Ford's Theatre's trip to the March on Washington is more than worth your time

The American Five culminates with images and videos of the March on Washington in August of 1963. The 2+ hours leading up to that moment are captivating.

The play, making its premiere after being done as a reading in Ford's Theatre's 2024 First Look festival of new plays, is the story of what led up to Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. (The words "I have a dream" aren't uttered in the play; those words were ad libbed on the day.) We see Martin (Ro Boddie) and Coretta Scott King (Renea S. Brown) early in their relationship (the reaction to Martin's line “I can see you speaking for me when I can’t speak for myself…” was strong); we see Bayard Rustin (Stephen Conrad Moore) preach to Martin about nonviolence; we see Martin rise in prominence and become friends with Stanley Levison (Aaron Bliden) and Clarence B. Jones (Yao Dogbe) and have them join his inner circle. We see Martin in the Birmingham jail and the idea for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom form.

The brilliance of the play is that while it revolves around Martin, we get to spend time with the other characters and see how they deal with each other, without Martin, and who they are. There's a reason the play is titled The American Five and doesn't mention Martin Luther King, Jr. The relationship between Stanley (who frequently points out that he's not white, he's Jewish!) and Clarence was particularly fascinating, particularly toward the end of the play as they hash out what the focus of Martin's speech should be.

The cast of The American Five at Ford's Theatre. Photo by Scott Suchman.

 

Another notable scene that's gotten a lot of mentions in reviews is one between Martin and Coretta. Martin has just met with President Kennedy and is trying to cope with that pressure, plus knowing that this huge march is coming up, plus all of his other obligations as a leader and a minister. Coretta stands up for herself as the one who does the work so he can do the work. It really lands in a way that it probably wouldn't have in 1963, when the scene is set. There's another part later in the show that touches on intersectionality--Coretta being a woman, Stanley being Jewish, and Bayard being gay.

I love that the play doesn't shy away from showing Martin Luther King, Jr., as a person with flaws. Yes, it acknowledges his affairs in a scene where you both profoundly empathize with him even as you roll your eyes at his excuses. The weight of his knowledge of his own place in history clearly hangs heavy on his shoulders.

And let me tell you, the acting in this show is phenomenal, all five of them. I've seen all of them except Moore in other shows; this is my second time seeing Boddie as King--the other being in The Mountaintop, which he starred in with Brown. I also saw Boddie and Dogbe in Topdog/Underdog, which, woof. They blew me away in that, too; such a powerful show that I am still gutted by. Boddie continues to be a fantastic King; I obviously never got a chance to see King speak myself, but seeing Boddie play him feels like the next best thing. Listening to him, you can understand why people were drawn to him, and it made me want to pull up and read more of King's speeches and writings. 

Honestly, they were all amazing. Brown absolutely owns the stage as Coretta and her chemistry with Boddie is strong. Moore disappears into Bayard Rustin; the pain of his life as a gay Black man in mid-century American shines through even as he jokes around and spurs Martin on. The cast clicks completely; I could've watched them for a much longer show.

It's depressing how much of this show still hits home today. A fantastic debut from playwright Chess Jakobs; here's hoping it has a strong life in theaters across the country.