Katori Hall is the playwright of The Mountaintop, a fictional play that speculates on the last night of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr.’s life. Hall was 29 years old when she wrote the play, and it has received massive success.
In an interview with NPR, Hall noted that she grew up having King as a part of who she was (https://www.npr.org/2011/04/01/135019146/broadway-to-get-a-view-from-mlks-mountaintop).
“Well, he is everywhere. Having grown up in Memphis, Tennessee. . . I grew up always having his voice in my ears and in my heart and in my mind,” Hall said.
Hall is an award-winning playwright and television creator and producer. She has a Pulitzer Prize (for her play The Hot Wing King) and Olivier Award under her belt and is a two-time Tony Award nominee.
Her other known works include the television series P-Valley and play Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, which was nominated for a Tony. Other plays include Hurt Village, Our Lady of Kibeho, and Children of Killers.
More than just a playwright, Hall is also a journalist, actress, executive producer, and writer. From a young age, it was apparent that Hall was made for big things, as she graduated from Craigmont High School as the first African American valedictorian in the school’s history.
Hall went on to attend Columbia University, where she received a bachelor’s degree in African-American Studies and Creative Writing, despite beginning her college studies in the theater department.
The playwright’s education didn’t stop there, and in 2005, Hall graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Acting from Harvard University, where she wrote Hoodoo Love. Despite it being her first full-length play, it was well received and premiered off-Broadway at Cherry Lane Theatre.
In 2009, Hall graduated from The Julliard School’s playwriting program, where she workshopped The Mountaintop. This play proved to be Hall’s breakthrough, premiering in London where it sold out at Theatre503 before being moved to the West End. In 2011, The Mountaintop hit Broadway.
The Mountaintop was inspired in part by Hall’s family. Her mother’s name was Carrie Mae, so Hall named Camae after her. This is fitting, as Hall’s mother actually grew up around the corner from the Lorraine Motel, and she was very much a part of the Civil Rights Movement.
“You know, [my mother] would come back to it as the years went by, and just to talk about who Dr. King is to her and to a lot of black people,” Hall said.
“Like, you walk into my grandmother’s house and you see two pictures on the wall. You see Dr. King and you see Jesus. Dr. King is placed on this amazing, huge pedestal.”
Hall wasn’t afraid to dive into the psyche of King, painting him as a human that makes mistakes in addition to the much-revered leader. She received backlash for this, especially when she initially sent it out to director’s she admired in the beginning. But Hall didn’t back down.
“For me, I think a warts-and-all portrayal of Dr. King is important because there’s this extraordinary human being who is actually quite ordinary,” Hall said. “And I feel as though by portraying him with his flaws and foibles, we, too, can see, as human beings who have these flaws, that we, too, can be Kings; we, too, can carry on that baton that he has passed down to us.”
For more information on Hall’s prolific awards and accomplishments, visit her website, www.katorihall.com. To see her work live, don’t miss out on our production of The Mountaintop this 2024 season.
