In a nation divided by competing narratives, who gets to tell the story of America?
Tony Award winner Sarah Jones returns to the New York stage with a virtuosic new solo show directed by OBIE winner Eric Ting that is hilarious, provocative, and deeply human. Co-commissioned by National Black Theatre and the Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities at the University of Oxford, the work received its world premiere in May 2026.
Called “a once-in-a-lifetime artist” by Meryl Streep and “a master of the genre” by The New York Times, Jones embodies a remarkable cast of characters spanning 250 years of America’s history. Through her singular blend of comedy, storytelling, and transformation, she invites us to reckon with the myths we inherit, the realities we share, and the future we are creating together. Limited Engagement!
Location:
Polonsky Shakespeare Center
262 Ashland Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11217
National Black Theatre and Theatre for a New Audience in Association with Foment Productions, Cinereach & Jayson Jackson
Generous dedicated production support is provided by The Heathland Foundation and Pop Culture Collaborative.
PRODUCTION PHOTOS
Sarah Jones
Playwright, Actor, Producer
Sarah Jones is a Tony and Obie Award–winning writer and performer returning to the stage with America, Who Hurt You? Hailed by The New York Times as “a master of the genre,” Jones is renowned for her chameleon-like solo performances, blending humor and empathy to channel a wide range of authentic voices. A four-time TED mainstage speaker, Jones is the founder of Foment Productions, an entertainment company focused on cultivating a culture of belonging. She first rose to national prominence with her Broadway hit Bridge & Tunnel (which was originally produced off-Broadway by Meryl Streep) and later created the award-winning play and film Sell/Buy/Date. Her screen work also includes co-starring in Netflix’s On the Verge.
Her latest project, America, Who Hurt You? started as an acclaimed podcast (featuring guests like Jane Fonda, Bryan Stevenson and Laverne Cox) and is now a play commissioned by Oxford University for a historic premiere at their first-ever performing arts center, produced by Foment Productions and The National Black Theatre. America, Who Hurt You? Will be touring the US in connection with its 250th Anniversary and beyond.
Eric Ting
Director
Eric Ting is a two-time Obie Award-winning director whose work spanning theater, opera and dance has been seen across the US and around the world. Theater credits include the world premieres of Anne Gridley’s WATCH ME WALK (Soho Rep); Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ THE COMEUPPANCE (Signature Theater); The 1491s’ BETWEEN TWO KNEES (PAC NYC; Oregon Shakespeare Festival); Lloyd Suh’s THE FAR COUNTRY (Atlantic Theater Co); Toshi and Bernice Johnson Reagon’s PARABLE OF THE SOWER: THE OPERA (NYU Abu Dhabi, Lincoln Center); Alina Troyano and Jacobs-Jenkins’ GIVE ME CARMELITA TROPICANA and Jackie Sibblies Drury’s WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION… (Soho Rep); Nora Chipaumire’s MIRIAM (BAM Next Wave); and Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig’s THE WORLD OF EXTREME HAPPINESS (Manhattan Theater Club; Goodman). Ting is one of three Directors of Soho Repertory Theater in New York City, and a proud member of SDC.
CREATIVE TEAM
Jiyoun Chang
SCENIC & LIGHTING DESIGNERJiyoun Chang is a lighting designer working across theatre and opera. Her Broadway credits include Stereophonic, Jaja’s African Hair Braiding, The Cottage, KPOP, for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, and Slave Play. Her work has been recognized with the Suzi Bass and Obie Awards, along with multiple Tony, Drama Desk, and Lucille Lortel Award nominations. In opera, her credits include Lucia di Lammermoor at Tiroler Festspiele Erl in Austria, Primero Sueño at The Met Cloisters, Il Trovatore at Houston Grand Opera, and Factotum at Lyric Opera of Chicago.
Stefania Bulbarella
PROJECTOIN DESIGNERStefania Bulbarella is a Tony Nominee Argentinian projection designer based in New York. Broadway: Jeff Ross: Take a Banana for the Ride (Nederlander), Jaja’s African Hair Braiding (MTC). Off-Broadway: Nothing Can Take You from the Hand of God (Playwrights Horizons), Space Dogs (MCC), Travels (Ars Nova), A Bright New Boise and The Watering Hole (Signature), Semblance (NYTW) and more. www.stefaniabulbarella.com
Toni-Leslie James
COSTUME DESIGNERTONI-LESLIE JAMES (Costume Design) has designed costumes nationally and internationally for theater, film, opera, dance, and television. She has designed over 31 Broadway productions and has been nominated for 4 TONY Awards. Broadway productions: Take a Banana for a Ride, Redwood, Gypsy (Drama Desk nomination), A Wonderful World, Mother Play, Paradise Square (TONY nomination), The Piano Lesson, Bernhardt/Hamlet (Drama Desk Award, TONY nomination), Come From Away (Drama Desk nomination), August Wilson's Jitney (TONY and Drama Desk Nomination), Flying Over Sunset (Hewes Design nomination), and Jelly’s Last Jam (TONY nomination) among others. Ms. James is currently a Professor of the Practice and Head of Costume Design at the David Geffen School of Drama.
Palmer Heffner
SOUND DESIGNERPalmer Hefferan is a Tony Award® nominated sound designer for live performance. She has designed over 100 productions on stages across the US and is the recipient of a 2019 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence in Sound Design. Recents highlights include BROADWAY: Liberation (Jones Theatre); John Proctor Is The Villain (Booth Theatre); Celebrity Autobiography (Shubert); Alex Edelman: Just For Us (Hudson Theater); The Skin of Our Teeth (Lincoln Center). OFF-BROADWAY: Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo (PAC-NYC); Waiting For Godot, Fefu and Her Friends (TFANA); Liberation, Something Clean, Bobby Clearly (Roundabout); Teeth (Playwrights Horizons, New World Stages); The Welkin (Atlantic Theater); Twelfth Night, Merry Wives, shadow/land (The Public Theater); The Comeuppance, The Death of the Last Black Man… (Signature Theatre); Blood Quilt, Flex, Becky Nurse Salem, Marys Seacole (Lincoln Center). More at www.palmerhefferan.com
Thomas Jenkeleit
PROPS DESIGNERThomas Jenkeleit (they/he) is a prop & scenic designer from Queens, New York devoted to creating new, reimagined, and thought provoking work. Recent: SUMO, Jesa, HENRY VI (The Public), The Potluck, The Fires, Give Me Carmelita Tropicana!, Watch Me Walk (Soho Rep.), Geoff Sobelle’s CLOWN SHOW (Edinburgh International Festival, PS21), Cat Cohen: Broad Strokes (Lucille Lortel), Liza! at 80 (Carnegie Hall), Derangements, The Family Dog (Clubbed Thumb), LAOWANG (Primary Stages, 59E59), The Wind & The Rain (Vineyard Theater, En Garde), Sex Variants of 1941 (The Civilians), Franklinland, Have You Met Jane Goodall and Her Mother?, Bodega Princess (Ensemble Studio Theatre), Camping (Colt Coeur), The Pass (La Mama), Galas (Little Island). Recent Scenic Design: Touch (East Village Basement), Bull (JACK), QUINCE (Domino Park), R Is For Writer (IRT), Drive The Speed Limit (HEREarts). jenkeleit.com.
PARTNERS
