The Mountaintop

January 30, 2017
Hall crafts a fascinating look at the final hours of Martin Luther King Jr. in this fictional dramatization of the evening before he was assassinated. King opens up about his inner demons and his legacy as he debates with Camae, a hotel staff member whom he bonds with over the course of the play. Performed in front of a live audience, the production never misses a beat and flows effortlessly for the full emotionally intense hour. Actor Larry Powell captures King’s power, vulnerability, and hubris, while actress Aja Naomi King (who starred in the 2016 film The Birth of a Nation) projects just as much presence and intensity. Integrated throughout the performance, the sound design propels the narrative forward without interrupting it, and the aural montage in the final moments of the production will move listeners to tears with its blending of past and present, dynamic use of call and response, and the ceaseless vocal drive of actress King as Camae.

"I've been to the mountaintop," Martin Luther King, Jr., proclaimed in his final speech in Memphis on April 3, 1968. The next day he was assassinated. What took place in the wee hours in-between is the grist for this tough, mesmerizing, and lyrical one-act play featuring two rising stars in American stage and film--Larry Powell and Aja Naomi King. As the mysterious motel maid who appears at Reverend King's motel door, Aja Naomi King is a force of nature--whispering, cajoling, and calling like a gospel singer to lead the Reverend on a search for his very core as a human being, evoking his pride, humor, and doubts in the process. It's a transcending, emotional experience for the listener. Contemporary American theater at its best. B.P. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award � AudioFile 2017, Portland, Maine