For the last two years, I have lived less than ten minutes from Thomas Jefferson’s “little mountain.” As someone who calls home somewhere between Kentucky, Virginia, and Texas, questions of place—its histories, both known and unknown, and the stories we carry that shape us—have guided both my scholarship and artistic practice, especially since moving from Texas to my ancestral home of Virginia.

When I first encountered Suzan-Lori Parks’ Sally & Tom, I was struck by its invitation to listen, witness, and imagine. During our table work, Parks reminded us that this play is ultimately about artists —about “what y’all bring into the room.” Living so close to Monticello while preparing for this production, I found myself asking what it might mean to bring a piece of Virginia back to Texas.

My dramaturgical process began on the mountain itself. Returning to Monticello with Sally & Tom in mind, every visit revealed a different story. Beyond the familiar narratives are the lives of the enslaved families and tradespeople of Mulberry Row, the artists, craftspeople, and cooks whose labor shaped both the estate and the nation. Each visit challenged me to consider not only the stories we tell, but those that have too often gone untold.

Because Sally & Tom contains a historical play within a play, my research centered onMonticello’s evolving historical interpretations and the people whose lives inspired Parks’ play. I was especially moved by Getting Word, the African American History Department at Monticello, whose research and oral history work with descendants of the people enslaved at Monticello continue to reshape our understanding of this place. Their work illuminates the questions at the heart of the play: How is the world made? Whose stories become history? Whose stories remain waiting to be heard?

Though Sally & Tom is not a historical play, history animates every page. It is a meditation on world-making, liberty and love, and the myths that shape America. As we commemorate the nation's 250th anniversary, those questions feel especially urgent. Every time I leaveMonticello, I carry a different story with me. I hope this production extends the same invitation — to listen more closely, embrace complexity with care, and imagine how we might participate in remaking the stories we inherit.

Yunina Barbour-Payne
Assistant Director / Dramaturg

DAVE STEAKLEY, Producing Artistic Director
JAMIE HERLICH, Managing Director

Written by suzan-Lori parks
Directed by Dave steakley

*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
**Member of United Scenic Artists 829

There will be one 20-minute intermission. 
Drinks & snacks are welcome in the theatre.

ANGELIQUE ARCHER (Luce / Sally) - Zach Debut. REGIONAL: TWELFTH NIGHT (Olivia) at American Shakespeare Center, EVERY BRILLIANT THING (Narrator) at Utah Shakespeare Festival, CATO, A TRAGEDY (Lucia) at Clarence Brown Theatre; PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (Jane Bennet) and HAMLET (Ophelia) at Cincinnati Shakespeare Company. OFF-BROADWAY: ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL (Diana) with New York Classical Theatre. FILM: Monica, The Chaperones. Thanks to her family and Joe for their love and support. angeliquearcher.com. @angelique.i.archer

JONATHAN FLIPPO* (Mike / Tom) - Zach Debut. REGIONAL: BOEING BOEING (Bernard) at Theatre Arlington, TWELFTH NIGHT (Orsino) at Arts De La Rosa, MAN OF LAMANCHA (The Duke) at Arts De La Rosa. FILM: EGG DROP SOUP (Supporting), ON WITCHES BLOOD (Supporting), MEGAN (Supporting). EPISODIC: VINDICATED (Supporting). Follow me @jonathanflippo

OLIVIA D. DAWSON* (Maggie / Mary) - Zach: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (Helen Hubbard). REGIONAL:  A RAISIN IN THE SUN (Lena Younger) at Milwaukee Chamber Theatre, INTIMATE APPAREL (Mrs. Dickson), at Milwaukee Repertory Theatre, STEEL MAGNOLIAS (M’lynn), ANTONY & CLEOPATRA (Maecenas / Soothsayer) at Utah Shakespeare Festival, JUDGMENT DAY (Della) at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, OEDIPUS (Priest), at Indiana Repertory Theatre, COMEDY OF ERRORS (Abbess), THE TEMPEST (Gonzalo) at IL Shakespeare Festival, FENCES (Rose) at New Stages Theatre.

