Jefferson’s Garden

In this sweeping drama, playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker explores the contradictions between our founding fathers’ ideals and the realities of freedom in America. Christian, a Quaker pacifist, defies his family to fight in the American Revolution. Susannah, an enslaved woman, is tempted to fight for the British when they promise liberation. The two meet and cross paths with Thomas Jefferson, George Mason and Sally Hemings. These encounters force them to confront the compromises America makes after the promise of equality. Wertenbaker creates a dazzling world, taking us from Revolutionary battlefields to Paris to Thomas Jefferson’s home, Monticello. Nataki Garrett (Woolly Mammoth’s “An Octoroon”) directs this American premiere.