The American Five

Ford’s Theatre explores the legacy of President Abraham Lincoln and celebrates the American experience through theatre and education. A working theatre, historical monument, culturally-significant museum and learning center, Ford’s Theatre is the premier destination in Washington, D.C. to explore and celebrate Lincoln’s ideals and leadership principles. 

Ford’s Theatre History 

In 1861, theatre manager John T. Ford leased out the abandoned First Baptist Church on Tenth Street to create Ford’s Theatre. Over the next few years, the venue became a popular stage for theatrical and musical productions. On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln visited Ford’s for a performance of Our American Cousin. At this performance, Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, a Confederate sympathizer and white supremacist. Lincoln died the next morning in the Petersen House, a boarding house located across the street. Ford’s Theatre remained dark for more than 100 years, officially reopening in 1968 as a national historic site and working theatre. It is operated through a public-private partnership between the National Park Service and Ford’s Theatre Society. 

Ford’s Theatre Today 

Through its inspiring theatrical productions, live historic interpretation and engaging education programs, Ford’s Theatre offers visitors the opportunity to immerse themselves in America’s past while revealing meaningful connections to today. 

As a working theatre, Ford’s produces renowned plays, vibrant musicals and newly commissioned works that captivate and entertain while examining political and social issues related to Lincoln’s legacy. With works from the Tony-nominated Come From Away and the nationally acclaimed Big River to the world premieres of Meet John Doe, The Heavens Are Hung In Black, Liberty Smith, Necessary Sacrifices, The Widow Lincoln, The Guard, Grace and Something Moving, Ford’s Theatre is making its mark on the American theatre landscape. With the opening of the Aftermath Exhibits at the Center for Education and Leadership, Ford’s Theatre has become a major center for learning, where people of all ages can examine Lincoln’s multi-faceted legacy through exhibits, workshops and educational programs. 

For more information about Ford’s Theatre and Ford’s Theatre Society, please visit www.fords.org. 

We are glad that you are joining us at Ford’s Theatre today. This is a welcoming and interactive community. Whether you are here to visit our historic site or to see a show, we invite you to be your authentic self.

At Ford’s Theatre:

• We are allowed to be human, in all the ways that make us unique.
• We are allowed to be human together. We encourage you to find moments of respectful connection and engagement with other members of the community.
• We are on common ground. We are all here to enjoy a shared experience and though our reactions and responses may vary, we will remain respectful.
• We are creating a live theatrical experience together; audible reactions and responses are welcome. The actors need you to engage with what you see but not to distract them from their performances.
• We also welcome the use of personal communication devices if they help you to better experience the show, but we encourage you to respect the actors’ work and the other audience members around you. Please note that the taking of photographs, video or sound recordings of the performance is not permitted.

Let’s create something beautiful together.

The American Five by Chess Jakobs was developed through the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission program. The play received a workshop and a public reading in January of 2024 as part of A First Look—a festival of new plays. Further development of the play continued throughout 2024 and 2025 including a residency at the University of Michigan. The resulting work is a play of historic fiction that investigates the given circumstances that brought about one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the history of our country. It imagines the relationships between five Civil Rights leaders as they work together to meet a defining moment in our country’s history, and it explores the arguments that shaped Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The American Five takes place between February 1952 and August 28, 1963, the day of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. 

Timeline of Pivotal Events that Took Place Before the March on Washington: 

December 1, 1955 – Rosa Parks refuses to give up her seat on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. Her refusal and subsequent arrest sparked a city-wide bus boycott. 

February 18, 1957 – Time Magazine puts the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., on its cover. The cover article called “The South: Attack on the Conscience” introduces King to a large portion of Americans across the United States and to people around the world. 

May 4, 1961 – The first Freedom Ride departs Washington, D.C. toward New Orleans. The Freedom Riders activists rode interstate buses into southern states to challenge non-enforcement of the United Supreme Court decisions (Morgan v. Virginia & Boyton v. Virginia), which ruled that segregated public buses were unconstitutional. 

April 12, 1963 – Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., violates a court injunction prohibiting public civil rights demonstrations in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Local police officers arrest Dr. King and a handful of protesters, including the Rev. Ralph Abernathy. King writes a response to white ministers who questioned why he had chosen to stage a protest in Birmingham. These pages become known as “Letter from the Birmingham Jail.” 

June 11, 1963 – President John F. Kennedy delivers a report on civil rights to the American people from the Oval Office. The report proposes legislation that would later become the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Expressing civil rights as a moral issue, Kennedy moves past his previous appeals to legality and asserts that the pursuit of racial equality is a just cause. This marks a significant shift in his administration’s policy and plays a significant role in shaping his legacy as a proponent of civil rights. 

