About the Play:

Tommy J & Sally is a full-length drama by Mark Medoff. Tommy J, who is black, enters the apartment of white pop diva Sally Hemings and harangues her with allegations about her pre-fame identity and her history with him. Emotions are unleashed as the two wonder whether they knew each other in the past. Is TJ who he says he is? Is Sally who she says she is? A modern twist on Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson that unleashes a tsunami of anger and emotion leading to cleansing.

Tommy J & Sally is about the conflicts of love, race, culture and identity both real and imagined. A young African-American man, Tommy J, breaks into the Manhattan loft of Sally Hemings, a famous white pop singer whose latest anthem is about racial harmony, claiming one of her pop lyrics holds a secret message aimed at him. What initially appears to be the story of a controversial celebrity held hostage by an unbalanced fan quickly becomes an intense and mysterious dialogue revealing unexpected wounds from the past. He insists that her real name is Madeline Rosenberg, a girl shaped by her Jewish culture, who's since reinvented herself, taking on the name of Thomas Jefferson's enslaved black mistress. He also claims that, as a teen in Phoenix, he was taken in by the Rosenberg family and watched her fledgling attempts at songwriting. Is Tommy telling the truth? Why is he there? And why does white girl Sally use the name of Thomas Jefferson's black mistress (and slave), Sally Hemings? Tommy J & Sally is an intense examination and study about race relations from both sides of the colour line.

Tommy J & Sally premiered in 2002 at the Aaron & Cecile Goldman Theater in the Jewish Community Center in Washington DC. The play has been performed in regional repertory and college theatre productions.

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

What people say:

"…a hot-blooded two-character drama on race … Medoff's dialogue is fiery and darkly funny." — Washington Post

"…neither Tom nor Sally pulls any punches. Both characters strip away the feel-good, politically correct veneer of racial harmony in order to take a hard look at what lies beneath. And it ain't pretty. As enlightened as both of these characters claim to be, there's still deeply buried prejudice and distrust, and when it's unearthed, it comes up raw and sharp." — Pioneer Press

About the Playwright:

Mark Medoff (1940-2019) was an American playwright, screenwriter, film and theatre director, actor, and professor. He wrote 30 plays and wrote, produced or directed 19 movies. He found his greatest success with his play Children of a Lesser God, which received both the Tony Award and the Olivier Award, as well as Outer Critics and Drama Desk awards. He was nominated for an Academy Award for the film script of Children of a Lesser God and a Cable ACE award for his HBO premiere movie Apology. He received OBIE, Outer Critics and Drama Desk awards for When You Comin' Back Red Ryder?. He was Dramatist in Residence and Professor Emeritus of Theatre Arts at New Mexico State University, where he served on the English and Theatre Arts faculties for twenty-seven years.