Sandra Cecelia Seaton is an American playwright and

librettist A libretto (Italian for "booklet") is the text used in, or intended for, an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata or musical. The term ''libretto'' is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major litu ...

. She received the

Mark Twain Award The Mark Twain Readers Award, or simply Mark Twain Award, is a children's book award which annually recognizes one book selected by vote of Missouri schoolchildren from a list prepared by librarians and volunteer readers. It is now one of four Mi ...

from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature in 2012. Seaton taught creative writing and

African-American literature African American literature is the body of literature produced in the United States by writers of African descent. It begins with the works of such late 18th-century writers as Phillis Wheatley. Before the high point of slave narratives, African-A ...

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Cen ...

for 15 years as a professor of English.

Personal life

Seaton was born in

Columbia, Tennessee Columbia is a city in and the county seat of Maury County, Tennessee. The population was 41,690 as of the 2020 United States census. Columbia is included in the Nashville metropolitan area. The self-proclaimed "mule capital of the world," Colum ...

, to Albert Sampson Browne, Jr. and Hattye Evans, both teachers. After Seaton's parents divorced, her mother remarried and the family moved to Chicago's West Side in 1949. Seaton's grandmother, Emma Louish Evans, often performed at amateur minstrel shows and had a strong influence on her granddaughter's work. Evans gave Seaton a deep pride in the work of

Flournoy Miller Flournoy Eakin Miller (14 April 1885 – 6 June 1971), sometimes credited as F. E. Miller, was an American entertainer, actor, lyricist, producer and playwright. Between about 1905 and 1932 he formed a popular comic duo, Miller and Lyles, with ...

, a family member, who wrote the book for the pioneering all black musical ''

Shuffle Along ''Shuffle Along'' is a musical composed by Eubie Blake, with lyrics by Noble Sissle, and a book written by the comedy duo Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles. One of the most notable all-Black hit Broadway shows, it was a landmark in African-America ...

'' in 1921. Seaton graduated from

Farragut High School Farragut High School, located at 11237 Kingston Pike, serves as a high school in Farragut, a suburb of Knoxville, Tennessee. Knox County Schools, the unified Knox County, Tennessee school district, operates the school. The school serves the ma ...

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and received her

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

from the

University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

in Arts and Letters (Creative Writing). At Illinois, she studied with

John Frederick Nims John Frederick Nims (November 20, 1913 in Muskegon, Michigan – January 13, 1999, aged 85, in Chicago, Illinois) was an American poet and academic. Life He graduated from DePaul University, University of Notre Dame with an M.A., and from the Uni ...

, George Scouffas, and Webster Smalley. She earned a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

degree in creative writing from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the fi ...

, where she studied under Linda Wagner-Martin and Robert Martin. Seaton is also a member of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is the first intercollegiate historically African American sorority. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at the historically black Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of sixteen stud ...

sorority. She married James Seaton, literary critic and professor of English at

; the couple has four children.

Career

Seaton is the author of 14 plays, opera librettos, a spoken-word piece, and short fiction.

Ruby Dee Ruby Dee (October 27, 1922 – June 11, 2014) was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (19 ...

, Adilah Barnes, Kim Staunton, Michele Shay and Linda Gravatt appeared in a 1998 production of her first play, ''The Bridge Party'', at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

, a work inspired by local events. The play is anthologized in ''Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women'' (1998).Seaton, Sandra
''The Bridge Party. Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women''
In Kathy A. Perkins and Judith L. Stephens(eds), Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998, 318–65. Seaton's literary works have been featured by the Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series. Seaton wrote the libretto for the solo opera ''

From the Diary of Sally Hemings ''From the Diary of Sally Hemings'' is a song cycle for voice and piano. The work, commissioned by mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar and Music Accord, is a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom and playwright Sandra Se ...

'' (2001) for the composer

William Bolcom William Elden Bolcom (born May 26, 1938) is an American composer and pianist. He has received the Pulitzer Prize, the National Medal of Arts, a Grammy Award, the Detroit Music Award and was named 2007 Composer of the Year by Musical America. He ...

. The fictional work is a depiction of the innermost thoughts of Sarah "Sally" Hemings, an enslaved woman of mixed race who is believed to have had a sexual relationship with

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

. Bolcom asked Seaton to create "diary" entries that would provide the text for his song cycle ''From The Diary of Sally Hemings''. Seaton spent more than a year doing research to create a "diary" that would be historically plausible. As David Lewman pointed out in an article on Seaton's libretto, "It was a challenge. Though there is voluminous material on Jefferson and his period, there are no surviving examples of writing by Sally Hemings." The work was commissioned by mezzo-soprano

Florence Quivar Florence Quivar (born March 3, 1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American operatic mezzo-soprano who is considered to be "one of the most prominent singers of her generation." She has variously been described as having a "rich, earthy sound ...

, who sang the piece at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

's Coolidge Auditorium, the University Musical Society in

Ann Arbor, Michigan Ann Arbor is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County, Michigan, Washtenaw County. The 2020 United States census, 2020 census recorded its population to be 123,851. It is the principal city of the Ann Arbor ...

, and the

Herbst Theatre The Herbst Theatre is an auditorium in the War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in the Civic Center, San Francisco. The 928-seat hall hosts programs as diverse as ''City Arts & Lectures'', SF Jazz, and San Francisco Performances. Architectu ...

in San Francisco, and other similar venues. In 2010, soprano

Alyson Cambridge Alyson Cambridge is an American operatic soprano.Matt Collar"Alyson Cambridge , Biography & History,"AllMusic. In addition to opera, she sings classical song, jazz, and American songbook and popular song. She is also known for her work as a mo ...

performed ''From the Diary of Sally Hemings'' at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

. Seaton has continued to explore the relationship between

Sally Hemings Sarah "Sally" Hemings ( 1773 – 1835) was an enslaved woman with one-quarter African ancestry owned by president of the United States Thomas Jefferson, one of many he inherited from his father-in-law, John Wayles. Hemings's mother Elizabet ...

and the third president in two plays, ''Sally'', a solo play, and ''A Bed Made in Heaven'', a multi-character play. ''Sally'' premiered in 2003 at the New York State Writers Institute featurin
Zabryna Guevara
Seaton's play ''The Will'', the story of an African-American family in

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

during

Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...