June 23, 1963 – Martin Luther King Jr., speaks at a huge march and rally in Detroit. The text of this speech rehearses much of what he will say two months later in his famous “I Have a Dream” speech. 

August 28, 1963 – The March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom (commonly known as the March on Washington) becomes one of the largest civil rights demonstrations in the history of our country. Close to a quarter of a million people attend. Several popular singers including Mahalia Jackson and Marian Anderson perform while many of the movement’s leaders, including John Lewis, give speeches. The televised event is watched around the world. Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech has become one of the most studied speeches in the English language. 

The American Five, The “Big Six” and other Giants of the Civil Rights Movement: 

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was born Michael King Jr. on January 15, 1929, in Atlanta, Georgia. He was an American Baptist minister, civil rights activist and political philosopher who was a leader of the Civil Rights Movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. He advanced civil rights for people of color in the United States through the use of non-violent resistance and civil disobedience. King participated in and led marches for the right to vote, desegregation, labor rights and other civil rights. In 1964, Dr. King was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his leadership of the Civil Rights Movement and his non-violent efforts to achieve racial equality in the United States. King was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977 and Congressional Gold Medal in 2003. Martin Luther King Jr. Day was established as a holiday in cities and states throughout the United States beginning in 1971. The federal holiday was first observed in 1986. The Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was dedicated in 2011. 

Coretta Scott King (April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist and civil rights leader who was the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his assassination in 1968. King was also a singer who often incorporated music into her civil rights work. King met her husband while attending graduate school in Boston. Coretta Scott King played a prominent role in the years after her husband’s assassination in 1968, when she took on the leadership of the struggle for racial equality herself and became active in the Women’s Movement. King founded the King Center and sought to make his birthday a national holiday. She finally succeeded when Ronald Reagan signed legislation which established Martin Luther King Jr., Day on November 2, 1983. She later broadened her scope to include both advocacy for LGBTQ+ rights and opposition to apartheid. 

Bayard Rustin (March 17, 1912 – August 24, 1987) was an American political activist and prominent leader in social movements for civil rights, nonviolence, gay rights and socialism. Rustin was the principal organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963. Bayard was a gay man and, due to criticism over his sexuality, usually advised key civil rights leaders from behind the scenes. On November 20, 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded Rustin the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Clarence Jones (born January 18, 1931) is an American lawyer and the former personal counsel, advisor, draft speech writer and close friend of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Jones is credited with writing the “I Have a Dream” speech delivered by Dr. King in front of the Lincoln Memorial during the March on Washington. Jones is a scholar in residence at the Martin Luther King Jr. Institute at Stanford University. He is the author of What Would Martin Say? (HarperCollins, 2008), Behind the Dream: The Making of the Speech that Transformed a Nation (Palgrave- Macmillan, 2011) and Last of the Lions was released on August 1, 2023 (Redhawk Publications, 2023). Jones currently serves as Chairman of the non-profit Spill the Honey Foundation. He is a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Stanley David Levison (May 2, 1912 – September 12, 1979) was an American businessman and lawyer who became a lifelong activist in socialist causes. Levison was instrumental in all the activities of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), the organization established by Dr. King and other Southern Black preachers to further the cause of civil rights. Levison professionalized the fundraising of the organization and took on many of the publicity tasks, in addition to serving as Dr. King’s literary agent, adviser and ghostwriter. Levison co-wrote (with Clarence Jones) one of the drafts for Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Of Levison, Coretta Scott King said, “Stanley was more than one of my husband’s most loyal and supportive friends. He was a trusted and dedicated adviser, a role he continued to play in support of my work at the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Social Change.” 

The “Big Six,” as the march organizers came to be known, were the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, the Congress on Racial Equality (CORE), the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters and the National Urban League. With the help of Bayard Rustin, CORE was founded as a pacifist organization by civil rights activist James Farmer, Methodist minister George Houser, Catholic pacifist James R. Robinson, activist and organizer Bernice Fisher, Unitarian minister Homer Jack and Joe Guinn, who led the NAACP’s Youth Council in Chicago. The group’s goal, like that of many of the other “Big Six” organizations, was to end segregation through nonviolent means. 

Other distinguished leaders of the Civil Rights Movement include John Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Stokely Carmichael (later known as Kwame Ture), H. Rap Brown, Ella Baker, Andrew Young, Dr. CT Vivian, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Mahalia Jackson, Walter Reuther, James E. Clyburn, Dorothy Height, Ralph Abernathy and thousands of others. 

