Shows range from Thursday, Feb. 2 to Saturday Feb. 4.

This free, three-day public festival of readings provides a preview of new plays in development with members of our first cohort of BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) playwrights in The Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions initiative. Seema Sueko(Silent Sky) will direct Pearl Cleage’s meditation on the life and impact of Maynard Jackson, Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard. Dominic Taylor’s exploration of pioneer Black biologists Dr. Ernest Everett Just and Dr. Roger Arliner Young, Young and Just, will be directed by Donald Douglass. Thomas F. DeFrantz will direct Blackbox, Rickerby Hinds’s magical hip-hop retelling of abolitionist Henry Box Brown’s escape to freedom. There will be opportunities for expanded conversations around the work. With A First Look, Ford’s gives audiences an unparalleled inside peek at the process and voices that shaped these works. Senior Artistic Advisor Sheldon Epps, Director of Artistic Programming José Carrasquilloand The Ford’s Theatre Legacy Commissions Advisor Sydné Mahone lead the initiative. Learn more about each play and reserve your tickets at the links below.