Rosebud Theatre’s The Mountaintop has emotional impact
By Laureen F. Guenther Times Contributor
Photo Courtesy of Morris Ertman
In this imagined look at Martin Luther King’s last hours, a maid comes to his room late at night, but it turns out she’s bringing much more than room service. She’s been sent to help Martin Luther King prepare for his death.
Ray Strachan of Winnipeg, Man. plays the role of Martin Luther King. Patricia Cerra of Edmonton plays Camae, the maid. These two give exceptional performances, perhaps the most emotionally powerful performances I’ve seen in theatre.
We were seated too near the front to fully appreciate the set, but we could fully experience the light and sound design, especially when they create the sensation of a thunderstorm and snowfall. As King and Camae come in from the rain, I was convinced they are sopping wet, and I believed that a rare Memphis snow really was falling, as it did historically the night before King died.
This production also uses projection, possibly for the first time in Rosebud Theatre. It does much more than project an image; it conveys the ongoing hope and the tremendous amount of work still to be done after King’s passing.
Early on, King and Camae’s dialogue is mostly slow-moving banter, and I wondered if anything would ever happen. But soon, and increasingly, it becomes hard-hitting. King’s image as a pastor and conquering hero is wiped away. Camae tells him information that no one on earth could know, and he asks of her – and of God – heart-wrenching questions about the imminent end of his life.
I had the sense we in the audience were being hit by an emotional tsunami. Someone near me wept for the last half hour. The Mountaintop wasn’t easy for me to see, but days later, I’m still processing its impact. Even more remarkably, that emotional impact seemed just as great for the actors.
The story of The Mountaintop takes place in April 1968, more than 50 years ago, but the issues it raises aren’t mere throwbacks to the 1960s. For you and me, in the troubled times of 2019, Martin Luther King’s questions about faithfulness and legacy, love and despair, and eternity and mortality, are still the questions our hearts often whisper, even when we’re not aware of it.
The Mountaintop plays at Rosebud Theatre’s Opera House until Oct. 19. Tickets, which include a meal, can be purchased at rosebudtheatre.com or 1-800-267-7553.