Data for this essay used several sources including: Congressional Research Service https://crsreports.congress. Gov R47655; U.S. Department of Justice; The National Archives and Records Administration, The Smithsonian – National Museum of African American History and Culture and AI Summary generated by OpenAI.

Chess Jakobs
Playwright
Black, Jewish and Queer American playwright, poet, sociologist and ecologist. Chess’s play, The American Five, received the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission in 2024. Chess’s debut poem was featured in Peace and Riot Magazine in 2025. Chess’s credits include working on Broadway, Off- Broadway and at regional theatres including Ford’s Theatre, Olney Theatre, Steppenwolf, Indiana Rep. and Alliance Theatre. Chess’s environmental stewardship efforts have included working with organizations including Counterstream Media, Environmental Defense Fund, EarthJustice, DC Environmental Film Festival, Out in Climate and Work on Climate. Education: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor and University of Maryland, College Park. @chessjakobs. 

Aaron Posner
Director
Theatre director, playwright, former Artistic Director and tenured full professor at American University. He has won more than 20 regional and national theatre awards for his work as a director and playwright. Aaron has directed nearly 200 productions at major regional theaters across the country, including most of the professional theatres in the DMV. Ford’s: Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf and Born Yesterday. Playwright: Stupid Fucking Bird, Life Sucks, No Sisters, JQA, District Merchants, Who Am I This Time? & Other Conundrums of Love, The Chosen, My Name Is Asher Lev and many more. 

Andrew R. Cohen
Scenic Designer
Ford’s debut. Regional (Select): Signature: In the Heights; Round House: A Hanukkah Carol, The Seafarer; Studio: Murder Ballad; Everyman: The Book Club Play, Flyin’ West; Arden: Intimate Apparel, Red Riding Hood. D.C.-Area (Select): Folger: King John; Olney: Lend Me A Soprano, The Crucible; Mosaic: Andy Warhol in Iran, The Till Trilogy; Theater J: The Chameleon; Studio Tenn: Jersey Boys, Cabaret; Kennedy Center TYA: Through the Sunken Lands; Imagination Stage: Dory Fantasmagory. @cohendesigns www.andrewcohendesigns.com 

Cody Von Ruden
Costume Designer
Ford’s debut. D.C. Area: Rorschach Theatre: The Figs. Washington Stage Guild: Escape From The Asylum. Catholic University: Bright Star. Maryland Opera Studio: Florencia En El Amazonas Other: Maine State Music Theatre: West Side Story. Cumberland County Playhouse: Grease, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, The Miss Firecracker Contest. Training: University of Maryland – College Park, University of Wisconsin – Green Bay. codyvonruden.com 

Max Doolittle
Lighting Designer
Ford’s: Sister Act, Little Shop of Horrors, My Lord, What a Night. Regional: Signature, Round House, Geffen. D.C.-Area: Woolly Mammoth, Folger, Olney, Mosaic, Baltimore Center Stage, Theatre J, Kennedy Center, Imagination Stage, among others. NYC includes Ars Nova, Juilliard School, Theatre Row, New Ohio, New World Stages, Signature Theater Center. Other: Cincinnati Shakespeare, Kitchen Theatre, Santa Fe Playhouse, Great Lakes Center, Pennsylvania Shakespeare, Fulton Theatre. TV: Anderson Cooper 360. BFA: Ithaca College. MFA: University of Maryland. 

Kathy Ruvuna
Sound Designer
Off-Broadway: LCT3: Five Models in Ruins, 1981; Greenwich House: Mindplay; Playwrights Realm: Mary Gets Hers; The New Group: Bernarda’s Daughters; Fake Friends: Circle Jerk Live; Rattlestick: Ni Mi Madre, In the Southern Breeze. Regional: Alley Theatre: The Janeiad; Everyman: Primary Trust, Cry It Out, Radio Golf, The Lion in Winter; Studio: Exception To The Rule, John Proctor is the Villain (Helen Hayes nom.). Training: Yale School of Drama.

