# Sandra Seaton

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**Sandra Cecelia Seaton** is an American playwright and [librettist](/source/Librettist).[1] She received the [Mark Twain Award](/source/Mark_Twain_Readers_Award) from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature in 2012.[2][3] Seaton taught creative writing and [African-American literature](/source/African-American_literature) at [Central Michigan University](/source/Central_Michigan_University) for 15 years as a professor of English.[2]

## Personal life

Seaton was born in [Columbia, Tennessee](/source/Columbia,_Tennessee), to Albert Sampson Browne Jr. and Hattye Evans, both teachers. [1]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](/source/F._E._Miller), a family member, who wrote [the book](/source/Musical_theatre) for the pioneering all black musical *[Shuffle Along](/source/Shuffle_Along)* in 1921.[1] Seaton graduated from [Farragut High School](/source/Farragut_High_School) in [Chicago](/source/Chicago) and received her [Bachelor of Arts](/source/Bachelor_of_Arts) from the [University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign](/source/University_of_Illinois_Urbana-Champaign) in Arts and Letters (Creative Writing). At Illinois, she studied with [John Frederick Nims](/source/John_Frederick_Nims), George Scouffas, and Webster Smalley. She earned a [Master of Arts](/source/Master_of_Arts) degree in creative writing from [Michigan State University](/source/Michigan_State_University), where she studied under Linda Wagner-Martin and Robert Martin. Seaton is also a member of [Alpha Kappa Alpha](/source/Alpha_Kappa_Alpha) sorority.

She married [James Seaton](/source/James_Seaton_(professor)), literary critic and professor of English at [Michigan State University](/source/Michigan_State_University); the couple has four children.[1]

## Career

Seaton is the author of 14 plays, opera librettos, a spoken-word piece, and short fiction. [Ruby Dee](/source/Ruby_Dee), Adilah Barnes, Kim Staunton, [Michele Shay](/source/Michele_Shay) and Linda Gravatt appeared in a 1998 production of her first play, *The Bridge Party*, at the [University of Michigan](/source/University_of_Michigan), a work inspired by local events.[4][5] The play is anthologized in *Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women* (1998).[1] Seaton's literary works have been featured by the Michigan State University in their Michigan Writers Series.[6]

Seaton wrote the libretto for the solo opera *[From the Diary of Sally Hemings](/source/From_the_Diary_of_Sally_Hemings)* (2001) for the composer [William Bolcom](/source/William_Bolcom).[7] The fictional work is a depiction of the innermost thoughts of [Sarah "Sally" Hemings](/source/Sally_Hemings), an enslaved woman of mixed race who is believed to have had a sexual relationship with [Thomas Jefferson](/source/Thomas_Jefferson). 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."[8] The work was commissioned by mezzo-soprano [Florence Quivar](/source/Florence_Quivar), who sang the piece at the [Library of Congress](/source/Library_of_Congress)'s Coolidge Auditorium, the University Musical Society in [Ann Arbor, Michigan](/source/Ann_Arbor,_Michigan),[9] and the [Herbst Theatre](/source/Herbst_Theatre) in San Francisco,[10] and other similar venues. In 2010, soprano [Alyson Cambridge](/source/Alyson_Cambridge) performed *From the Diary of Sally Hemings* at [Carnegie Hall](/source/Carnegie_Hall).[11]

Seaton has continued to explore the relationship between [Sally Hemings](/source/Sally_Hemings) 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 featuring [Zabryna Guevara](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1478285/).[2] Seaton's play *The Will*, the story of an African-American family in [Tennessee](/source/Tennessee) during [Reconstruction](/source/Reconstruction_Era_of_the_United_States), was performed in [Idlewild, Michigan](/source/Idlewild,_Michigan), 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](/source/Elizabeth_Taylor_Greenfield), the African-American opera singer of the [Civil War](/source/American_Civil_War) era.

