Ford's Theatre is staging the world premiere of The American Five, a new drama by Chess Jakobs that puts audiences inside the charged final hours before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his historic I Have a Dream speech.
The limited run began September 19 and is scheduled through October 12, 2025.
Directed by Aaron Posner, The American Five is a behind-the-scenes portrait of how the words came together, centering on King and the core collaborators who helped shape his message for the March on Washington in 1963. The play focuses on Coretta Scott King, Bayard Rustin, Clarence B. Jones, and Stanley Levison, bringing their debates, doubts, and strategic choices into sharp relief.
Casting underscores the production's intimacy. Ro Boddie portrays Martin, with Renea S. Brown as Coretta, Stephen Conrad Moore as Bayard, Yao Dogbe as Clarence, and Aaron Bliden as Stanley. The ensemble keeps the stakes personal, moving from a cramped hotel room to the wide lens of history without losing the human pulse at the center of the story.
Early critical response suggests the premiere lands with impact. The Washington Post calls Jakobs's debut "a smart and captivating origin story" of I Have a Dream, noting how the drama humanizes King and his inner circle and praising the performances, especially Boddie as MLK and Brown as Coretta. The review frames the production as both emotionally rich and historically alive, a combination that invites fresh conversation about a familiar moment. The Washington Post
Local critics have echoed that enthusiasm. DC Theater Arts describes The American Five as "galvanizing," crediting the play's craft for transforming the logistical grind behind a mass movement into theater that stirs audiences toward reflection and, perhaps, action. DC Theater Arts
For Ford's Theatre, presenting this story is part of an ongoing civic mission. The company has paired the production with public programs that contextualize the march, celebrate unsung figures of the civil rights movement, and draw out the enduring resonance of the speech for audiences today. The idea is simple, and timely. History is not a museum piece, it is a living conversation. Ford's Theatre
If you go, expect an ensemble-driven evening that privileges process over pageantry. The tension is not whether King will say "I have a dream." It is when and why those words finally surface, and how collaborators argue, push, and support one another to make them inevitable. That focus gives The American Five its pulse, and it gives audiences something rare, a new vantage on a moment everyone knows.
The American Five runs at Ford's Theatre in downtown D.C. through October 12. For performance information and tickets, visit the official Ford's Theatre site. Ford's Theatre
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