Mona Kasra
Projection Designer
An Iranian American new media artist, interdisciplinary scholar and Associate Professor of Digital Media Design at the University of Virginia. She specializes in projections design and has received two Helen Hayes Award nominations in the Outstanding Projections/Media Design category. Her artwork has been exhibited extensively in galleries and film festivals across the U.S. and worldwide. Mona holds an MFA in Video Art and a PhD in Arts & Technology. Design credits include Contemporary American Theater Festival (CATF), Theater J, Mosaic Theater DC, Golden Thread San Francisco, DWZ Collective Dallas. https://monakasra.com

Danna Rosedahl
Hair and Make-Up Designer
Ford’s: Little Shop of Horrors, Something Moving, The Trip to Bountiful, My Lord, What a Night, Fences. Regional: Signature: Bridges of Madison County; Shakespeare: Red Velvet; Portland Center Stage: A Streetcar Named Desire, Great Expectations, Ain’t Misbehavin, Three Days of Rain, Cyrano, Dreamgirls, Somewhere in Time, Snow Falling on Cedars; Actors Theatre of Louisville: Angels in America. Other: Virgina Rep.: Nine to Five. National Tours: Phantom of the Opera, Annie Get Your Gun, Flower Drum Song.

Rachel Hirshorn-Johnston
Dialects and Voice Director
Assoc. Prof. of Voice & Speech at Texas Tech, Assoc. Teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework®, active member of VASTA, PAVA and AEA. Rachel coaches regionally in professional theatre and with private clients (corporate, government) on dialect acquisition and modification, and presentation skills, and is a two-time NEA grant award recipient for her on-going research in applied performance. www.rachelhjohnston.com 

Brandon Prendergast 
Production Stage Manager
Ford’s: More than 30 productions including Mister Lincoln, Silent Sky, Twelve Angry Men, Come From Away, Fly, Parade. New York: The Green Bird (Julie Taymor), Les Enfants Terribles (Susan Marshall), Yemayá (Twyla Tharp). Regional: Kennedy Center: 20 productions including Side Show, Follies, Ragtime, Mame; Shakespeare: 23 productions; Signature: Spunk, Girlfriend, La Cage au Folles. International: Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Musical in Bahrain. Instructor: University of Mary Washington. Training: Mary Washington College.

Julia Singer
Assistant Stage Manager
Ford’s: Mister Lincoln; Something Moving; Trip to Bountiful; My Lord, What a Night; Silent Sky; Fences; Twelve Angry Men; Born Yesterday; Jefferson’s Garden; Death of a Salesman; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf; A Christmas Carol; Freedom’s Song; Driving Miss Daisy. Regional: Signature: Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hair, Ragtime, Into the Woods; She Loves Me. D.C.-Area: Kennedy Center: The Other Children of the Sun, The Mortification of Fovea Munson; Acoustic Rooster’s Barnyard Boogie: Starring Indigo Blume; Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus; Me…Jane; Elephant and Piggie’s: We are in a Play! Folger: Love’s Labour’s Lost; The Winter’s Tale. 

Kristin Fox-Siegmund 
Deputy Director and Director of Programming
Since joining Ford’s in 2006, Fox-Siegmund has overseen the creation of the Frances and Craig Lindner Center for Culture and Leadership, the Center for Education and Leadership and the renovation of the historic theatre and museum, as well as the world premiere productions of The Guard, The Widow Lincoln, Necessary Sacrifices, Liberty Smith, Meet John Doe and The Heavens Are Hung In Black. Prior to Ford’s, she spent 11 years at the Alley Theatre in Houston, Texas. Her tenure as Production Manager included premieres of Horton Foote’s The Carpetbagger’s Children, Ken Ludwig’s Be My Baby and Leading Ladies and Edward Albee’s The Play About the Baby and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?, as well as Michael Wilson’s production of A Christmas Carol. She oversaw the design and relocation of the theatre’s new production facilities in 2002 and the renovation of its Neuhaus Stage after the destruction of Tropical Storm Allison in 2001. Other work includes Santa Fe Opera and Houston Grand Opera. 

Paul R. Tetreault 
Director 
Since joining Ford’s in 2004, Tetreault has enhanced the quality of the institution’s artistic programming and expanded its mission to include a stronger focus on education. He led a $50+ million capital campaign, the most extensive renovation to the theatre and museum since the building reopened to the public in 1968, and the creation of the Center for Education and Leadership, which seeks to further explore Lincoln’s legacy. Tetreault served as managing director of the Alley Theatre for 10 years, producing more than 100 productions and working with artists such as Edward Albee, Tony Kushner, Trevor Nunn, Nicky Silver, Frank Wildhorn and August Wilson, among others. He has held senior management positions with Crossroads Theatre Company, New Jersey; Berkeley Repertory Theatre, California; and Circle Repertory Company, New York City. He served as director of finance at Madison Square Garden and as a vice president with C.W. Shaver and Company, Inc., a New York management and fundraising consulting firm. He has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and has taught and guest lectured at Brooklyn College, Columbia University, New York University, the University of Houston and Rice University. He is a graduate of Emerson College and received his MFA from the City University of New York-Brooklyn College. He serves on the Board of the Downtown DC BID. 

