‘TJ LOVES SALLY,’
SpeakEasy’s ‘TJ Loves Sally’ uses comedy to explore injustice
Humor opens doors. When we laugh, we drop our guard, and this can give an artist the momentum it takes to pull us into spaces we wouldn’t willingly travel into. Artists who draw from history, satire and enduring injustices all know this, from novelist Zadie Smith to playwright Kate Hamill to filmmaker Justin Simien.
So do director Pascale Florestal and writer James Ijames.
In SpeakEasy Stage Company’s upcoming New England premiere of “TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever,” which has been filmed for streaming starting Friday, Florestal uses the comedy of Ijames’ play to engage audiences in destructive legacies.
“The humor gives the audience an opportunity to lean in a bit while not realizing what they are leaning into,” Florestal said. “I think of something like ‘Saturday Night Live’ and its ability to make fun of the current world and, although we are laughing, it’s a sad laugh.”
Just unpacking the title of “TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever” reveals dark satire. In reality, scholars spent centuries hiding President Thomas Jefferson’s sexual relationship with slave Sally Hemings — historians now present as settled fact that Jefferson fathered at least six of Hemings’ children. In the play, TJ is a white dean of students at a Virginia university making unwanted advances on Sally, a young Black college student.
“The way that we see this parallel to history is so often how we see parallels of Jim Crow still today in our world,” Florestal said. “Or how we see the prison system is a similar idea, a similar system, to how slavery used to be but has evolved and changed and become more acceptable because of the disguise it has put on.”
“Understanding the historical reference to (Jefferson and Hemings) helps you have an idea of what to expect, and I think the biggest thing to understand the power dynamic between white women and black men,” she continued.
While the play is set in the modern academic world, it draws a line through centuries of unjust power dynamics. Florsetal points to the business world as a contemporary example of this unjust power imbalance — in 2020, not a single Fortune 500 company had a Black female CEO. And yet, “TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever” returns to humor often: Imagine marching bands, beauty pageants, dance numbers and bubbly tour guides paired with history and 2021.
“When I read it, I instantly loved the play,” Florestal said. “What I love so much about James’ writing is his ability to be funny and blunt, to speak to the current times and remind us of our past.”
Put on in partnership with the Boston Conservatory at Berklee, the production was filmed with a host of young actors, many of whom have struggled to find projects during the pandemic. Florestal said Zoom rehearsals aren’t always ideal and working in front of audiences has been missed, but she has respect for what the team accomplished with “TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever.”
And now it’s time to prepare for live, in-the-flesh theater. Florestal has a number of projects in the world including a wild swing away from the heady, funny intensity of her current project.
“In the fall with Emerson stage, I’m directing ‘This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing,’ which is their theater for young audiences play,” she said. “Our goal is in person but we are planning for both.”