Review: 'The Mountaintop' at Hope Summer Rep

In the 53 years that he’s been gone, Martin Luther King Jr. has taken on an almost god-like status. We’ve made huge monuments to him, there is a federal holiday with his name, we’ve named streets after him, we quote him frequently and he is the gold standard against which all other civil rights activists are judged.

That’s a lot to put on the shoulders of one man. Perhaps more importantly, it makes many people think that no one else, especially not themselves, are worthy of picking up the baton that was fired from his hands on April 4, 1968, in Memphis, Tenn.

One of the most beautiful things about Katori Halls’ script, “The Mountaintop,” is her insistence on showing King as a man with flaws and fears, not as a modern-day savior whose deeds cannot be replicated. Equally importantly, neither do those flaws cheapen or compromise the work that he accomplished.

Hope Summer Repertory Theatre (HSRT) is presenting her two-person show on an outdoor stage in the beautiful setting of Pine Grove (for those who have attended their shows before, you can park near the Miller Center and walk behind it until you see the signs leading to the performance area). The stage accurately captures the look of a 1960s motel room with Scenic and Sound Designer Mario Raymond recreating the Lorraine Motel room where King spent his final night.

As challenging as outdoor theater can be—Hope has already had to cancel a few performances due to the deluge of rain Michigan has been experiencing—there are sometimes serendipitous moments that could never exist indoors. For “The Mountaintop,” the setting adds a particularly fitting touch because rising up behind the stage is a large, stone church with imposing windows that dwarfs the stage. It is a perfect backdrop to this story about a minister that has many religious threads running through it.

Do not expect total realism from Hall’s play. “The Mountaintop” fits more neatly into magical realism. It is based on historical events and a very real person, but it eventually is infused with mysticism that allows the story and the audience to explore several compelling questions.

It is also a show with a lot of adult language that makes it inappropriate for young children.

Directed by Marcus Denard Johnson, who is returning for the third time to HSRT, he shows a deep understanding of the work and how to stage it, especially for an outdoor production with an audience spread out over a large lawn.  He carefully orchestrates the rise and fall of tensions, carefully holding back and then building up to the play’s emotional explosions.

Brandon A. Wright, an actor who has performed extensively throughout Michigan with some stellar roles at the Michigan Shakespeare Festival, does an amazing job with the role of King. He captures the intonation of a skilled orator. He gives the impression of King without falling into a caricature or impersonation. Rather, he searches for—and finds—the soul of a great man.

Wright takes a sensitive approach to the civil rights leader, capturing his fears, his exhaustion, his flaws, while also portraying his greatness, his dedication, his beautiful humanity.

Psacoya Guinn, also no stranger to Shakespeare, fills the show with energy as Camae, who comes to King’s suite to deliver coffee and a newspaper. She is a firecracker who fills the stage with action. Camae is King’s foil, deliverer and guide on the intense journey that he must take throughout the course of the show. Guinn knows how to hit each of those beats. She is more, though, than just a sounding board for King. She brings such strength to Camae that it creates even more layers and intensity to “The Mountaintop.”

Together, the two of them produce chemical reactions that make the show spark. There is never a dull moment and both are committed to making the choices that further the thematic goals of the show. They know how to connect and how to create dissonance when it is needed.

Both also have moments where they can show off a full spectrum of oratorical skills from those that can move crowds to intimate whispers that bare the individual soul. It is stunning to watch.

In addition to Raymond’s set work, he also did an excellent job with the sound. The play opens with a heavy rainfall that threatens to overpower the dialog. It imperceptibly fades away until the audience no longer hears it, but can’t be certain when it happened. Raymond succeeds at the goal of his work not being noticed.

HSRT’s artistic director, Lenny Banovez, now in his third season with the company, gave a curtain speech that underlined HSRT’s dedication to diversity, inclusion and belonging. He gave a land acknowledgement, saying they are aware that HSRT is on the traditional land of the Peoria, Potawatomi and Odawa Peoples. He acknowledged systemic inequities and committed to being better stewards of the land.  

It is just one more sign of the commitment Banovez has shown to diversity since he started working in the traditionally conservative Dutch Reformed town of Holland. Each season, he has brought in a diverse selection of shows and ensured that both actors, directors and crew are representative with no excuses made.

“The Mountaintop” is an intense, intermission-free show with a compelling and highly topical message. Hall wrote it in 2011, but the message is timeless. It challenges each person to recognize that a person doesn’t have to be perfect or flawless to do the work that needs to be done. Nor do we have to be able to finish the work. Rather, each of us has a responsibility to pick up the baton and carry it for as long as we can, bringing as much justice to the world as we are able to, knowing that someday, we will pass that baton on to someone else.