The Mountaintop: 10 Fun Facts

The Mountaintop has never before been seen on Festival stages. Following Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., audience members watch as he is forced to confront both his mortality and the future of his work. Although fictional, the play shows themes of being a figurehead versus a private human.

“What a perfect time to reexamine and meet our heroes,” Director Cameron Knight said. “It is important to me that we see the familiar struggles we all face. We are facing so many questions these days; who we are, what it all means, is it worth it, will it make a difference?”

Enjoy these facts about production below:

1. Knight is returning to direct at the Festival, having directed The Tempest and Richard III in the past. His television credits include Blue Bloods and Chicago Med.
2. The director plans to examine King’s mental health through a more modern lens in this production. “It’s important to look backwards and say, ‘What impacts might these very real things that we didn’t talk about because of pride, or culture… have had.’ That can really open up the play for the audience today,” Knight said.
3. Playwright Katori Hall workshopped the play while she was in the Juilliard School’s playwriting program, writing The Mountaintop when she was only 29.
4. Hall graduated from Harvard University with a Master of Fine Arts in acting.
5. The Mountaintop was inspired in part by Hall’s family. Her mother’s name was Carrie Mae, so Hall named the character Camae after her. This is fitting, as Hall’s mother actually grew up around the corner from the Lorraine Motel in Memphis––where the play takes place––and she was very much a part of the Civil Rights Movement.
6. Carrie Mae had tried to go see King’s speech in Memphis, but her mother wouldn’t allow it, saying: “You know they’re gon’ bomb that church, so you need to sit your butt down and you ain’t going to that church.” Carrie Mae’s mother said she regretted this, as the following day King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel. For Hall, writing this play was a way to give her mother the opportunity she didn’t have in 1968.
7. Hall became the first black woman in history to win the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010 for The Mountaintop.
8. The play’s title comes from the speech King gave the night before his assassination; “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop.”
9. The play approaches King in a more raw and human way. Hall wrote him with visible faults, the more obvious being his flirtation as a married man with the maid, the more subtle including him wearing socks with holes in them. This symbolism “brings King back down to the people,” as Knight notes.
10. Knight is particularly drawn to horror and psychological elements, and so the design team will be heavily leaning into projections to bring these elements to the forefront, especially as the play delves into King’s psyche.

Produced in the intimate Eileen and Allen Anes Studio Theatre, The Mountaintop opens July 13 and runs until October 5. Visit bard.org to purchase tickets and to read the content advisory for the play. Utilize our study guide for more information on the playwright, character summaries, a full-length synopsis, and an article by Ryan Paul titled Reflecting on the Past.