Suzan-Lori Parks' SALLY & TOM to Begin Performances at The Public Theater Next Week

The Public Theater will begin previews for the New York premiere of SALLY & TOM, a bold new dramedy written by Pulitzer Prize winner and Public Theater Writer-in-Residence Suzan-Lori Parks and directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, with a Joseph Papp Free Performance on Thursday, March 28. Following its Fall 2022 world premiere at The Guthrie Theater, SALLY & TOM officially opens at The Public on Tuesday, April 16. The production will run in the Martinson Hall through Sunday, May 5 following a previously announced extension. 

Check out rehearsal photos HERE! 

Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks, the author of last season’s The Harder They Come, returns to her artistic home with an edgy dramedy that celebrates the craft of theater while taking a hard look at history. The off-off-off-Broadway theater troupe Good Company is putting on a play about Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson. Writer Luce is cast as Sally; her romantic partner, and the play’s director, Mike, is cast as Tom—really, people, what could possibly go wrong? In association with Minneapolis’ acclaimed Guthrie Theater, this funny, ferocious new work is about art, politics, and the contradictions that make all of us. Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III, SALLY & TOM is an unmissable New York premiere from one of our finest and most daring playwrights.

The complete cast of SALLY & TOM includes Sun Mee Chomet (Scout/Polly), Gabriel Ebert (Mike/Tom), Leland Fowler (Devon/Nathan), Sheria Irving (Luce/Sally), Kristolyn Lloyd (Maggie/Mary), Peter McNally (Understudy), Alano Miller (Kwame/James), Kate Nowlin (Ginger/Patsy), Daniel Petzold (Geoff/Cooper/Colonel Carey/Mr. Tobias), Myxolydia Tyler(Understudy), and Khiry Walker (Understudy).

SALLY & TOM features scenic design by Riccardo Hernández; costume design by Rodrigo Muñoz; lighting design by Alan C. Edwards; sound design by Dan Moses Schreier; music composed by Suzan-Lori Parks and Dan Moses Schreier; hair, wig, and make-up design by J. Jared Janas and Cassie Williams; prop  management by Rachel M. F. Kenner; fight and intimacy direction by Kelsey Rainwater and Michael Rossmy; choreography by Edgar Godineaux; and dramaturgy by Jesse Cameron Alick. Norman Anthony Small serves as production stage manager and Jessica R. Aguilar as stage manager.

Following Fall 2023’s HELL’S KITCHEN and MANAHATTA, The Public Theater kicks off 2024 at its downtown Astor Place home with the world premiere of Tony Award winner Itamar Moses’ THE ALLY. The provocative new play directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer about the vanishing line between the personal and the political begins February 15. 

Running through April 7 is the world premiere of Tony Award winner Itamar Moses’ THE ALLY, a provocative new play directed by Drama Desk Award winner Lila Neugebauer and featuring Josh Radnor about the vanishing line between the personal and the political. Beginning April 11, Emerging Writers Group alumnus Ife Olujobi makes her professional stage debut with the bold, bitingly funny play JORDANS. Directed by Obie Award winner Whitney White, the world premiere play is a piercing exploration of assimilation, racial capitalism, success, and survival. 

While The Delacorte Theater is closed for a significant revitalization, The Public will bring free Shakespeare to parks and plazas around the city and screens around the country through GO PUBLIC! Mobile Unit’s bilingual musical adaptation of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS will return for a free encore tour of the five boroughs. This joyful adaptation in English and Spanish by Rebecca Martinez and Julian Mesri combines the classic Shakespearean comedy’s story of mistaken identity to life through Latin American-inspired music. Free Shakespeare in the Park’s acclaimed production of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon, will screen at parks around New York City in special evening events. This filmed version by THIRTEEN’s Great Performances, along with their recordings of 2023’s HAMLET, 2022’s RICHARD III, and 2021’s MERRY WIVES, will also be made available for streaming at home, free of charge, to audiences nationwide.

The Library at The Public serves food and drink Tuesday through Sunday, beginning at 5:00 p.m. and closing at midnight. The Library is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit publictheater.org.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus