Amanda (c)2005 G.F. Spicka In 2005, I was hired by Director Harriet Lynn to write the music for Lewis Schrager's play, "Levy's Ghost." Performed in Baltimore on board the historic U.S.S Constellation, the play depicts important aspects of the life of Uriah Levy (1892 - 1862), first Jewish Commodore of the U.S. Navy, especially his ties to Thomas Jefferson. "Amanda" is my theme for one of Levy's slaves, who is only known by the name Amanda. "Additional drama is provided by the interaction between Levy and a slave named Amanda, movingly played by Claire Dorsey, who also portrays Sally Hemings in a brief flashback. Amanda's devotion to Levy is clear when she expresses concern for her master's sanity after she overhears him talking to Jefferson's ghost, whom she is unable to see. Dorsey's Amanda also delivers the play's most impassioned speech when, encouraged to speak her heart, she castigates Levy for not freeing his slaves." - June 24, 2005 / J. Wynn Rousuck / Baltimore Sum Theatre Critic.
