TIME and PLACE
Nineteenth Century. Monticello (Virginia). A room with books, a writing desk and chair.
CHARACTERS
JEFFERSON enters at the rise.
Center stage: A black CHESS BOX, tall and wide enough to hold a black female actor inside, comfortably. On top of the box is a large chessboard and set, White pieces toward downstage, Black pieces, toward upstage. A large screen, upstage and elevated, shows the audience the moves, as they are being made.
JEFFERSON
I have white today; and I begin … pawn to King 4.
Moves the White King’s pawn accordingly.
CHESS BOX
It occurs to me, Mr. Jefferson … underneath it all, you’re a fraud.
JEFFERSON
I most certainly am not. What makes you say that?
CHESS BOX
You have no idea what love is. You sleep with a woman who is not your wife.
JEFFERSON
That’s none of your business, Box. But as you have chosen to raise the issue,
we are forbidden to marry, no matter how much we love each other.
CHESS BOX
It follows, then, that you must secrete yourselves as master and slave?
JEFFERSON
Yes. But it was her choice as much as mine. Sally came to me in Paris, a widower.
I was lonely, overwhelmed with grief over my Martha’s death, hiding in my way,
and Sally and I fell in love. They had the same father you know, Martha and Sally.
CHESS BOX
And how is it that a slave girl had a choice in the matter?
JEFFERSON
She knew if she stayed in France she would be a free woman.
Her brother was there; and he became a free man.
But Sally also knew how heartbroken her sister’s death had left me.
How I’d promised Martha forever to wear a lock of her hair,
in a pendant about my neck. And she chose the voluntary slavery of love for me.
CHESS BOX
You’re a strange man, Jefferson. Tell me more about your wife.
JEFFERSON
[touching the pendant] Martha was 23 when we married, and 33 when she died.
And those early years were some of the happiest of my life.
We were young, and filled with energy, hope, and expectation.
She read as avidly as I, and was a gifted pianist.
We played duets together, myself on the violin or the cello.
We had six children; but only Patsy’s still alive….
After Martha died, I remember weeks of relentless riding on secluded roads,
with Patsy a solitary witness to bursts of grief. But haven’t I told you this?
CHESS BOX
I like to hear it. And besides, who else can you share these memories with?
JEFFERSON
Who else, indeed, Box? Some say I’m as sensitive as a woman.
Some say as shy as a school girl, sometimes.
That I’m no orator. That my preference is to write what I think, to remain silent in the face of criticism, and to spend most of my time alone with my loved ones.
CHESS BOX
Knight to Queen Bishop 3.
Jefferson moves the Black Queen’s Knight according.