THIS PRODUCTION IS A STAGED READING OF THE PLAY WITH POST-PERFORMANCE DISCUSSIONS.

ABOUT THE PLAY

The Mountaintop, written by Katori Hall & directed by Dr. Asabi, is a gripping reimagination of events the night before the assassination of the civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. reveals his most intimate thoughts and prayers.  On April 3, 1968, after delivering one of his most memorable speeches, an exhausted Dr. King retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel while a storm rages outside.  When a mysterious stranger arrives with some surprising news, King is forced to confront his destiny and his legacy to his people.

"... as audacious as it is inventive... [a] thrilling, wild, provocative flight of magical realism...  Hall keeps her audience guessing... This is playwrighting without a net, a defiant poke in the eye of all historical conventions and political correctness... The King that is left after Hall's humanization project is somehow more real and urgent and whole."
--Associate Press

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Katori Hall is currently the showrunner and Executive Producer of the Starz drama series, P-Valley, which she adapted from her stage play P-Valley. The critically acclaimed and record-breaking series returned for its second season on June 3, 2022. P-Valley was named to countless ‘Best of 2020’ lists for its first season and, among many honors, has received Gotham, Independent Spirit, GLAAD Media, and NAACP Image Award nominations. 

For Broadway, she most recently wrote and produced the hit musical, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, based on the life of the iconic performer, receiving two Tony Award nominations for her work as both playwright for ‘Best Book of a Musical’ and as producer in the ‘Best Musical’ category. For the musical’s acclaimed West End production, she also received an Olivier nomination for ‘Best New Musical.’

Her play, The Mountaintop, which vividly reimagines the final night of Martin Luther King Jr.’s life, premiered at Theatre503 in London in 2009, then transferred to the West End, where she won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010. It later opened on Broadway in October 2011 to critical acclaim in a production starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett. 

Katori Hall is a Pulitzer Prize and Olivier Award-winning playwright and television creator/producer hailing from Memphis, Tennessee. A two-time Tony Award nominee, she won the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play, The Hot Wing King.

 

North Carolina Central University, accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST), takes prides in NCCU University Theatre being listed among the top ten best HBCU Theatre Schools in the United States by Hbcu-Colleges.com. The department is designed to satisfy the needs of a broad range of enthusiastic students and to give them the widest possible exposure to accomplishments in theatre and experiences that will develop them as capable theatre practitioners. Offering a bachelor’s degree in Theatre, our life and career applicable concentrations prepare majors to become performers, choreographers, teachers, directors, designers and technicians, production managers, media specialists, and dramaturgs in a culturally diverse world.​

The Department was recently awarded National Awards from the Kennedy Center for the production of The Bus Stop by Najee Brown.  Please visit the KCACTF4 website for most information about this celebrated accomplishment.
https://www.kcactf4.org/news/9720/national-honors-for-region-iv-shows/