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Clover is a new full-length play by Laura Rocklyn and Ty Hallmark exploring the life of Gilded Age Washington socialite and pioneer female photographer Clover Adams. Upon arriving in D.C., Clover dives into the political and social scene - but then the death of her beloved father and possible philandering of her husband subject her to the darker forces that run in her family line.

Natalie Dykstra’s 2012 biography Clover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life inspired and guided the playwrights' work. Dr. Dykstra will participate in a conversation with the creators and audience following the performance.

Performers Laura Rocklyn and Sarah Rose Kearns* return to the Library, alongside of Nick DePinto* as Henry Adams. Ty Hallmark directs.

Laura Rocklyn is an actor, writer, and first person historical interpreter based in Boston, MA. She has performed with regional theater companies across the country, including Folger Theatre, Round House Theatre, Classic Theatre of Maryland, History At Play, and Chesapeake Shakespeare Company. She has been seen on TV in Legends & Lies:The Patriots and on Investigation Discovery: Southern Fried Homicide. Laura writes and performs historic character portrayals for educational groups up and down the East Coast. Her original short play Emma is Presented in Washington City was performed as the curtain raiser for the Jane Austen Society of North America 2016 Annual General Meeting, and her one-woman play Charlotte Brontë: To Do More & Better Things was presented as part of the North American Friends of Chawton House 2021 Speaker Subscription Series. Laura has published articles in “Brontë Studies” and “The Revere Express.” She was the winner of the “LitMag” 2021 Virginia Woolf Award for short fiction, and her stories have appeared in the literary journals “Stork” and “New Square.” Laura holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College, and an MFA from The Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Academy for Classical Acting at The George Washington University. www.LauraRocklyn.com

Ty Hallmark is the Founding and Producing Artistic Director of Maryland-based Ally Theatre Company, winner of the 2019 John Aniello Award for Outstanding Emerging Theatre Company. For Ally she has directed The Most Spectacularly Lamentable Trial of Miz Martha Washington by James Ijames and, most recently, Rasheeda Speaking by Joel Drake Johnson. Prior to her work at Ally, Ty was the Tour and Company Manager for Remarkably Normal, a new play developed around the issue of women's reproductive rights by DC-based non-profit Advocates for Youth. She accompanied the show on an 8-city National Tour in May and June 2016. Ty is a former company member of Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, where she appeared in Cymbeline, Cyrano de Bergerac, and The Country Wife and also assistant-directed Pride and Prejudice and The Taming of the Shrew. For Pallas Theatre Collective she directed The Taming of the Shrew and Major Barbara and has worked as a director, actor, or producer for Pinky Swear Productions, Venus Theatre, Keegan Theatre, The Source Festival, and the Capital Fringe Festival, among others. She spent 7 years as a local tour guide for D.C. based Washington Walks, where she first came upon the compelling stories of Clover and Henry Adams. Ty is a professional Advocacy and Events Manager and is currently studying for her Master's Degree in Library and Information Sciences at the University of Maryland - College Park. She received her undergraduate degree in theatre from Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee and completed The Studio Theatre Acting Conservatory Program. 

This performance is sponsored by Alexander Sanger in honor of Jeannette Watson Sanger.

*Equity Member appearing with permission of Actor’s Equity Association without benefit of an Equity contract in this Off-Off Broadway production

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