The Mountaintop

Winner of the Olivier Award for Best New Play 2009, The Mountaintop is a historical-fantastical two hander and portrays the penultimate days in the life of Martin Luther King. The night before his assassination King retires to room 306 in the now famous motel after giving an acclaimed speech to a massive church congregation. When a mysterious young maid visits him to deliver a cup of coffee, King is forced to confront his past and the future of his people. Katori Hall's award-winning play is heartbreaking, humourous and breathtakingly powerful. A lively mood and hints of surrealism and fantasy is combined with a clear-eyed view of the man behind the legend. She depicts King as a real and at times flawed man, but nevertheless inspirational and capable of effecting momentous societal shifts. This is a story which crosses continents, colour and generations, and remains as relevant today as it was in the midst of the civil rights movement in 1968. Portraying rhetoric, hope and ideals of social change, The Mountaintopalso explores being human in the face of inevitable death. The play is a dramatic feat of daring originality, historical narration and triumphant compassion.

Katori Hall is is a recent graduate of the Juilliard School's Lila Acheson Wallace playwriting program. Her plays include Hoodoo Love, which was produced Off-Broadway at the Cherry Lane Theatre, and The Mountaintop, which was recently produced to great acclaim at London's Theatre 503 and transferred to the Trafalgar Studios in London's West End and won Best New Play at the 2010 Olivier Awards. Other plays include Remembrance, Hurt Village, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, and The Hope Well. Other awards include the 2009-10 Lark Play Development Playwrights of New York (PONY) Fellowship, Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, two Lecompte du Nouy Prizes from Lincoln Center, Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, NYFA Fellowship, Van Lier Fellowship from the Public Theatre and the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award.

"Remarkable."—The Guardian "Inventive and startlingly moving."—The Times (of London)