACQUE
September 28 - October 22, 2017
OPENING NIGHT: Tuesday, October 3, 2017 at 7:30pm
Tue - Sun 7:30pm
Sun (Preview) October 1, 4:00pm
Thu (Perspectives) October 12, 2:00pm
Sat October 7 & October 21, 2:00pm
Sun October 8, October 15, and October 22, 2:00pm
Marin Theatre Company | 397 Miller Ave | Mill Valley, CA 94941
An explosive world premiere by the 2017 PEN Award-winner, Thomas and Sally gets up close and personal with founding father Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who mothered six of his children. Thomas Bradshaw takes us behind the scenes—and into the beds—of American history with the Hemings-Jeffersons and the rock stars of the Revolution: Ben Franklin, John & Abigail Adams & the Marquis de Lafayette.
marintheatre.org | (415) 388-5208 | boxoffice@marintheatre.org
Marin Theatre Company is proud to provide open captioned performances of each of the plays in our mainstage series on the Thursday matinee. The open captioned performance for Thomas and Sally will be Thursday, October 12, at 1:00pm.
marintheatre.org | (415) 388-5208 | boxoffice@marintheatre.org
Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area’s premier mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season focused on new American plays. We are committed to the development and production of new plays, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards and readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging and established playwrights. Our numerous education programs serve more than 10,000 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC strives to create intimate, powerful and emotional experiences that engage audiences to discuss new ideas and adopt a broader point of view. We believe in taking risks and inspiring people to participate in live theater, regardless of personal means. MTC celebrates the intellectual curiosity of our community, and we believe that theater is an important tool to help build empathy. MTC was founded in 1966 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
Kate Robinson, Communications & Public Relations Associate
(415) 322-6029 | kater@marintheatre.org