
The Mountaintop
Directed by Aubyn Johnson
The Mountaintop is a play by American playwright Katori Hall. It is a fictional depiction of Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night on earth set entirely in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel on the eve of his assassination in 1968.
Martin Luther King Jr. on April 3, the night before his assassination, gave his speech, I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, where he declared, “We’ve got to give ourselves to this struggle until the end. Nothing would be more tragic than to stop at this point in Memphis. We’ve got to see it through.” King was nothing but supportive, even saying that he did not want to leave Memphis until his work was done. King along with the Southern Christian Leadership Conference produced the idea of the Poor People’s Campaign, a campaign that demanded economic and human rights for poor Americans of diverse backgrounds. Before he could finalize his ideas and plans however, he was assassinated on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis on April 4 at 6:01 pm. King was rushed to St. Joseph’s Hospital for surgery, but was later pronounced dead an hour later at 7:05.