HOLLIS L. EDWARDS III* (Kwame / James) - Zach: THE ELABORATE ENTRANCE OF CHAD DEITY (Chad Deity). Regional: SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE HOUND OF THE BASKERVILLES (Sherlock Holmes). Film: RX (Jake), I’M COMING FOR YOU (Le Colonel), RELIC DRAGON (Louis), and Bob Byington’s BUY NOTHING. Hollis is an actor, stunt coordinator, and military technical advisor for film represented by Collier Talent Agency. @HollisLEdwards

AMY DOWNING* (Ginger / Patsy)  -  Zach: ROE (Linda), SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE (Yvonne), ONE MAN TWO GOVNORS (Rachel), IN THE NEXT ROOM (Mrs. Daldry). BROADWAY: CABARET Nat’l Tour (Sally Bowles). REGIONAL: Dance Nation (Amina), at Theatre en Bloc. Silence! The Musical (Clarice), at Doctimushcah. A Winter’s Tale (Paulina), at ASF. The Wolves (Soccer Mom) at MMNT. FILM: Wrecked Ass Parents, HomeFree. TV:1923, KIN / BROTHERS, Guiding Light. Austin Critics Table award for Conspicuous Versatility.

CHARLENE HONG WHITE (Scout / Polly) - Zach: MURDER ON THE ORIENT EXPRESS (Mary Debenham). REGIONAL: VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (Nina) at Delaware REP; ART OF MURDER (Annie) at Seven Angels Theatre; LITTLE WOMEN (Beth), KING LEAR (Cordelia), THE COMEDY OF ERRORS (Adriana) at the American Shakespeare Center; THE FIGS (Sadie) at the American Stage; SISTER ACT: THE MUSICAL (Sister Mary Lazarus) at the 
Aurora Theatre. Many thanks always to Justin, my love. Soli Deo Gloria. charlenehongwhite.com @charlenehongwhite

KEVIN PELLICONE (Geoff / Cooper) - Zach: THE SANTALAND DIARIES (David / Crumpet), BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (LeFou). REGIONAL: THE ROBBER BRIDEGROOM (Big Harp) at The Alchemy Theatre, FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (Ensemble) at Austin Opera, BYE BYE BIRDIE (Mr. MacAfee) at TexArts, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST (LeFou) at Casa Mañana. OFF-BROADWAY: THE IMBIBLE (Bass). NATIONAL TOUR: THE BFG (Fleshlumpeater). ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Creative Director / Writer of GAMECHANGER GRAN CAVE with Donna Kelce and CANADIAN CRASH COURSE with Nicole Byer. @kevinpellicone

MARTAVIUS PARRISH* (Devon/Nathan) - Zach: A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Apprentice Scrooge), THE INHERITANCE (Young Man #2/Jason #1), REGIONAL: THE COLOR PURPLE (Adam) at Portland Center Stage, THE HEART IS A LONELY HUNTER (Willie Copeland) at Arkansas Repertory Theatre; PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT (Jimmy) at Ogunquit Playhouse. ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Associate Director of INTO THE WOODS (2022 Broadway Revival, National Tour, & Encores!), ONCE UPON A MATTRESS (2024 Broadway Revival & Encores!), and RAGTIME (Encores!). MartaviusParrish.com

