While making a 38-city tour this spring, Katori Hall’s internationally acclaimed play The Mountaintop will be in Chattanooga for one-day only in the UTC Fine Arts Center’s Roland Hayes Concert Hall on April 10.
Review for the Mountaintop:
The Mountaintop imagines what may have transpired inside the room just hours before Dr. Martin Luther King’s assassination on April 4, 1968, in Memphis. Ms. Hall’s gripping tale of events is rife with humanity and humor as the celebrated Reverend reveals his hopes, regrets and fears to a seemingly inconsequential hotel maid.
“It was really important for me to show the human side of King,” Ms. Hall said. ”During this time, he was dealing with the heightened threat of violence, he was tackling issues beyond civil rights — economic issues — and was denouncing the Vietnam War. So I wanted to explore the emotional toll and the stress of that. King changed the world, but he was not a deity. He was a man, a human being like you and me. So it was important to show him as such: vulnerable.”
Bob Boyer, Patten Performances director, said he was excited about the upcoming performance.
“This award-winning play is a gem, and this performance will be a gift for Chattanoogans,” Mr. Boyer said. “Given Dr. King’s tie to Chattanooga, The Mountaintop is a homecoming of sorts for his legacy, while serving as a reminder for us to continue in the spirit of his work.”
The Mountaintop received its world premiere in London at Theatre 503 before transferring to Trafalgar Studios in the West End. The 2011 Broadway production starred Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett.
Tickets to Fine Arts Center Events may be purchased at the Fine Arts Center Box Office from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. weekdays, by calling the Box Office at 425-4269, or online at www.utc.edu/tickets.