Seaton's comedy *Martha Stewart Slept Here*, set in an [Indiana](/source/Indiana) trailer park, premiered in 2008[12] and *Estate Sale*, a comedy set in a [Cleveland](/source/Cleveland) suburb, in 2011.[13] *Music History*, a play about African-American college students at the university of [Illinois](/source/Illinois), [SNCC](/source/SNCC), and the struggle for civil rights, was the focus of a 2010 symposium at [Michigan State University](/source/Michigan_State_University) on the ability of drama to illuminate issues of racial and social justice.[14] Seaton is also the author of "Betty Price and George Nelson, Spreading the News about Modern Design", which appeared in *[Modernism](/source/Modernism)* magazine.[15]

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](/source/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."[16] Writing for [A Beast in the Jungle](/source/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."[17] Matthew Guerrieri, in a review for the Washington Post, praised the "candid, vernacular text" for "gradually revealing dramatic and poetic substance."[18]

Seaton taught creative writing and African-American literature at [Central Michigan University](/source/Central_Michigan_University) for 15 years as a professor of English.[2]

## Works

**Plays**

- *The Bridge Party* (1989)[6]
- *The Will* (1994)
- *Do You Like Philip Roth*? (2001)
- *Room and Board* (2002)
- *Sally* (2003)[6]
- *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" [short story], *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](/source/From_the_Diary_of_Sally_Hemings)*, 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 [19]
- Inaugural writer-in-residence, [Michigan State University College of Law](/source/Michigan_State_University_College_of_Law) 2010-11 [6]
- Mark Twain Award from The Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature. 2012[20]
- Theodore Ward Prize [21]
- Residencies: Yaddo [22] and Ragdale [23] artist colonies.

## References

1. Seaton, Sandra, [*The Bridge Party. Strange Fruit: Plays on Lynching by American Women*](https://books.google.com/books?id=G1il9uQG3A8C&dq=%22sandra+seaton%22&pg=PA319). In Kathy A. Perkins and Judith L. Stephens(eds), Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press, 1998, 318–65.

1. ["Sandra Seaton"](http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/webpages4/archives/seaton_sandra.html). Albany.edu. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. ["The Latest..."](http://ssml.org/). SSML.Org. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. Potter, Christopher. "A Bid for Respect", *The Ann Arbor News*, May 1, 1998.

1. ["The bridge party' inspired by local woman's family's stories"](http://news.msu.edu/story/1981/), Michigan State University, January 25, 2000.

1. ["MSU LAW LAUNCHES WRITER IN RESIDENCE PROGRAM WITH PLAYWRIGHT SANDRA SEATON"](http://www.law.msu.edu/news/2010/releases/writer-residence.html). Law.MSU.Edu. April 19, 2010. [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20100621193827/http://www.law.msu.edu/news/2010/releases/writer-residence.html) June 21, 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. Bolcom, William. "A Preface to *From the Diary of Sally Hemings*", *Michigan Quarterly Review*, XL.4. 611–12.

1. [*LAS News*](http://www.las.illinois.edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2003/seaton/), 2003. Retrieved March 5, 2013.

1. ["Seaton’s song cycle makes in-state debut"](http://www.cm-life.com/2002/02/01/seatonssongcyclemakesinstatedebut/) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20140310202424/http://www.cm-life.com/2002/02/01/seatonssongcyclemakesinstatedebut/) 2014-03-10 at the Wayback Machine, *Central Michigan Life*, February 1, 2002. Retrieved June 10, 2012.

1. ["Clef Notes / A month of the Bay Area's best orchestral and vocal music"](https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/Clef-Notes-A-month-of-the-Bay-Area-s-best-3267750.php), *San Francisco Chronicle*, April 2, 2001. Retrieved June 9, 2012.

1. [performance](http://www.alysoncambridge.com/Sally_Hemings_invite.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20140310203300/http://www.alysoncambridge.com/Sally_Hemings_invite.html) 2014-03-10 at the Wayback Machine by [Alyson Cambridge](/source/Alyson_Cambridge), *From the Diary of Sally Hemings* at [Carnegie Hall](/source/Carnegie_Hall). Retrieved June 10, 2012.

