CAST ANNOUNCED FOR “THE MOUNTAINTOP” AT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

Geffen Playhouse announced the full cast for The Mountaintop, written by Olivier Award winner and two-time Tony Award nominee Katori Hall (P-Valley, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) and directed by Patricia McGregor (Light’s Out: Nat “King” Cole, Skeleton Crew).

The cast includes Jon Michael Hill (Superior Donuts, Elementary) as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Amanda Warren (Dickinson, Gossip Girl) as Camae.

Previews for The Mountaintop begin Tuesday, June 6, 2023 in the Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse. Opening night is Thursday, June 15, 2023.

It’s April 3, 1968 and Martin Luther King, Jr. returns to the Lorraine Motel after delivering his history-altering “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. When he orders room service, a young maid arrives with a revelation that calls Dr. King to confront unwelcome truths. As a lightning storm rages outside, the legacy of America’s most revered civil rights leader is laid bare to reveal his profound humanity. A single night’s reckoning with racism, righteousness, and the rocky path toward justice, The Mountaintop imagines what Dr. King’s last night on Earth could have been.

THE MOUNTAINTOP

Written by Katori Hall

Directed by Patricia McGregor

Previews: June 6, 2023 – June 14, 2023

Opening Night: June 15, 2023

Closing Night: July 9, 2023

CAST

Jon Michael Hill as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Amanda Warren as Camae

PRODUCTION TEAM

Scenic Designer Rachel Myers

Costume Designer Mylette Nora

Lighting Designer Lap Chi Chu

Sound Designer Cricket S. Myers

Projection Designer Yee Eun Nam

Associate Director Dennis Whitehead Darling

Dramaturg Rachel Phillips Epstein

Production Stage Manager Alyssa Escalante

Assistant Stage Manager Amber R. Dettmers

Casting Director Phyllis Schuringa, CSA

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

Monday: No performance

Tuesday – Friday: 8:00 p.m.

Saturday: 3:00 and 8:00 p.m.

Sunday: 2:00 and 7:00 p.m.

LOCATION

Gil Cates Theater at Geffen Playhouse

10886 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90024

TICKET INFORMATION

Tickets currently priced at $30.00 – $129.00. Available by phone at 310.208.2028 or online at www.geffenplayhouse.org. Fees may apply.

Currently, children under ten years of age will not be admitted. Masks are no longer required–but are encouraged–for audiences in our theaters and lobby/courtyard areas for all future productions.

Rush tickets for each day’s performance are made available to the general public one hour before showtime at the box office. $35.00 General/$15.00 Student.

COLLEGE AUDIENCES

Through a variety of events and other opportunities, Geffen Playhouse welcomes college students to experience the live storytelling presented on our stages. We are proud of our association with UCLA’s School of Theater, Film, and Television, and open our doors to all college students throughout Los Angeles. More information is available at www.geffenplayhouse.org/college.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Katori Hall (Playwright)

Olivier Award–winning and two-time Tony Award–nominated Memphis native Katori Hall is the book writer and co-producer of the West End and Broadway hit, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. She’s the executive producer and showrunner of P-Valley, the breakout Starz drama based on her play Pussy Valley. Katori’s latest piece, The Hot Wing King, premiered in spring 2020 at Signature Theatre, rounding out her three-play residency and winning a Pulitzer Prize. She is best known for The Mountaintop. The play, which fictionalizes the last night in Martin Luther King’s life, won the Olivier Award for Best New Play in 2010. Katori’s other works include the award-winning Hurt Village, Hoodoo Love, Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, Our Lady of Kibeho, and The Blood Quilt. She is the director of the award-winning short Arkabutla. Katori is an alumna of Columbia University, ART at Harvard University, and Juilliard. She’s a graduate of the Sundance Episodic Lab’s inaugural class, the Sundance Screenwriting Lab, and Ryan Murphy’s Half Initiative Directing Program. Katori’s other awards include a Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, The Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellowship, National Black Theatre’s August Wilson Playwriting Award, NAACP Image Award for Best Television Drama and many more.