Scenery built by F&D Scene Changes Ltd.

The actor and stage managers employed in this production are members of Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers in the United States.

United Scenic Artists represents the designers and scenic painters for the American Theatre. 

The technicians at Ford’s Theatre are represented by Locals 22, 772 and 798, IATSE, AFL-CIO, the professional union of theatrical technicians. 

The director and choeographer are members of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, an independent national labor union. 

The power of place is palpable at Ford’s Theatre. 

As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, Ford’s Theatre Education programs invite students and educators to reflect on the enduring ideals of democracy, equality and civic engagement. Abraham Lincoln’s living legacy — his leadership, oratory and vision — serves as a guiding light for understanding the past and shaping the future. Our programs help students make personal connections to history and encourage them to think critically about the choices individuals and communities make. The echoes of the American spirit — resilience, hope and the ongoing struggle for a more perfect union — resonate through every lesson. As we commemorate 250 years of the American experiment, Ford’s Education empowers the next generation to carry that legacy forward. 

Experience History Where It Happened 

Historic site field trips offer students the opportunity to learn about Lincoln’s assassination, its lasting impact on our nation and how Lincoln’s legacy is relevant today. To ensure all students have access to this opportunity, Ford’s Theatre offers free tickets to Washington D.C. public and charter schools, as well as Title I schools in Maryland and Virginia. 

During a field trip to Ford’s Theatre, students can 

• Tour the historic theatre and museum 

• Illuminate personal stories of many individuals in and around Civil War Washington 

• Reveal the fate of the assassination conspirators, and the manhunt for John Wilkes Booth 

• Explore Lincoln’s complex legacy 

Visit the Teaching and Learning page on the Ford’s Theatre website, www.fords.org.

Public Programs – The Learning Continues

Ford’s Theatre has expanded our programs for educators and the public by offering a series of excursions, workshops and discussions. We invite you to take advantage of the rich history in our nation’s capital while connecting with other members of our local and national communities.  

Cabinet Conversations:

Join us online for a conversation on creativity, history and leadership. 

September 27, 2025: Echoes from the Steps 

Field Trips for Grown Ups:

Tap into your inner-student and delve into local history in these off-site excursions. 

October 4, 2025: From Lincoln to MLK Walking Tour of the National Mall 

November 8, 2025: Civil War Forts Hike 

For more information, visit the Public Programs page on the Ford’s Theatre website, www.fords.org.

Ford’s Theatre education programs are supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies, BP America, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, The Hearst Foundations, The Honorable Anita B. and The Honorable Timothy J. McBride, National Park Service, PwC, Southern Company, United Airlines and Visa Inc. with additional support from Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation, Dr. Scholl Foundation and Nancy Peery Marriott Foundation. 

Historic Site Visits

A visit to Ford’s Theatre traces the story of Abraham Lincoln’s presidency, assassination and legacy. Whether for a brief visit or for the full experience, Ford’s will deepen your appreciation and understanding of America’s 16th president. Admission is free; advance tickets have a convenience fee. The Ford’s Theatre campus traditionally includes: 

• Museum: Learn about Lincoln’s presidency from his inauguration to his arrival at Ford’s Theatre the night of April 14, 1865. See artifacts related to his presidency and assassination.
• Theatre: See the recreated historic theatre and learn the key facts of the assassination from National Park Service Rangers.
• Petersen House: Explore Lincoln’s final moments in the house where Lincoln died.
• Center for Education and Leadership: See the Aftermath Exhibits exploring what happened following Lincoln’s assassination, the hunt for John Wilkes Booth and the lasting impact of Lincoln’s legacy.

Our visitation schedule varies. Parts of the campus may not be available at the time of your visit.

Box Office Hours

• When there is an evening performance: 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• When there is no evening performance: 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• When there is a History on Foot walking tour: 8:30 a.m. until the tour begins.

Groups

Groups (10 or more people) save on mainstage performance tickets, have priority access to the best seats in the house and have flexible payment options. Contact groups@fords.org or (202) 638-2367.

Accessible seating is offered in both the rear orchestra and the balcony sections.

GalaPro closed captioning will be available for all performances starting September 19. Search for GalaPro on the Google Play or Apple Store and download the app.

An audio-enhancement system is available for all performances. Devices are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Please check with an usher. 

Audio-described performances of The American Five are October 2, 2025 at 7 p.m. and October 11, 2025 at 2 p.m. 

Sign-interpreted performances of The American Five is scheduled for October 9, 2025 at 7 p.m. 

Learn more about accessible performances at fords.org/visit-us/accessibility.