The first Black mayor to lead a major southern city was elected 50 years ago, when Maynard Holbrook Jackson became mayor of Atlanta. Playwright Pearl Cleage captured the significance of that historic period in “Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard.”
The play is at Ford’s Theatre until Oct. 15. Seema Sueko is the director.
Cleage was a friend and colleague of Jackson. She lived through the euphoria of an election victory and saw the realities of acceptance, representation, and governance.
“He was such an extraordinary person who did amazing things,” said Cleage in an exclusive interview with The Washington Informer. “He really transformed the city in many ways we can still see.”
Not the Usual Biopic
The audience was presented with a unique setup for “Something Moving.” The production is written as a workshop, where the playwright, director and actors feel their way through the storyline to understand the feeling and direction of the play. Names are not used, but each character is called “Citizen,” followed by a number. The premise of the storyline is how Atlantans remembered Jackson’s election and how he governed Atlanta. The approach works because, through Cleage’s writing, her characters share feelings while sometimes questioning their perspective of what the city went through. The play takes place in 1973 and in the present.
Being in the audience for “Something Moving,” I remembered my Atlanta college days during Jackson’s historic administration. As a student radio reporter, I covered some of Jackson’s mayoral press briefings. Several times during Cleage’s play, the vision expressed by the cast was that Jackson was larger than life. He was that on many levels. The audience felt Jackson’s presence through Milagro Ponce de León’s set design for the production. He used black and white photos of Jackson, Atlanta, and its people that the ensemble reacts to in those moments.
“I wanted to write about him, but I did not want to write a chronological biopic,” Cleage said. “I wanted to take a more personal view of what that moment felt like. I felt nobody was better qualified to write about that than I was.”
Commissioned Social Justice Play
“Something Moving” is a world premiere from the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission. This play is one of several from Ford’s artistic incubator sharing stories about social justice and racial history. Commissioned works explore the experiences of underrepresented characters and lesser-known historical figures.
Actress Constance Swain portrays “Citizen 2.” Swain, along with Cleage and Faedra Chatard Carpenter, Ph.D., the dramaturg or theater advisor for “Something Moving,” felt a sisterhood working on this play.
They represent three eras of Spelman College alumnae who have seen the impact of Jackson’s legacy.
“I was not born during Maynard’s time in office. Much of his legacy is discussed in this play,” said Swain. “The play is not just about politics. It’s about ordinary people who came together to do something extraordinary.”
For tickets and more information on “Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard,” visit www.fords.org