Patricia McGregor (Director)

Born in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, Patricia McGregor is the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop, as well as a director and writer working across disciplines. McGregor has twice been profiled by The New York Times for her direction of world premieres. She was the inaugural Artist in Residence for Adam Driver’s Arts in the Armed Forces and an Old Globe Resident Artist. Her productions include Lights Out: Nat “King” Cole (co-writer and director; Geffen Playhouse, People’s Light); Sisters in Law (Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts); Shakespeare: Call and Response, Krapp’s Last Tape, What You Are, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Measure for Measure (The Old Globe); Skeleton Crew (Geffen Playhouse); Good Grief (Center Theatre Group); Hamlet (The Public Theater); Place (Brooklyn Academy of Music); The Parchman Hour (Guthrie Theater); Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company); brownsville song (b-side for tray) (Lincoln Center Theater); Indomitable: James Brown (Apollo Theater); Holding It Down (The Metropolitan Museum of Art); A Raisin in the Sun, The Winter’s Tale, and Spunk (Cal Shakes); Adoration of the Old Woman (INTAR Theatre); Blood Dazzler (Harlem Stage); Four Electric Ghosts (The Kitchen); and the world premiere of Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Company).

Jon Michael Hill (Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.)

Jon Michael Hill has been a Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member since 2007 where he has appeared in True West (Steppenwolf, Galway International Arts Festival), The Unmentionables (Steppenwolf, Yale Repertory Theatre), Superior Donuts (Steppenwolf, Broadway, Outer Critics Circle Award, Theater World Award, Tony Award nomination), Kafka on the Shore, The Tempest, The Hot L Baltimore, Head of Passes, Constellations, Pass Over (Lincoln Center, Amazon Prime, Broadway). Regional: A Midsummer Night’s Dream at The Public Theater’s Shakespeare in the Park, In the Red and Brown Water at Alliance Theater (Atlanta), The Cure at Troy at Seattle Rep. Film/TV: “Detective Bell” on Elementary (CBS), Eastbound & Down (HBO), Detroit 1-8-7 (ABC), Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (NBC), Person of Interest (CBS), 61st Street (AMC), Widows (film by Steve McQueen), and A Man in Full (upcoming on Netflix).

Amanda Warren (Camae)

Amanda Warren was born and raised in New York, receiving her B.F.A. from New York University and her M.F.A. from Yale School of Drama. She began her professional career on stage in Three Sisters (The Classical Theatre of Harlem), Golden Age (world premiere at The Kennedy Center), and When I Come to Die directed by Thomas Kail (Lincoln Center Theater). Amanda currently leads CBS’ hit cop drama, East New York. Prior, she starred in Apple TV+’s acclaimed series Dickinson, and HBO Max’s Gossip Girl. Previously, she starred in the Blumhouse anthology series, The Purge; HBO’s The Leftovers; NBC’s This Is Us; and Netflix’s Black Mirror and House of Cards. Up next, she will appear alongside Jaime Foxx and Tommy Lee Jones in the Amazon feature The Burial. Other film highlights include the award-winning Fox Searchlight film, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, Sony Pictures’ Roman J. Israel, Esq., Martin McDonagh’s Seven Psychopaths, and the Disney feature Safety.

OPENING NIGHT SPONSORS

UCLA Health

STK | The ONE Group

W Los Angeles – West Beverly Hills

Uncle Nearest Premium Whiskey

PREMIUM HOSPITALITY SPONSORS

STK | The ONE Group

W Los Angeles – West Beverly Hills

ABOUT GEFFEN PLAYHOUSE

Geffen Playhouse has been a hub of the Los Angeles theater scene since opening its doors in 1995. Noted for its intimacy and celebrated for its world-renowned mix of classic and contemporary plays, provocative new works and second productions, the not-for-profit organization continues to present a body of work that has garnered national recognition. Named in honor of entertainment mogul and philanthropist David Geffen, who made the initial donation to the theater, the company was founded by Gilbert Cates and is currently helmed by Executive Director Gil Cates, Jr. and Board Chair Adi Greenberg. Proudly associated with UCLA, the Geffen welcomes an audience of more than 130,000 each year, and maintains extensive education and community engagement programs, designed to involve underserved young people and the community at large in the arts. www.geffenplayhouse.org