‘The Mountaintop’ imagines Martin Luther King’s final hours
In April of 1968, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave an eerily prescient speech. “I just want to do God’s will,” he said. “And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” King was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee the following day. A new Broadway play called “The Mountaintop” imagines what King’s private moments in his hotel room were like in the hours leading up to his death. The play stars Samuel L. Jackson as King and Angela Bassett as Camae, a maid in the Lorraine Hotel. Katori Hall, author of “The Mountaintop,” discusses her new work.
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