, was performed in

Idlewild, Michigan Idlewild is an unincorporated community in Yates Township, located just east of Baldwin in southeast Lake County, a rural part of northwestern lower Michigan. During the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the few resorts in the co ...

, the historic black resort, in 2008 as part of an event that focused on the connections between African-American culture and classical music. The character of Patti was inspired by the life of

Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield (1809 – March 31, 1876), dubbed "The Black Swan" (a play on Jenny Lind's sobriquet, "The Swedish Nightingale), was an American singer considered the best-known black concert artist of her time. She was lauded by ...

, the African-American opera singer of the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

era. Seaton's comedy ''Martha Stewart Slept Here'', set in an

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

trailer park, premiered in 2008 and ''Estate Sale'', a comedy set in a

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

suburb, in 2011. ''Music History'', a play about African-American college students at the University of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

SNCC The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC, often pronounced ) was the principal channel of student commitment in the United States to the civil rights movement during the 1960s. Emerging in 1960 from the student-led sit-ins at segrega ...

, and the struggle for civil rights, was the focus of a 2010 symposium at

on the ability of drama to illuminate issues of racial and social justice. Seaton is also the author of "Betty Price and George Nelson, Spreading the News about Modern Design", which appeared in ''

Modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

'' magazine. In 2020, ''Night Trip'', a collaboration between Seaton and composer Carlos Simon, was performed at the Kennedy Center as part of their annual American Opera Initiative. According to critic Alex Baker of the Washington Classical Review, part of what "Sandra Seaton’s libretto...especially in the arias for Conchetta, attains a level of poetry that allows for authentic and thrilling fusion between text and score." Writing for A Beast in the Jungle, Mark Rudio described Seaton's lyrics as "transcendent" and credited her and Simon for "not only rising to the challenge of creating a dramatic work that does everything it needs to in just twenty minutes, and for creating an opera that unequivocally succeeds within those extreme limitations." Matthew Guerrieri, in a review for the Washington Post, praised the "candid, vernacular text" for "gradually revealing dramatic and poetic substance." Seaton taught creative writing and African-American literature at

for 15 years as a professor of English.

Works

Plays * ''The Bridge Party'' (1989) * ''The Will'' (1994) * ''Do You Like Philip Roth''? (2001) * ''Room and Board'' (2002) * ''Sally'' (2003) * ''A Bed Made In Heaven'' (2005) * ''Martha Stewart Slept Here'' (2008) * ''A Chance Meeting'' (2009) * ''Music History'' (2010) * ''Estate Sale'' (2011) * ''The Lookout'' (2013) * ''Black for Dinner'' (2014) * ''Chicago Trilogy'' (2015) * ''The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson'' (2021) Musicals * ''Ogden Avenue'' (2016) Films * ''From the Diary of Sally Hemings'', Glimmer Glass Festival (2020) * ''Call Me By Name'', Atlanta Black Theatre Festival (2020) * ''Call Me By Name'', excerpted in ''Hear Our Cry'', (2020) * ''The First Bluebird in the Morning'', (2020) Other genres * "Nightsong"

hort story Hort may refer to: People * Erik Hort (born 1987), American soccer player * F. J. A. Hort (1828–1892), Irish theologian * Greta Hort (1903–1967), Danish-born literature professor * Josiah Hort (c. 1674–1751), English clergyman of the Chur ...

''Obsidian II: Black Literature in Review'' (Winter 1989) * King: A Reflection on the Life of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (2005). Spoken word with choral accompaniment. * Libretto: ''

From The Diary of Sally Hemings ''From the Diary of Sally Hemings'' is a song cycle for voice and piano. The work, commissioned by mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar and Music Accord, is a collaboration between Pulitzer Prize winning composer William Bolcom and playwright Sandra Se ...

'', Music by William Bolcom (2000), CD: White Pine Music (2010). Score: Hal Leonard (2011) *Libretto:''Vegetarian Wedding'', Music by Eric Santos, (2004) *Libretto: ''Night Trip'', Music by Carlos Simon (2020) * Libretto: ''The First Bluebird in the Morning'', Music by Carlos Simon (2020) *Libretto: ''She Steps onto a Floating Stage'', aria, Music by Carlos Simon (2021) *Libretto: ''Divided Soul'', aria, Music by Carlos Simon (2022) *Libretto: ''Rebellious Bird'', aria, Music by Carlos Simon (2022) *Libretto: ''Dreamland: Tulsa 1921'', Ploratorio, Music by Marques L. A. Garrett (2022)

Awards

* Annual Emma Lou Thornbrough Lecture, IUPUI and Butler University, November 2008 * Inaugural writer-in-residence,

Michigan State University College of Law The Michigan State University College of Law (Michigan State Law or MSU Law) is the law school of Michigan State University, a public research university in East Lansing, Michigan. Established in 1891 as the Detroit College of Law, it was the fi ...

2010-11 * Mark Twain Award from The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. 2012 *Theodore Ward Prize Bao, Bob
"Sandra Seaton: Sally Hemings’ Mind"
''MSU Alumni Magazine'' (Spring/Summer 2001). * Residencies: Yaddo and Ragdale artist colonies.

References

External links