Playwright Katori Hall discusses her play about Martin Luther King, Jr., The Mountaintop, now on Broadway. Director of The Mountaintop and Stick Fly, Kenny Leon, joins the conversation.
Playwright Katori Hall discusses her play about Martin Luther King, Jr., The Mountaintop, now on Broadway. Director of The Mountaintop and Stick Fly, Kenny Leon, joins the conversation.
Comments [2]
Broadway, in recent years, is known for lowest common denominator pop and unnecessary "celebrity" stars. That said, The Mountaintop is not a startling grand peak, but a new low. As a theatre artist, an activist, and a person of color, I was disgusted, insulted, and ashamed by the play. The idea of portraying Dr King as a common man is a welcome one ripe for exploration. Instead what the Mountaintop gives us is little more than a minstrel show for the Tyler Perry generation - an opportunistic defacement of King's ever-fading legacy and Black and American culture.
How the hell did this get funding, let alone an Olivier Award?
Still sends chills through me when I hear that excerpt.
Love to Kenny Leon from Atlanta!
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