October 11, 2012

It is easy to admire and even envy those who have achieved success and celebrity, but there is always a price to pay. The Milwaukee Rep’s Stiemke Theater has totally reconfigured itself to accommodate its production of “The Mountaintop,” one playwright’s fictional version of what Martin Luther King Jr.’s last night may have been like before he was killed.

The cast consists of two people - King and a hotel maid who brings him his requested cup of coffee. As it turns out, she provides him with a couple of cigarettes and a lot of interesting conversation. King’s allusion to his buddy, who is supposedly out securing him a couple packs of cigarettes, is really Ralph Abernathy, his frequent traveling companion, friend and the man who tried to fill King’s shoes after he was assassinated. They often stayed at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, the place where King was shot in April 1968, now a monument to the civil rights movement.

The playwright, Katori Hall, had always wanted to see King, but her mother forbade her to go hear him speak at the Mason Temple in Memphis because she thought the church might get bombed. This play was Hall’s imagined meeting with a man she had always admired, but never saw face to face. 

It is obviously fictional, but always fascinating. What are a man’s thoughts when he knows he is powerful, he is vulnerable, he is ambivalent about his mission and he knows he is loved and hated by many?

Many of us know the story of King’s life, how he fought for the civil rights of blacks, how he proposed nonviolence, like Gandhi, as the most effective solution to the problem. But there were other points of view raging on both sides at the time. 

Some blacks, like Malcolm X and the Black Panthers, had alternate strategies, just as some whites, who were strong believers in segregation. There is always the potential for conflict and violence when we are dealing with diametrically opposed points of view.

I loved the dialogue between these two characters, a historical figure and one invented by the playwright. It is funny, provocative and engaging. 

Camae, the hotel maid, admired “the King,” but she also saw his frailty as a human being, a characteristic we all share. She baits him. She challenges him. She lets us see him as a scared human, as full of doubts as any man. She is a bit of a mystery herself, and unless you see the show, will remain so.

J. Bernard Calloway as King and Niklya Mathis as Camae both ace their roles. The sound and visual effects created by Barry G. Funderburg and Gina Scherr are impressive. 

Video designer Jared Mewzzocchi gives us a daunting perspective on what has happened since 1968 and how King’s dream has and has not been realized. Unless one is a non-reactive dolt, this production does provoke one’s emotions and thoughts.

Directed by May Adrales, who also directed “Yellowman,” this is a worthy accomplishment deserving of merit and support.

“The Mountaintop” runs through Nov. 4 at the Stiemke Theater, 108 W. Wells St., Milwaukee. For show times and tickets, call 414-224-9490 or visit www.milwaukeerep.com