Everyone remembers Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech from the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, which took place 60 years ago this August. But what people may not recall from any history class is the crucial role that women played in the success of that event, which attracted more than 250,000 people stretching down the National Mall from the foot of the Lincoln Memorial.
Credit: HANDOUT, not for resale
Credit: HANDOUT, not for resale
Case in point: How many of you reading this have heard of Anna Arnold Hedgeman, the only woman on the march’s organizing committee, who worked alongside A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin? Or civil rights activist Daisy Bates, the only woman who spoke from the podium that day?
Scores of women like Bates and Hedgemen provided the backbone of the civil rights movement but have never gotten their full due in the pages of history. And now, they have served to inspire playwright and director Nikki Toombs, who penned the new historical piece, “Let Us March On,” which will debut for a one-night-only performance on Wednesday, May 17, at the Rialto Center for the Arts downtown.
Credit: Larsen Kennedy
Credit: Larsen Kennedy
The show will be presented by The National Center for Civil and Human Rights as part of their 2023 “Power to Inspire” fundraiser. The Center will honor eight women of the movement in person for their lifetimes of advocacy, including 90-year-old civil rights legend and writer Myrlie Evers-Williams, widow of civil rights activist and Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers, who was murdered by a white supremacist in 1963.
Toombs has already authored eight plays, directed more than 40 productions, is a former director of education for Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company and has her own arts consulting agency, Art Nexus, among many other endeavors. But the Birmingham, Alabama, native, who said she grew up steeped in the world of the civil rights movement – an “SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) kid” with family who were activists — she was amazed to discover how many of the movement’s women she had never heard of.
When the National Center for Civil and Human Rights commissioned her to create this work, she began to witness “history jumping off of the page,” she said, discovering figures like Joyce and Dorie Ladner, two young activists from Mississippi who joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) when they were 17 and 18.
Credit: Larsen Kennedy
Credit: Larsen Kennedy
“I have been immersed in that world, but I didn’t see many female identifying figures,” Toombs said. “I don’t want to minimize the efforts of those who took the lead. But you know, my head is held up by my neck, and figuratively, women were the neck of the movement. We’re not acknowledging what is helping to hold that head up.”
Bringing such a well-known and iconic moment from history into the world of live performance presented an interesting challenge — one which Toombs approached by making this work as interactive and multi-layered as possible.
“One of the reasons why we decided to make this an immersive theatrical experience is to take you to the world of the March so that you can feel the momentum — so you can see the power behind these speeches,” she said.
Credit: Pitter Photography
Credit: Pitter Photography
The show, Toombs said, will be immersive, with moments that break the fourth wall, and with archival multimedia incorporated throughout.
It will also feature chorus, theater and dance students from Martha Ellen Stilwell School of the Arts..
“The beauty of it all is that these students are having a chance to learn from industry professionals. There’s this beautiful synergy of everything coming together,” she said. The students take on a variety of roles — serving as a choir in the church scene, or as protestors, or even as speakers at the March.
Toombs added that one key to making the whole event feel real and tangible was to hire professional actors who could climb into the skin of some of the movement’s most recognizable and beloved figures — like Atlanta’s own Nobel laureate the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
“I wanted to move people from who they know him to be and listen to the power of the words that King poured into our souls,” she said. Of stage and screen veteran E. Roger Mitchell, who portrays King in this show, she added, “Some actors are apprehensive about approaching such an iconic role. Mitchell looks nothing like King, but he is such a fabulous actor that he can make you get lost in the words.”
Credit: Courtesy of Maiesha McQueen
Credit: Courtesy of Maiesha McQueen
The show at Rialto will also feature musical theater star Maiesha McQueen as influential singer Mahalia Jackson, someone McQueen previously embodied in the acclaimed one-woman show, “Mahalia: A Gospel Musical.” McQueen recently wrapped a star turn as Celie in Denver’s production of the musical adaptation of “The Color Purple.” She was also part of the first national touring production of “Waitress: The Musical.”
Credit: Larsen Kennedy
Credit: Larsen Kennedy
“Let Us March On” will feature choreography by Victor Jackson and musical direction by Emorja Roberson, composer and assistant choral professor at Emory University.
Thinking about how live performance can help shape what we know about the moments that shape our world, Toombs said, “Art taps into the humanity of the audience member. It connects community, connects culture. There’s something magical about it that allows things to resonate.”
One audience member who will be there on Wednesday night is Toombs’ youngest son, now age 10. Sitting in the audience at the Rialto, he’ll get to witness his own mother’s contribution to history — and the mission to uplift and preserve women’s voices when we share stories about our collective past.
IF YOU GO
“Let Us March On”
6 p.m. May 17. $250. The evening will start with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by a seated performance and a dessert reception. Rialto Center for the Arts at Georgia State University, 80 Forsyth St. NW, Atlanta. 404-413-9849, civilandhumanrights.org.
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