Perhaps you’ve seen the evocative posters for “The Mountaintop,” playing at the Arvada Center’s Black Box Theatre. The flat roof, turquoise doors and metal railing of a certain motel are all too familiar to anyone who lived the period or has seen the news footage: Memphis, the Lorraine Motel, Room 306. This is the location of Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968, etched in memory from the iconic black-and-white photographs of the chaos on that balcony.
On stage, we never see the balcony, but it is ever-present, calling from the near future. Instead, playwright Katori Hall situates the action inside the dingy motel room, posing a disarming question: What might the last night of King’s life have been like? What personal summing up, what thoughts about his achievements and failings might the civil rights leader have had?
* * * Stars | Drama
The interactions of that night are stunning but the less you know beforehand, the better.
Suffice to say a maid named Camae, her first day on her new job, delivers a cup of coffee to “Preacher King,” as she calls him, and they strike up a conversation. King was known for his womanizing, it was known that the FBI had him under surveillance, and he was exhausted and full of self-doubts at this point in the civil rights struggle. Is it possible Camae has been sent to entrap King?
It’s not that simple.
The action begins after King’s epic “I’ve been to the mountaintop” speech at a gathering in support of local sanitation workers. A terrible storm rages outside and his mood is equally unsettled. King paces the motel room, dialing room service, checking for recording devices, trying out parts of a future speech. He is agitated, suffering a cough, worried about not accomplishing enough, aware of repeated death threats.
He impatiently awaits the Rev. Ralph Abernathy, with whom he has frequently shared this room and who he has sent for a pack of cigarettes.
Wouldn’t you know, the maid smokes King’s brand?
Cedric Mays as MLK is more sexy-handsome than King, taller, thinner and more full of nervous energy. Mays plays him as a man tormented, a man constantly preoccupied. He aims for the rhythmic cadence and mesmerizing voice of King, but it’s sometimes elusive.
Betty Hart is well cast as Camae, the more accessible character, providing laughs and warmth where the story needs it. She is at once commanding, sassy, foul-mouthed and endearing.
The playwright toys with the juxtaposition of the momentous and the minor, superstar hero versus fallible human. The historical significance of the location is as grand as the motel room is nondescript. We are urged to consider both the man and the myth.
Eventually the rising narrative takes a wonderfully theatrical turn — no spoilers — and under Gavin Mayer’s direction, the drama is consistently absorbing. Scenic designer Brian Mallgrave manages some clever surprises.
The weakest aspect of the one-act production is a montage of history-lesson photos on projection screens, which feel like a 1970s multimedia effort, undermining the pure theatrical moments.
The imaginative work won the Olivier Award for best new play in 2010 and ran on Broadway in 2011. The small-scale production reportedly felt lost in a huge house but plays well in the Black Box theater.
Joanne Ostrow: 303-954-1830, jostrow@denverpost.com or @ostrowdp
“THE MOUNTAINTOP”
By Katori Hall, directed by Gavin Mayer. With Cedric Mays and Betty Hart. “Extensive mature language.” Through April 17 in the Black Box Theatre, the Arvada Center. Tickets: 720-898-7200 or online at arvadacenter.org.