Suzan-Lori parks (Playwright) - Named among Time magazine’s “100 Innovators for the Next Wave,” Suzan-Lori Parks is an acclaimed American playwright, screenwriter, novelist and musician whose work is taught in universities worldwide. She is the first African-American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog, which won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival. She is a MacArthur “Genius” Award recipient, and was awarded the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award in 2018, and the prestigious Gish Prize for Excellence in the Arts in 2015. Her other plays include Plays for the Plague Year (Drama Desk Award, Best Music, 2023) and Father Comes Home From The Wars (2014). Parks’ first marathon-writing “micro diary plays,” 365 Days/365 Plays were produced worldwide in over 700 theaters (including Zach Theater) in what was the largest grassroots collaborative theatre project to date. Her adaptation of Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess won the 2012 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Her other plays include: the reggae musical The Harder They Come, White Noise (Obie Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), The Book of Grace (produced at Zach Theater 2011); Unchain My Heart: The Ray Charles Musical; In the Blood (2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist); Venus (1996 OBIE Award); The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World; Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (1990 OBIE Award, Best New American Play); The America Play (produced at Zach Theater 2000), Fucking A, and Father Comes Home From The Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) Horton Foote Prize, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama and 2015 Pulitzer Prize Finalist). Her novels include Getting Mother’s Body (Random House); her screenwriting credits include: Girl 6 (1996, Spike Lee, director), an adaptation of Zora Neale Hurston’s novel Their Eyes Were Watching God, starring Halle Berry and produced by Oprah Winfrey (2005), Native Son (2019, HBO, NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture (Television), Genius: Aretha (2021 series, nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards) and The United States vs Billie Holiday (2021).Parks was born at Fort Knox in Kentucky to Donald and Francis McMillian Parks. Her father was a colonel in the United States Army, and Parks spent her early childhood in Odessa, Texas while her father served in Vietnam. In 1974, Parks moved with her family to Germany where her father was stationed, and she became fluent in German. At Mount Holyoke College she studied fiction-writing under acclaimed writer James Baldwin. He encouraged her talent, calling Parks, “an utterly astounding and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of our time.” He steered her toward writing plays, due to her tendency to act out all the voices when she read her short stories aloud. Parks has taught playwriting at the California Institute for the Arts and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Parks lives in New York City with her husband, guitarist Christian Konopka, and their son Durham.

YUNINA BARBOUR-PAYNE (Assistant Director & Drama-turg) Zach Debut. REGIONAL: JOE TURNER'S COME AND GONE (Dramaturg) at The Alley Theatre, REGIONAL: SHEEPDOG and BABEL (Dramaturg) at The Contemporary American Theatre Festival. BLOOD AT THE ROOT (Dramaturg) at Live Arts. ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Ph.D. in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a Rising Scholar at the University of Virginia and serves on the advisory board for Getting Word, the African American History Department at Monticello.

CHRISTA OLIVER (Choreographer) - Zach: BEAUTIFUL: THE CAROLE KING MUSICAL (Choreographer), A CHRISTMAS CAROL (Choreographer), THE BALLAD OF KLOOK AND VINETTE (Choreographer), SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN (Olga Mara/Ensemble), MARY POPPINS (Dance Captain/Ensemble), SOPHISTICATED LADIES (Ensemble), THE WHO’S TOMMY (Ensemble), GOSPEL AT COLONUS (Choreographer / Praise Dancer), WHITE CHRISTMAS (Ensemble), RAGTIME (Pas de Deux / Ensemble). NATIONAL TOUR: THE COLOR PURPLE (Dance Captain/Ensemble). FILM: AVATAR. ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Associate Professor, North Carolina State University; Director, Panoramic Dance Project; Mellon Fellow, Harvard University.

Daniel Conway** (Scenic Designer) - Zach Debut. BROADWAY: Penn and Teller at The Marquis; REGIONAL: The Shakespeare Theatre, Arena Stage, South Coast Rep, The Kennedy Center, A.R.T., Signature Theatre, The Studio Theatre, Milwaukee Rep, Cincinnati Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, Trinity Rep., The Wilma, Syracuse Stage. The Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Set Design (4 awards, 25 nominations) Boston and Los Angeles Critics Award nominations. Featured American set designer at the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Design and Performance Art.

Nannette Acosta (Costume Designer) - Zach: Bob and Jean: A love Story. Nanette is happy to return for this production of SALLY & TOM. Recent designs, in Seattle, include Village Theatre’s Brigadoon, and Taproot Theatre's Barefoot In the Park, Murder On the Links, Book of Will and Hello Girls. Nanette has been designing award-winning costumes for over 25 years for theatre and film across the country. Her designs have been seen onstage in Austin, Seattle, Chicago, Los Angeles, St. Paul, Bloomington and Charleston. Nanette is an Associate Professor of Practice and the Costume Production Director in the Department of Theatre and Dance at The University of Texas , Austin.   

