A sharp, funny play-within-a-play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks that confronts the mythologized relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson.
Sally & Tom opens at The Kleberg at Zach Theater on Wednesday, July 22, and runs through August 23. It's a new production of the play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Suzan-Lori Parks, and it's a play-within-a-play that doesn't stay in one place for long.
The story centers on the mythologized relationship between Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. On the surface, it's a historical drama, but the real action happens around the edges. A scrappy theater company is preparing to stage that drama, and the rehearsal process is where the play actually lives. As they work through the scenes, the messy behind-the-scenes stuff starts to unravel—hilarious contradictions, personal tensions, and questions that don't have easy answers. The show flips back and forth between the present day and scenes from the play they're building, blurring the lines as it turns American mythmaking on its head.
It's a sharp, funny piece of writing that challenges the idea of clean narratives. It looks at the romantic relationship between the playwright and her co-star and pushes back against rosy interpretations of the past. By showing the work that goes into telling a historical story, it asks who gets to decide which version of history we keep.
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The Kleberg at Zach Theater is at 1421 W Riverside Dr, and tickets run from $29 to $96. The production runs from July 22 through August 23, so you've got a good stretch of dates to work with if you're looking for a night out in Austin this summer.
