Play of the Week: The American Five

Though some other D.C. theatres, like Arena Stage or Signature Theatre, may find themselves in the national spotlight more often, whether through co-pros or world premieres or out-of-town tryouts or even just exciting press releases, I would venture to say that Ford's Theatre has a higher batting average, as of late, than any local company. With the premiere of The American Five, now playing through October 12, they are at, by my count, five hits in a row, which I think we could call a winning streak.

The play, a world premiere by Chess Jakobs (who wrote the play for the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions), tells the story of five people who shaped this country's Civil Rights movement, culminating in the March on Washington in 1963. If I have anything to say about this production, it's that it occasionally feels a little this leads to this leads to this leads to this. Martin Luther King Jr. proposes marriage to Coretta Scott. He begins planning the movement with Bayard Rustin. He recruits Clarence B. Jones to be his lawyer. Bayard introduces them to Stanley Levison. It feels like they're assembling the Avengers. I could do without the moment where King calls Stanley and says something like, "I'm sitting here in this Birmingham jail and I'm thinking about writing a letter," but maybe that's just me. It can occasionally feel like PBS programming for the whole family.

The production, directed by Aaron Posner, really works because of the strength of the performances. Ro Boddie, who I've enjoyed in both STC's Comedy of Errors and Studio's Paradise Blue (still my favorite show of 2025, and I doubt it'll be beat), plays King - the fifth time he's done that in his career. Not only does he bring that experience, he brings the fact that he's just a really good freaking actor. I fear that he will soon become the Meryl Streep for DMV theatre, where we just go, "Yep, he was great again, what's next?" We shouldn't take him for granted.

Renea S. Brown, reuniting with Bodie after they did The Mountaintop (one of the times he played King) together at Round House, plays his Coretta this time around. It's been cool to watch her career growth from her Brave Spirits days to now being a Helen Hayes favorite. She gets a really great monologue here, much better than the usual "What about your wife? What about the children?" crap that most writers give to the wives of famous people, that she just tears right through. Stephen Conrad Moore, whom I saw earlier this year giving a strong leading performance in Studio's Downstate (another favorite of the year - Studio clearly stands similarly in the "doesn't get enough praise" conversation), plays a witty Bayard Rustin. It's funny seeing this not long after the 2023 film Rustin, directed by the great George C. Wolfe and starring Colman Domingo, and not only because the play and the movie take place concurrently. Watching The American Five made me wonder if I was hard on Rustin, which I remember finding disappointing. I think it's possible that I watched that in my end-of-year awards season binging, didn't think it matched up to Poor Things or whatever crazy shit I was comparing it to, and dismissed it unfairly. If I liked this play, I should like that movie.

Aaron Bliden and Yao Dogbe, playing Levison and Jones, are the fourth and fifth members of the American Five. Bliden brings some much-needed humor to the piece, keeping it from veering too far into History Channel recreation. Dogbe, also reuniting with Boddie after another recent production at Round House, Topdog/Underdog, is another DMV favorite.

I've never officially reviewed something at Ford's for conflict of interest reasons, and even though I no longer have that direct connection, it's still too fresh to write anything more than a blog post. It's for that reason that I'm cautious to come to Ford's defense because I can't really divorce myself from my personal feelings, but it really does bother me that so few people have Ford's front of mind. They're doing really good work with local actors and the production doesn't come from Houston or whatever. It's all local, including, this time, the play itself. Don't think, "Oh, Ford's is doing what they do, another historical drama." Instead, think, "How can I find the time to see this?"

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