Round House Theatre kicks off the 2023-2024 theatre season with Delicia Turner Sonnonberg’s production of The Mountaintop by Katori Hall, which runs through November 5th.
The play is about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (played by Ro Boddie) and his conversation with the enigmatic Camae (played by Renea S. Brown) on the night before his death. It is well-known that Dr. King had spent the night before his assassination with an unnamed woman who was rejected from his hospital room the day he died. Hall’s script fleshes out this woman, gives her a name, and expands her into something so much more than a woman Dr. King slept with.
The show, despite the incredibly heavy topic, is full of light-hearted moments. Brown’s performance as Camae was a true stand-out. Her performance was charismatic and enigmatic. She was able to balance levity and severity perfectly. Boddie’s performance as Dr. King was refreshingly humble and human.
So often in historical fiction pieces, figures of great importance and influence like Dr. King are kept on this pedestal or tear the figure down so much that the work that they did is tarnished by the negative portrayal. In this show, Dr. King is held with a respect that brings him down to the real world. However, it is done in such a way that does not bring him ill-will. Dr. King’s impact and influence is still seen with the greatest respect. The end of the show is a brilliant, poetic ode to the great things that Dr. King not only did, but the legacy he left behind. It leaves us as the audience wondering what we can do better to reach the world he dreamed of.
Seeing this show is a must. You will laugh, you will cry, and you will learn. If you don’t leave the show wondering what you can do, you should see it again and again until the message sticks. The show is a celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., just as much as it is a call to action to make his dream our reality.
Get your tickets to The Mountaintop at Round House Theatre here.
Percy Sampson, New Orleans born and Virginia bred, is finishing up their time at University of Mary Washington, where they are double majoring in English and Theatre. A passionate writer, they spend most of their free time working on (mostly horror) scripts and short stories.
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