Viewing MLK Jr. from ‘The Mountaintop’
Martin Luther King Jr. had stinky feet. He had holes in his socks. He was a good pool player. Katori Hall’s play “The Mountaintop” humanizes the civil rights leader at the Lorraine Motel the night before his assassination. The Adobe Theater is staging the play from Jan. 19 through Feb. 11.
“I first heard of ‘The Mountaintop’ from a director friend of mine,” said director Jenelle Baptiste. “It touched me; a lot of it was just funny things about MLK.
“Yes, he was a great civil rights leader, but he was also a human being,” she continued. “For me, it brought out the humanity in him.”
“The Mountaintop” opens with Martin Luther King Jr. returning to the Lorraine Motel after his sermon “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop.” King (Marcus Ivey) sends a friend to fetch him cigarettes, ultimately leaving him alone in Room 306 as a storm rages outside. While he orders room service, King comes into contact with Camae (Nicee Wagner), the mysterious and beautiful maid who immediately strikes his attention.
The pair flirt and laugh until their conversation turns deeper. They begin to discuss King’s hopes and fears. The conversation focuses on the fight for civil rights and reaches the climax when Camae reveals her true intentions.
“Camae works at the hotel, but later we understand she’s an angel,” Baptiste said. “She’s there to make it easier for him; she challenges his beliefs. He wants to do everything peaceful with marches, but she challenges him on that. She smokes with him; they have a pillow fight.”
Hall penned the play to challenge viewers to see King’s humanity instead of placing him on top of a pedestal.
“I liked the spiritual dimension of a maid as an angel visiting him,” Baptiste said. “We find out that God is a woman. I thought that was cool.”
The play marks Baptiste’s first directorial role; she last acted in “Hazardous Materials” at the Vortex Theatre. When she first read “The Mountaintop” script, she could not put it down. Since then, she has been drawn to Hall’s stories because of her love and articulation of Black life.
“If Dr. King were alive today, what would he think?” Baptiste asked. “Did his dream come true? What can we do as a society to stand up against hatred and injustice? After all, the baton passes on.”
The play initially failed to find a venue in the U.S., but premiered in London in 2009, where it won the prestigious Olivier Best New Play Award. It opened in New York in 2011 with Samuel L. Jackson in his Broadway debut. Angela Bassett played Camae. A two-time Tony nominee, Hall won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play “The Hot Wing King.”