Ensemble
Marin Theatre’s Sally & Tom, written by Suzan-Lori Parks, delivers a sharp, incisive, and daring exploration of how America chooses to remember its history. Under the insightful direction of Artistic Director Lance Gardner, this play-within-a-play moves seamlessly between the 18th century and the present day.
Innovative set design highlights each shift in time. Scrolling painted backdrops reveal Monticello’s kitchen, library, den, and the Hemings quarters. Antique and modern furniture cross centuries with ease. Exquisite period costumes and expressive lighting deepen the atmosphere, while a playful mix of violins, saxophone, and bits of The Jeffersons sitcom theme adds surprise humor.
The production opens with the soft resonance of violins as elegantly dressed aristocrats dance an 18th-century minuet. In an instant, the scene snaps into a hectic modern rehearsal hall for a new play, The Pursuit of Happiness. A politically charged Black theatre troupe pushes through final run-throughs, grappling with how to portray the strained 30-year relationship between Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved Sally Hemings.
Luce (Emily Newsome) and Mike (Adam KuveNiemann)
Mike, the anxious company director—portrayed by Adam KuveNiemann, who also compellingly embodies Jefferson—bears the weight of contradiction. Here is the principal author of “All men are created equal” ordering enslaved people to be rented or sold to cover his crushing debts.
Mike’s partner, Luce—superbly played by Emily Newsome—serves as both playwright and performer. Her Sally is not the silent subordinate history often imagines, but a woman of quiet strength, care, and resolve—hoping for freedom for herself and her family. As Sally says, she lives “in the middle of contradiction.”
Whether or not intimacy existed, Jefferson owned every part of her body, family, and choices. At any moment, a loved one could be sold. As Luce finally erupts to cast and audience alike: “This is not a love story!”
The ensemble fully inhabits their dual roles. Asia Nicole Jackson’s Mary provides emotional grounding for Sally, while Titus VanHook’s James—Sally’s brother and Monticello’s French-trained chef—radiates defiance. Rosie Hallett and Nicole Apostol Bruno bring youthful warmth and humor as Jackson’s daughters, Ginger and Scout.
Mary (Asia Nicole Jackson), Kwame (Titus VanHook)
As rehearsals continue with Mike and Luce, art and history begin to mirror each other. Luce learns she is pregnant just as Sally becomes pregnant in the play—tension rising in both timelines. Will the unseen producer, like the nation’s founders, suppress uncomfortable truths? Will the troupe become as enslaved to his will as Sally was to Tom—subjugated by the white man’s delusion?
Scout (Nicole Apostol Bruno), Ginger (Rosie Hallett)
Then, like water bursting through a dam, Kwame—the actor playing James—delivers a scorching monologue of rebellion. With riveting clarity, he condemns slavery’s spiritual violence, the theft of dignity, and the hypocrisy of a nation proclaiming liberty while denying it. VanHook’s powerful direct address to the audience becomes the moment where centuries collide and truth breaks open.
Brilliantly conceived, directed, and performed, Sally & Tom leaves us asking: What truths do we choose to tell? Who gets to tell them? And what stories have yet to be heard?
Come see it, feel it, talk about it. Just don’t miss it.
Sally and Tom by Suzan-Lori Parks, Director, Lance Gardner, Scenic Design, Kate Noll, Costumes, Pamela Rodriguez-Montero, Lighting Design, Spense Matubang, Sound Design, Gregory Robinson, at Marin Theatre, info: marintheatre.org Mill Valley, California–to November 23, 2025.
Cast: Emily Newsome, Adam KuveNiemann, Asia Nicole Jackson, Titus VanHook, Rosie Hallett, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Michael Phillis, and Kenneth Ray.by Suzan-Lori Parks, Director, Lance Gardner, Scenic Design, Kate Noll, Costumes, Pamela Rodriguez-Montero, Lighting Design, Spense Matubang, Sound Design, Gregory Robinson, at Marin Theatre, info: marintheatre.org Mill Valley, California–to November 23, 2025.
Cast: Emily Newsome, Adam KuveNiemann, Asia Nicole Jackson, Titus VanHook, Rosie Hallett, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Michael Phillis, and Kenneth Ray.
PHOTOS: David Allen