Marin Theatre presents “Sally & Tom”

Oct 30, 2025 - Nov 23, 2025

Sally and Tom, with it’s dual 1780’s and present day timeline, offers a thought provoking and entertaining performance, which runs the full gamut of emotions, from laughter to deep empathy.

It examines Sally Hemings’ relationship with Thomas Jefferson before he became President. Sally Hemmings was a black enslaved woman, utilized as a maid for his daughters, and it is the early part of the relationship, and it’s repercussions on the people within their immediate circle, both family and other slaves, that come under the cross hairs. Threaded into this is a modern story, about the cast and crew staging a historical play about Sally and Tom while navigating an avalanche of obstacles as they move towards opening night. Actors play dual roles in the past and the present, and as both stories develop, striking echoes between the two stories unfold.

Many questions are raised, but most centrally, what is freedom, and how free can we ever really hope to be? In the historical play, white colonialists are the masters. However, we see that today, racial tensions, as well as masters are still present, albeit in subtler but nevertheless pernicious forms. The spirited Rosie Hallett, doubling as Patsy Jefferson, says, as Ginger in her present day role, “My agent loves it when I do black plays. Is this a black play?’’ We’ve come a long way from the 1780’s but this play emphasizes that we still have a ways to go.

Interestingly, we never get to meet the funders behind the modern day production of the play, although their decision to cut the one historical scene, where truth really speaks to power, is simultaneously deeply tragic and darkly funny - at least it will be to anyone who’s ever dabbled in the creative arts. We see exactly how wealth enables censorship under the guise of eliminating uncomfortable truths; an allegory for systemic power imbalances and corruption if ever there was one. In his role as James Hemings - Thomas’ enslaved personal servant and Sally’s brother - Titus VanHook’s impassioned speech about enforced servitude resonates with generational oppression and mesmerizes the audience. VanHook’s controlled dignity packs a powerful punch in both the historical and present day stories.

Emily Newsome, doubling up as Sally Hemings and Luce, the beleaguered writer of the historical play, gives an unflinching and strikingly direct performance. Luminous as Sally and crushed, but endlessly resilient, as the modern day writer. Adam Kuveniemann as Thomas Jefferson and also the present day play’s director, Mike, is assured but convincingly slightly insecure, as the 18th century politician on the rise, but also conflicted and stressed as the modern day director.

Michael Phillis, as modern day Cooper and historical Geoff, provides comic relief and an alluring historical villain. And where would we be without a little bit of a romantic subplot? Moments of comedy, such as finding a way around the speech being cut, and having cast members doubling up as crew members add a welcome extra dimension to the weightier issues in this story. Asia Nicole Jackson as Mary - Sally Hemings’ sister - also adds an inherently humorous yet nuanced performance, and her trepidation as she experiences the fallout of the masters decisions raises great empathy.

However, I feel that, occasionally, the many comic moments in Sally and Tom roam a little too far into the realm of pantomime, with some performances occasionally leaning towards high pitched and frenetic. This apart, my all encompassing impression of the play is that the emotional breadth and depth of the story and the performances are impactful and highly watchable. Indeed, the modern players make the point that they’ve moved on from their angry political days into a more tempered approach and this is where the comedy works as relief from the weightier issues.

Interestingly, not much is made of the fact that Sally Hemings was only 14, while the widowed Thomas Jefferson was in his mid forties. While there is some tension created between her dual roles of young maid to his daughters and as their father’s mistress, this age dynamic would, of course, be glaringly indecent, not to mention illegal, today. Indeed the bi-racial nature of Jefferson’s relationship was highly controversial in historical terms, and this is where the focus in Sally and Tom settles. Sally’s motivations for continuing the relationship until Thomas’ death remain a central question.

Of course, with such a meta story, the final and unseen element of the play, is the collaboration of the real life cast and crew who have come together so brilliantly to bring their own interpretations and experiences into, not only their performances, but the story as a whole.

The simple but effective set, with the use of actors as stagehands, adds to the sense of an impoverished theater company whose members are pushing through obstacles, grappling with personal growth and uncomfortable truths, in order to get to opening night.

If you’re white, Tom and Sally provides a gentle reminder to reflect on your privilege, (particularly pertinent in the ever so white enclave of Mill Valley, so awake and yet… did I detect a tendency among the occasional audience member to not say ‘thank you’ and even to linger chatting, on and on, as others stood pressed up against their seats to let them through. It seemed almost as if this was their…birthright. I noted this twice in as many minutes - and don’t even get me started on Good Earth.

If you’re not white, this play might afford a nuanced view of a complicated interracial relationship, an opportunity to witness cathartic rage, an opportunity to ponder on any much harder won privilege, but also some time to laugh while speculating about how far we’ve really come.

While the show is long at two and a half hours, including the intermission, I was captivated throughout. I recommend it without hesitation.

marintheatre.org | (415) 388-5208 | @marintheatreco

Review by Hannah Yurke.

Photo Credit: David Allen. Use with permission by Marin Theatre.