SARAH EC Maines** (Lighting Designer) - Zach: BOB & JEAN: A LOVE STORY, BEAUTIFUL, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, HEAD OVER HEELS, THE SOUND OF MUSIC, SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE, ONCE, ANN. REGIONAL: Pasadena Playhouse: ANN; Stages Rep: WATER BY THE SPOONFUL; Ill. Shakes Fest: ELIZABETH REX, ANTONY & CLEOPATRA, FAILURE: A LOVE STORY, MACBETH. Sea World SA: A DOLPHIN CHRISTMAS. INT'L: Prague Quadrennial: 36Q. ASSOC./ASST. LD: JERSEY BOYS, (10 companies); IN THE HEIGHTS (Nat'l Tour), GYPSY (B'way, NYC Cntr), BRIDGE & TUNNEL (Bwy). ADDITIONAL CREDITS: School Director / Professor: Texas State University; USA-829.

Craig Brock (Sound Designer) - Craig has worked as a recording engineer and music producer since 1989, and served as the resident sound designer at Zach for 8 seasons. Zach: THE SOUND OF MUSIC, THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW, MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET, IN THE HEIGHTS, THE GREAT SOCIETY, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH; SOPHISTICATED LADIES, ALL THE WAY, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, THE KING AND I, THE WHO'S TOMMY, THE GOSPEL AT COLONUS, LES MISERABLES, RENT, and many others.

RODD SIMONSEN (Associate Sound Designer) - Theater Sound and Video Programmer, Rodd studied Radio, Television and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. He works full-time as an Audiovisual Design Consultant for EEA, designing theatrical and performance sound systems. Rodd also works with many central Texas community theaters and schools. He consults with many area schools training aspiring young technicians in both sound and video.

ANNA FUGATE-DOWNS (Hair and Makeup Designer)Zach: A Christmas Carol 2023-25; Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812; The Prom; Beautiful: The Carole King Musical; Into the Woods, Jersey Boys, Waitress, The Wizard of Oz, Agatha Christie's Murder on the Orient Express, Annie. Mary Moody Northen Theater: M**beth, Much Ado About Nothing, Urinetown. TV/FILM: Iron Lung, In Space with Markiplier, Heist with Markiplier, The Long Game, Love and Death, The Leftovers, Fear the Walking Dead, The Son. ADDITIONAL CREDITS: BA from University of Texas at Austin, AD from The Vancouver Film School, Adjunct Professor of Makeup Design at St. Edward’s University, IATSE Local 484 member since 2015. Anna is a hair, makeup, and effects designer. She resides near Austin with her beloved husband Ash and their pack of pets. Thanks to him, her parents, and all of her wonderful teachers who encouraged and supported her dream of a career in the arts.

TOBIE MINOR (Fight Choreographer) - ZACH: INTO THE WOODS, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS, and THE LION, THE WITCH, AND THE WARDROBE (Fight Choreographer); NOISES OFF (Freddie), PETER AND THE STARCATCHER (Smee). REGIONAL: THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG (Robert, Austin Playhouse), SHERLOCK AND WATSON (Dr. Evans, Austin Playhouse), ROMEO AND JULIET (Mercutio, Austin Shakespeare), and ARDEN OF FEVERSHAM (Mosbie, Hidden Room Theatre).

Leslie Ann BoydEn* (AEA Stage Manager) -Zach Debut. REGIONAL: WILDERNESS GENERATION, THE DUAT, COST OF LIVING, EMPATHITRAX (PSM) at Philadelphia Theatre Company; PLANATION BLACK (PSM) at InterAct Theatre Company; MACBETH, THE 39 STEPS (PSM) at Lantern Theater Company; AMERICAN MARIACHI (ASM) at Two River Theater; THE TEMPEST, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (PSM) at Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival; FAIRVIEW, THE CHERRY ORCHARD (ASM) at The Wilma Theater; A DOLL’S HOUSE PART 2, TOUCHTONES (ASM) at Arden Theatre Company EDUCATION: BA in Theatre and Drama at Indiana University, Bloomington.  

HARRIET BUTLER* (AEA Assistant Stage Manager) - Zach: DEAR EVAN HANSEN (AEA ASM), PPC IGNITE 2024 & 2025 (PSM), THE CAT IN THE HAT (Takeover SM), THE GIRL WHO BECAME LEGEND (Takeover PSM) with The Kennedy Center. REGIONAL: THE PET PROJECT (ASM) and SPLIT (ASM) at the New London Barn Playhouse with The Transport Group, WAITRESS (PSM) and JERSEY BOYS (PSM) at Short North Stage, NEXT TO NORMAL (PSM) at Revival Theatre Company. BROADWAY: A CHORUS LINE 50TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (ASM). ADDITIONAL CREDITS: Regian Entertainment Producing Associate.

