Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard Review at DC’s Ford’s Theatre

Scott Suchman

The new play Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard is currently playing at Washington DC’s Ford’s Theater, from playwright Pearl Cleage and director Seema Sueko, and uses an intentionally ‘meta’ approach to telling a story. We start in a random classroom in a random Atlanta school where a bunch of actors meet to rehearse a play about Maynard Jackson, who was the first Black mayor of Atlanta in 1974.

This group is led by an intentionally unnamed character, who calls herself ‘The Witness’ (played by Billie Krishawn) and her instructions for the actors as they read through the play — all only referred to as ‘Citizen 1’, ‘Citizen 2’, etc up to ‘Citizen 9’. Each of these citizens represents a different perspective on an Atlanta citizen, of various backgrounds and ages — and they are encouraged (on stage) to incorporate themselves into the narrative as well.

These actors are thus carefully chosen and dynamically included, as the play is theirs as well, in the true and meta sense of the word. Among the group are a few older folk that easily remember Maynard, and more younger people than were born far after he had become a local legend. The play does make a point to both not talk about people’s backgrounds but using them as each actors talks about things that matter to them because of their backgrounds — thus you get a speech from Citizen 2 (Constance Swain) impassionately talking about word usage while Citizen 9 (Derek Garza) raises important historical thoughts that may have been ignored.

The story of Atlanta and Maynard’s rise to office is told through the memories of Atlanta citizens, gathered and collected, and some specifically identified to be chronologically told by the play within a play. Throughout we get further sense of these people as they begin to connect more with the material and get engaged, thoughtful, and impassioned.

There’s a chaotic element to it all, at times characters intentionally talking at the same time, or some people softly singing while one person tells one particular story in the lights. It’s a strong group, with all of them getting a chance to shine at various points, and being able to embody many people as they channel both strangers and themselves.

Scott Suchman

In the ensemble we have Kim Bey, Doug Brown, Alina Collins Maldonado, Derek Garza, Shubhangi Kuchibhotla, Susan Rome, Shaquille Stewart, Tom Story, Constance Swaim, and the witness leader of Billie Krishawn. As such I would be hard-pressed to see that one person particularly outshined another, but all of them had impactful moments corralled with the high intensity of the Witness character (although I do have my secret favorites that may or may not share a common alma mater or home city).

What I liked about this approach is that it wasn’t simply a historical narrative, in fact Maynard is only shown in images against the wall — we never even see a video. The fake slideshow aspect lends it an old school feeling, and the format puts the focus on the people and ‘Citizens’ as the playwright intended.

I have to say that I didn’t really know anything about Maynard, or really much of Atlanta history in general, so this play also gave me some interesting insight into a world I hadn’t seen much of. And it’s always impressive to see a play in Ford’s Theater, sharing a history of play watchers over the last century and change — the play ultimately is a raw and jumbled sort of joy, but for me that’s what makes it stand out.

Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard runs about 90 minutes, and is recommended for ages 8 and older.

Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard runs through October 15 at Washington DC’s Ford’s Theatre. Visit the official website for more information.