Laurence Fishburne as Thurgood Marshall in ‘Thurgood’, currently running at the Kennedy Center

“The law is a weapon, if you know how to use it.”

That was a motto of Charles Hamilton Houston, the late respected Dean of Howard University’s law school and principal litigator for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) during crucial stages of the Civil Rights movement. Houston spoke those words to a young law student named Thurgood Marshall, skillfully portrayed last night at the Kennedy Center‘s Eisenhower Theater by Laurence Fishburne in Thurgood. The solo play is an elegant telling of how that young man ended up in law school, took Prof. Houston’s words to heart, then went on to become a civil rights icon and the first African-American to sit on the Supreme Court of the United States.

“Gravitas” was a word that came to mind while watching Fishburne’s performance. The 49-year old Oscar nominee and Tony Award winner can be an imposing presence on stage, despite the graying hair piece and mustache mimicking Marshall’s real-life appearance. When speaking of key battles over Civil Rights, his stentorian voice would echo the moral gravity of the conflict, with help from mood shifting lighting cues and subtle sound effects. But on a dime, the actor could change gears and turn into a man lamenting time spent away from family, or a grandfather, who needed the help of a walking cane.

For the most part, Fishburne deftly handled George Stevens, Jr.’s wordy script, a 90-minute series of recollections, reflections, and re-enactments. The stamina required to get through such a performance is impressive, in and of itself, so one could easily forgive a minor trip-up on a line here and there.