In 2017, the company now called Marin Theatre produced a show so
controversial
That Black women and their supporters organized calm demonstrations outside the location, distributing pamphlets encouraging attendees not to attend the event. A number of these demonstrators formed
website
requesting responsibility from the theater.
The play, written by the African American dramatist Thomas Bradshaw, went by that title.
“Thomas and Sally,”
Regarding Sally Hemings, the enslaved woman who gave birth to six of Thomas Jefferson’s children.
Now, just under ten years later, the company intends to present “Sally & Tom,” a work that appears to address those challenging occurrences head-on.
“I don’t know what it was, a devil or an angel on my shoulder,” Artistic Director
Lance Gardner
explained to the Chronicle. “It began as a quiet suggestion: ‘Listen, bear with me: What if we created ‘Sally & Tom’? ‘”
In 2023, Gardner assumed leadership of the theater and was simultaneously preparing for a different production with Marin Theatre when the “Thomas and Sally” controversy arose. She remembered, “The discussion was utterly absorbing and it felt like the institution wasn’t prepared to address such matters.”
He mentioned that the discussion still seems “unfinished,” and expressed hope that “Sally & Tom,” penned by
Suzan-Lori Parks
, a Black woman — could aid its progression.
Park clarified that his work “isn’t a drama centered around Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Instead, it focuses on a burgeoning theatre company grappling with the challenge of staging a production involving them.” This imaginary troupe’s challenges resonate with Park’s recollection of Marin Theatre’s own journey.
“It centers a Black female playwright who is also the lead actor,” he added.
He confirmed with the Chronicle he has not yet spoken with any of the “Thomas and Sally” protesters about his plans, preferring to wait till after revealing his season, which was announced Thursday, May 8.
Gardner is helming the West Coast premiere — his inaugural stint as a director at a significant theater, marking his debut as both an experienced actor and a novice producer.
Due to the nature of this material,” he stated, “I was hesitant to entrust it with someone else.
The opening act of the schedule, “Eureka Day” (from August 28th to September 21st), is equally thrilling. The play, penned by an Oakland-based playwright, adds excitement to the event.
Jonathan Spector
He has just received a Tony Award nomination for his script, which revolves around a mumps outbreak at an extremely liberal and highly affluent private school in Berkeley. This performance brings back nearly the entire original cast from the show’s world premiere.
Berkeley’s Aurora Theatre,
Alongside director Josh Costello. (Aurora has a partnership in the production.)
Gardner, who went to grade school in Berkeley and Oakland, commended how Spector merges boldness with efficiency.
“It’s not this big, sweeping thing, but it contains big, sweeping ideas for our time,” he said. Spector, he went on, “complicates people’s arguments without waving a finger.”
Following “Sally & Tom,” the company will present Anton Chekhov’s “The Cherry Orchard” from January 29 to February 22. Carey Perloff, who recently helmed the successful production, will be at the helm again.
“Waste”
For the corporation, returns to direct the 1904 masterpiece concerning Russian nobles hesitant to relinquish their financially burdened estate.
Gardner, as a play picker, confessed to favoring aesthetic appeal and intellectual depth more than plot-driven narratives. In “The Cherry Orchard,” the characters remain static instead of progressing through a series of exciting events. However, he thinks this production serves as “a link to current times,” featuring characters who aren’t too distant from today’s audience, making it relatable for modern viewers.
“This concept of clinging to something even though releasing it could be more beneficial — this is a struggle we all face,” he clarified.
The season comes to an end with the West Coast debut of “Pictures From Home” (from May 7th to May 31st), helmed by director Jonathan Moscone.
Sharr White’s play, set partly in the Marin community of Greenbrae, is inspired by the eponymous photo memoir by the Bay Area’s own
Larry Sultan,
a photographer who taught at San Francisco Art Institute and the California College of the Arts. In delving into Sultan’s parents’ lives, the show is grounded in what Gardner called sons’ “life-defining” quest for approval and respect from their fathers.
It also prominently features Sultan’s stunning images of his parents at home in the San Fernando Valley, with carpets as lush and thick as lawns, with makeup as garish as the wallpaper, with golf balls and swimsuits always at arm’s length and the sun an omnipresent oppressor.
For subscriptions, which range $200 to $300, call 415-388-5208 or visit
www.marintheatre.org
.