Playwright Suzan-Lori Parks 
and Director Dave Steakley

DAVE: Suzan-Lori, you describe yourself as a “myth-head,” and myth is a throughline of all of your work — your plays, novels, and songwriting. What drew you to Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson as American mythic figures?

SUZAN-LORI: Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson are historical American figures. Their stories, pieced together, are mythic, not in the sense of untrue, but mythic in the larger than life sense. The story of their union casts a big shadow. Living in the United States, we live in that shadow. Shadows are blind spots, where shade is cast, where things are kept cool and hidden, where the light will come when the time is right. Mythic-stories hold codes, ways of understanding. Well worth exploring.

DAVE: Interest in Sally Hemings is growing, and she is an incredibly significant figure in American history, yet we know so little about her in her own words. How did you approach bringing her to life onstage?

SUZAN-LORI: I did research, knowing, as we all do that, “history” isn’t the whole truth. Knowing how “History” works I dug deep. As I do with all my characters, I listened for the untold stories between the told stories. 
I was greatly helped by the contemporary characters in the play.

DAVE: Sally & Tom is a play-within-a-play — Good Company, a scrappy Off-Off-Broadway company, is producing a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson called The Pursuit of Happiness. Why did you choose this structure to tell this story?

SUZAN-LORI: I took two things that I love, Theatre and America and put them in a supercollider. Theatre is Life. Like Shakespeare has said “All The World’s a Stage,” and Sally & Tom is a play about how each of us has a hand in making the world.

DAVE: In discussing Sally & Tom, you often remind us that “light is both a particle and a wave” depending on your vantage point. What does that mean in this story?

SUZAN-LORI: Remembering that light is both a particle and a wave — that’s a principle of science, of physics. In Sally & Tom it's not all one truth or another, it’s not all black or all white, it’s both, it’s everything, it’s a mixture. We all contain multitudes (like Walt Whitman said). The ability to hold two opposing thoughts simultaneously is a sign of high intelligence. Our ability to see the power and the beauty of the multiplicity shows our strength.

DAVE: We have enjoyed such a long collaboration over many years. Zach produced The America Play and served as the Central Texas hub for 365 Plays/365 Days performances, the first and last weeks with you here, and a big kickoff event outdoors on the Pfluger Pedestrian Bridge. You did multiple “Watch Me Work” performances and talkbacks, and directed your play The Book of Grace at Zach. And now Sally & Tom. What makes Zach a place you return to artistically?

SUZAN-LORI: Going further back than Zach, my mother was a Texan and her whole side of the family lives everywhere from Odessa to Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Waco, and Austin too. So doing plays in Texas is very much a homecoming celebration. Specifically working at Zach Theater, under your leadership I experience a theatre that’s very welcoming to my work and a community that’s bold and accepts beautiful challenges. It’s a stable and loving environment that’s also interesting in growing — realizing that beautiful things can be found outside of one’s comfort zone.

“Like Shakespeare has said ‘All The World’s a Stage,’ 
and Sally & Tom is a play about how each of us 
has a hand in making the world.”

DAVE: Austin audiences are among the first to experience this play. What do you hope they carry with them when they leave?

SUZAN-LORI: With Sally & Tom, we watch a scrappy group of theater makers keep the Show going because despite their differences, they’re willing to work together. Life lessons are there for us Americans these days. :)

DAVE: One of the surprises of the play is how funny it is. And there is dancing in it with music you wrote. These are hallmarks of your work, even when the story may be very serious. Tell us about that.

SUZAN-LORI: When the storytelling goes deep we find a lot of humor. Levity isn’t used to obscure the difficult things, but is actually an authentic by-product. Sun-showers. Gut busting jokes are served up with the gut punch reality checks. It’s all there when you’re truly present for the experience. And the treasures of understanding make it worth your while.

DAVE: During your writing process for Sally & Tom, was there anything that surprised you?

SUZAN-LORI: Writing Sally & Tom I had to listen to ALL the characters. That was the great challenge and, of course, the great joy.  ♦