The Inspiration & Process of Writing The American Five
When Chess Jakobs originally wrote The American Five, which received a Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission, they wanted to explore the relationship between different historically marginalized groups, from Black and Jewish people to queer people and women, from the start of the Civil Rights Movement to the present day. The play began as an epic of three acts which spanned from 1963 all the way to the present and featured 15 characters. “I think when we read the first script, it took four hours to get through and it was called a Symphony of Plays,” Chess Jakobs said in an interview with Michel Martin on NPR’s Morning Edition ahead of The American Five’s 2025 world premiere at the historic Ford’s Theatre.
After exploring all the themes of their new epic across the huge timeline they set it in, Jakobs decided to bring the focus on the more historic side of the story. “For me to write about the present time, I have the future to do that, but, especially as my debut play, starting with the history is super important to me,” Jakobs stated. “I’m a researcher as well. I really love history. And so being able to bring my experience as a theater artist and being a historian at the same time, I feel like I had the most meat and potatoes to work with going back and then starting my journey.”
While thinking of the Civil Rights Movement, most Americans immediately recall Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King, but are less likely to know of the other key players surrounding them. Jakobs wanted to uplift these voices that, although equally important, are not as quickly recalled in America’s history despite their deep commitment in advancing the rights for many underserved Americans. “[Bayard Rustin was] openly gay. In the 1960s, so a pioneer for simply that fact alone, on top of all of the organizing work that he did,” Jakobs stated. “And then you have Stanley Levison, who helped co-write one of the first drafts of the ‘I Have a Dream’ speech and was a businessman/attorney/fundraiser for King and a literary agent. And then you have Clarence B. Jones, who was also considered just such a titan for being an established attorney at that age, at that time, having graduated from Columbia, gone to [Boston University School of Law] and gave up his life working as an entertainment attorney in L.A. to come and work on civil rights. So you have these people who committed their lives to this movement.”
This deep, unbreakable commitment of Bayard Rustin, Stanley Levison, Clarence B. Jones, Coretta Scott King and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the driving force behind Jakobs’s inspiration for highlighting this incredibly important part of history. “I really respect these people because of the wealth of resilience that they had,” Chess Jakobs reflected. “It’s not just the wealth of resilience that they had based on how much they were knocked down on the work that they were doing. But doing that on top of all of the very human things we go through at home, like raising families, like being in marriages, like managing friendships, like running organizations, doing all of that and still finding the 35 hours in a day to work and advocate for and stand up [for] civil rights for the nation, for me speaks volumes. So that in today’s time, when we feel like we don’t have the 30 minutes to go out and advocate, when we don’t have the time to go to a city council meeting. We don’t have the time to show up for our families, that we recognize that it took this level of commitment to have the rights that we have today.”
Jakobs wanted to “color in” the gaps between historical events to reflect that even these five historic titans were deeply human and were not just legendary names written in textbooks. “So essentially what I did was look at events based on history and then, like a coloring book, color in what might have been right about all historical figures they don’t talk about in most of our historical books,” Jakobs reflected. “The curious mind in me as an artist is wondering what are all of the factors in history that would lead to the conversation happening in those moments. From reading memoirs and research, there are several mentioning them getting together over dinner, of them even singing together sometimes. Dr. King actually loved to cook. He loved to make smothered greens.”
When being interviewed by NPR’s Michel Martin, Jakobs was reminded of how 1963 was a year riddled with violence and assassinations, including the murder of the NAACP first field secretary in Mississippi in his own driveway in Jackson, Mississippi; the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham and, most notably, the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. After being asked how they would bring audiences back into this time, Jakobs replied that they do not participate in that mindset and are instead grateful for the risks their ancestors took to progress the rights they, as well as countless other Americans, have today. “I’m always considering the fact that because I’m here dancing in a gay bar with my friends who represent the mosaic of the world, somebody did die so that I could have this right. Somebody got hosed down. Somebody ran away from a plantation. All of these things happened in order for me to be in this room right now.”
“One of the hopes that I have is for people to …know that it’s not just this archetype or specific profile of a person who is an advocate, who stands up for other people, who works on behalf of others. It’s the collaboration and the coalition building across all of these different kinds of people that made this specific thing possible that I think speaks volumes to the world that we have to facilitate and grow and advocate within right now.”
About The Playwright
Chess Jakobs is a playwright and screenwriter whose work often explores American history through a contemporary lens, blending political drama with deeply human storytelling. They are also an explorer and researcher whose work focuses on society, culture, climate and the environment.
Jakobs’s writing focuses on pivotal historical moments, character-driven dialogue and the personal dynamics behind public movements. Their work has been developed by regional theaters, new play festivals and academic institutions, and he continues to create projects for both stage and screen that illuminate lesser-known perspectives within American history.
Chess’s debut play, The American Five, received the Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commission and had its world premiere at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, DC. The production received 9 Helen Hayes Nominations, including Best Play and Best Production. Chess is also a published poet with “Sum of Steps” featured in Peace & Riot Magazine’s Third Edition, and “Nice-Jewish Non-Boys; Dayenu” featured in Be’chol Lashon’s Jewish& Editorial. Chess’s other creative production ventures include collaborations with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Olney Theatre and Indiana Repertory Theatre, as well as work appearing on and off Broadway.
SOURCES
“About Chess Jakobs.” Chess Jakobs, www.chessjakobs.com/about. Accessed 27 May 2026.
Martin, Michel, and Olivia Hampton. “A New Play Explores the Story behind the March on Washington.” NPR, NPR, 25 Sept. 2025, www.npr.org/2025/09/24/nx-s1-5513917/the-american-five-chess-jakobs-ro-boddie.
