←Recommendations of PARTNER OF —

The disturbing reality of multigenerational slave rape is highlighted in this power packed ten minute play. Thought provoking and emotional, it is a wonderful piece to bring this entrenched tradition to the attention of modern audiences.

And isn't this a fantastic rejoinder to those who want to sanitize and romanticize Thomas Jefferson's "relationship" with his 14-year-old, enslaved relation? Two generations of women who've learned to survive teach the third generation how to the same, all in the narrow confines of a windowless room -- a cell, really -- where Sally can be kept out of sight and readily available to Jefferson.

Brilliant play worthy of all of its many recommendations, with beautifully precise language, characters, history, truth... I love the visceral qualities of the opening monologue and the description of the architectural design of Monticello as a place for secrets as a place that separates what is seen from what is - and Carnes exposes all that!

A terribly moving piece about a dream slowly cracking and falling apart as the young Sally Hemings learns the real reason Thomas Jefferson is taking her to Paris with him. It's one thing to be born a slave with barely any hope or thought of escape, or even of being less of a slave; it's quite another -- and arguably more devastating -- to have that hope dangled before you... only to conceal a brutal reality behind it. Beautiful and haunting.

Beautiful, poetic piece. This play was read at the Midwest Dramatists Conference 2018 and the conversations about it continued long after it had ended. Carnes brings to life the history of Sally Hemings, her mother, and grandmother as past events are ushered upon the next generation. Deeply moving, we learn a disturbing truth about the history of slavery.

This a haunting and lyrical play. Carnes is masterful in how she structures the ebb and flow of the language. It's an important play that portrays an ugly moment of history and sheds light on inconvenient truths about one of the Founding Fathers of the US. While being about something so weighty, the play never collapses from the burden of that weight. The play, unlike the subject matter, nearly floats on dark wings.

A play of depth and power. Thought-provoking and conversation-starting. We need more plays like it.

Rachael Carnes packs a great deal into this short work. It's an historical play and yet she is really commenting on a great many topical, current events. You should really stop reading my comments and instead read this excellent little play.

This is indeed a great script for actresses. The lyrical language, the memorable metaphors and the rich and intricate subtext of this play all contribute to a theatrical experience that won't be soon forgotten. Carnes is a writer to watch.

The lyrical beauty of Carnes’ Partner Of does nothing to lesson the horror of the world of this play. It’s painfully awe-inspiring, a shattering scream into the darkness of history that illuminates one of the most well-known, and least understood, episodes of the American past. And through it all, Carnes magnifies the story with a poetic style that makes the twists and turns hit even harder. A layered, incredible, journey.