1. ["Alt-drama explosion"](http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-3341-alt-drama-explosion.html). Lansing City Pulse.com. August 19, 2009. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. ["THEATRE INSIDE AND OUTSIDE THE BOX"](https://web.archive.org/web/20111109222305/http://www.renegadetheatrefestival.org/documents/renegade_2011_program_web.pdf). Renegade Theatre Festival.Org. August 18, 2011. Archived from [the original](http://renegadetheatrefestival.org/documents/renegade_2011_program_web.pdf) on November 9, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. ["Then play on"](http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-5092-then-play-on.html). Lansing City Pulse.com. November 10, 2010. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. Seaton, Sandra. "Betty Price and George Nelson: Spreading the News about Modern Design." *Modernism*. 14.3 (Fall 2011): 38–45.

1. ["Washington Classical Review"](https://washingtonclassicalreview.com/2020/01/11/wnos-american-opera-initiative-serves-up-an-intriguing-trio-of-new-works/)

1. ["WNO's American Opera Initiative 2020"](http://www.abeastinajungle.com/blog/wno-american-opera-initiative). 13 January 2020.

1. Matthew Guerrieri (2020-01-12). ["At the Kennedy Center, WNO's Opera Initiative unveils a trio of novelties"](https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/at-the-kennedy-center-wnos-opera-initiative-unveils-a-trio-of-novelties/2020/01/11/d6610810-34ad-11ea-91fd-82d4e04a3fac_story.html). *[The Washington Post](/source/The_Washington_Post)*. [ISSN 0190-8286](https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0190-8286). [OCLC 1330888409](https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1330888409)

1. ["Sandra C. Seaton to Deliver Thornbrough Lecture"](http://www.h-net.org/announce/show.cgi?ID=164564.). H-Net.Org. November 14, 2008. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. Castanier, Bill,["A Playwright’s Work is Never Done"](http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-7354-a-playwrights-work-is-never-done.html) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20150719230620/http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-7354-a-playwrights-work-is-never-done.html) 2015-07-19 at the Wayback Machine, *City Pulse*, May 9, 2012.

1. Bao, Bob, ["Sandra Seaton: Sally Hemings’ Mind"](http://alumni.msu.edu/magazine/article.cfm?id=618) [Archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20110630195111/http://alumni.msu.edu/magazine/article.cfm?id=618) 2011-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, *MSU Alumni Magazine* (Spring/Summer 2001).

1. ["Artists' Web Site Links"](https://web.archive.org/web/20120629201651/http://yaddo.org/yaddo/artistslinks.shtml). Yaddo.Org. Archived from [the original](http://yaddo.org/yaddo/artistslinks.shtml) on June 29, 2012. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

1. ["Writers - Play/Screenwriting - O-Z"](https://web.archive.org/web/20110718024134/http://www.ragdale.org/playscreenoz). Ragdale.Org. Archived from [the original](http://www.ragdale.org/playscreenoz) on July 18, 2011. Retrieved July 3, 2012.

## Further reading

- Humphries-Barker, Dedria. "Civility in the Writing of Sandra Seaton", *Muses* (Michigan State University College of Arts and Letters), Fall, 2001.
- Junkin, Patricia. "Sandra Browne Seaton: Nationally acclaimed Playwright and Librettist", *Historic Maury*, XLVII.2: 4–7.
- Young, Patricia. "African American Women Playwrights Confront Violence: A Critical Study of Nine Dramatists." McFarland Publishing, 2012. [\[1\]](http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/book-2.php?id=978-0-7864-4455-7)

## External links

- [Composer William Bolcom Website](https://williambolcom.com)
- [Official Sandra Seaton Website](http://www.sandraseaton.com)
- [Playwright Sandra Seaton with Composer/Pianist William Bolcom](http://www.lib.msu.edu/branches/vvl/writers/spring02/041902.jsp), Michigan Writers Series, audio files
- [Seaton profile](http://www.las.illinois.edu/alumni/magazine/articles/2003/seaton/) at the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences
- Consentino, Larry, ["A Well-designed Life: Playwright Sandra Seaton talks with Lansing retail queen Betty Price"](http://www.lansingcitypulse.com/lansing/article-6484-a-well-designed-life.html), *City Pulse*. October 19, 2011.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Sandra Seaton](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Seaton) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sandra_Seaton?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.