Image via Aliance Theatre’s Facebook: Rob Dewey and Jade Payton featured as Dr. King and Camae

By Ian Shaiyen, Staff Writer

Pulitzer Prize winner Katori Hall’s “The Mountaintop” is a masterful work of writing where intersectionality plays center stage. Set in a Memphis hotel room on the eve of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s (Rob Demery) assassination, the play takes a grounded, intimate approach to character writing and world building. Hall’s work is one that prompts new conversations about the civil rights hero through exploring his fears, vices, and mortality.

Ranging from his personal struggles with his faith, substance abuse and family.  King finds his living antithesis in the lonely housekeeper, Camae (Jade Payton). This juxtaposition is one that captures the essence of “The Mountaintop”, where conversations present themselves as the canvas for introspection and discourse.

The play opens with a disillusioned King, weathered and weary by the weight of the world, a strained marriage and a burning Memphis. 

“We’re marching for a damn living wage, not a color TV,” King said.

In these opening moments, Hall’s writing establishes a mournful tone. This is an energy that is felt throughout the play and is carried until its final curtain call.

King’s lines are delivered with a balance of humor and truth, resulting in a mixed reception of laughter and clarity.

“I’ve got marchers feet and we ain’t even marched yet,” he said.  “Judge not and ye should not be judged.”

King’s humanity is brought to the forefront with the introduction of Camae, a character whose role largely develops as the play continues on. Her conversation with King coupled with their chemistry paints King as a morally confused character. King’s darkness is underscored by his internal conflicts with his vices— namely his ego and infidelity.

Over the course of the play, Camae openly flirts with King, sighing against bedroom walls and batting her eyelashes at the civil rights leader.

 “When men get old, they get handsome,” Camae said. 

However, her character is one with many layers, and it is her philosophies on principle and revolution that challenge his ideals as the night progresses.

 “You’d like Malcolm, he didn’t drink, he didn’t smoke and he didn’t cheat on his own wife,” she said.

Demery is monumental in his lead role. He exudes presence, and the versatility he displays on stage is undeniable. From the disgruntled slouch of his opening stumble into the motel, to his final stance speaking on a pulpit, his energy is truly felt in every detail of his portrayal of King. 

Payton’s presence is equally felt. When King soars, Camae glides across the stage. She is calculated in her movement, and yet, there is also an air of humorous energy that she delivers throughout the duration of the play.

The play unfolds in a single hotel room, utilizing dim lighting and stormy weather to create a somber, reflective atmosphere. In stark contrast to the size of the Alliance Theater, the confined setting of “The Hotel Room” allows for an intimate exploration of  King’s psyche, and the deconstruction of his own biases.

“The Mountaintop” exists as a stunning analysis on the works and life of King. King’s Vices, personal relationships, and ideologies are all masterfully explored throughout the production, resulting in a thorough, intricate plot matched only by the caliber of its performing cast.

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