A gripping reimagination of events the night before the assassination of the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
“The Mountaintop” is set on April 3, 1968. It’s the day before the assassination of well-known activist Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The story takes place in room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, — the room where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. stayed during his final night.
As actor Eric Carter, playing Marting Luther King, Jr. makes his way onto the stage, you’ll be transported to that night. You’ll hear Dr. King playing with different words and phrases in preparation for a speech. Such phrases as, “Why America is going to hell” is one that you’ll hear.
The play comes across as a source of comfort for many Americans who to this day just can’t seem to make sense of the tragedy that occurred. Here Dr. King is retreating to the comfort of his hotel room after delivering the mountainous speech “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop”. Not feeling all that great and wore out, he’s been let down by the turnout for his speech and appearance… he apparently was expecting much more. He’s somewhat paranoid as he checks around the room for listening devices.
We are soon introduced to another character: Camae, a motel maid, played by Wendi Smith. She enters the show bringing Dr. King some coffee and is clearly a spirited personality.
It doesn’t take long before you can see there’s a certain chemistry between Camae and Dr. King. Some could speculate that this is common with Dr. King and his reputation for being somewhat of a womanizer. Her flirtatious spirit brings a sharp edge to her personality.
A young beautiful woman, Camae is far from the innocent one she initially appears to be. Her candor seems to make it easy for Dr. King to relax and it doesn’t take long at all before he begins putting some of his smooth moves on her. She handles it perfectly without missing a beat and even seems to leave his flirtations somewhat open to being successful.
The Mountaintop seems to try to show something different – that although we know tomorrow will be his last day, we aren’t dwelling on that. Instead, it seems to try to show the intriguing time he may have actually had on his last night there in his motel room.
This production is available for streaming for 48 hours after ticket purchase. The show runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday December 4, 5, 6 and December 11, 12, 13.
