Tj Loves Sally 4 Ever / The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington

Two whip-smart satirical plays by the Pulitzer-winning author of Fat Ham that examine the racism at the root of America’s founding--and its fruits in our present.

In The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington, the widow of George Washington and self-proclaimed ＂Mother of America＂ lies helpless in her bed, ravaged by illness and cared for by the very slaves that will be free the moment she dies. In the terrifying and fantastical fever dream that follows, Martha is called to account for her lifelong dependence on the labor of enslaved people. A wildly theatrical, gleefully anachronistic play that puts Martha Washington’s life and legacy on trial.

In a present-day reimagining of the story of Sally Hemings and Thomas Jefferson, TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever takes place at Commonwealth of Virginia University, where a modern education is rooted in the nation’s ＂complicated＂ history. As the campus wrestles with its antebellum legacy, undergraduate student Sally finds herself locked in a more personal battle with Dean TJ, the white dean of students named after Thomas Jefferson, who shares his namesake’s predilection for grossly abusing his position of power over women of color. Amidst a swirl of marching bands, step teams, and bubbly tour guides, Sally must struggle to rewrite this too-familiar narrative, dismantle the wall of oppression, and embrace the dope ass future that waits beyond it.

James Ijames is a playwright, director, actor, and educator. Ijames was awarded the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Fat Ham. His other awards include a Pew Fellowship, the F. Otto Haas Award for Emerging Artist, the Terrence McNally New Play Award, a Whiting Award, a Kesselring Prize, and a Steinberg Prize. His other plays include Kill Move Paradise, Abandon, The Threshing Floor, Reverie, Good Bones, Welcome Table, Media/Medea, and White. He resides in South Philadelphia.