PRESS RELEASE
October 1, 2013

For Immediate Release
Contact:
Hurri Williams
504-862-7529
Anthony Bean Community Theater

Anthony Bean and Monica R. Harris Star in the Regional Premiere of the Award-Winning Drama about Martin Luther King's Last Night

THE MOUNTAINTOP

November 1-3, 8-9, 15-17 & 22-24

Anthony Bean Community Theater

1333 South Carrollton Ave.

862-PLAY (7529)

www.anthonybeantheater.com

Tickets: $20.00 - $18.00

The Mountaintop's "soul-stirring" (Variety) storytelling fuses theatricality with spirituality to reach a summit that will leave audiences breathless.

September 25, 2013...New Orleans, La...The Anthony Bean Community Theater presents the regional premiere of the award-winning drama, "THE MONTAINTOP", Katori Hall's drama about the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s final night before his assassination. Directed by Harold X. Evans. Scenic design by John Grimsley, and Costumes by Wanda (Ms. B) Bryant. "THE MOUNTAINTOP" stars the theater's artistic director, Anthony Bean as King, and Monica R. Harris as a mysterious motel maid.

Show times and performances are November 1-24. Friday and Saturday at 8:00 pm, & Sunday matinee at 3:00 pm. (Special Note: On Sunday, November 3. Showtime will be at 8:00pm ONLY.) Tickets are $20.00 for adults, $18.00 for students and seniors, and are available by calling the Box Office at (504) 862-7529. (Box Office hours are Thursday - Saturday, 6pm - 8pm and two hours before performances.) You can also charge by phone on line at www.anthonybeantheater.com

Winner of the 2010 OlivierAward for Best New Play, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett.

About the Play

Director, Harold X. Evans

Taking place on April 3, 1968, The Mountaintop is a gripping re-imagining of events the night before the assassination of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Having just delivered his magnificent oration "I've been to the Mountaintop," at Mason Temple in support of a sanitation workers' strike, Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. returns to Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Unexpectedly a feisty young maid comes to his door with coffee. They forge an unlikely relationship that ventures into the political and personal, compelling him to confront his destiny and the fate of the nation on the eve of one of the most critical moments in American History.

About the Actors

Anthony Bean

Anthony Bean is the founder and artistic director of ABCT. To him portraying Dr. King is the opportunity of his dramatic life. " Dr. King is an iconic hero. Portraying such a character is the ultimate challenge for an actor. But this play is so powerful and says so much about the hopes and fears of our current time, it has to be done at ABCT, and I relish the opportunity to bring a side of Dr. King that is often overlooked."

Monica R. Harris

Monica R. Harris is a graduate of Loyola University Department of Theatre Arts & Dance with a broad background in stage and cinema. She is honored to portray Camae in The Mountaintop. "I am absolutely head-over-heels in love with the language and imagery Hall so expertly created for this piece, and I cannot wait to bring her story to life for New Orleans audiences."

What the author says...

Katori Hall

"This isn't the 'I Have a Dream' King. This is a more radical King. This is King, the man; not the myth. I want people to see that this extraordinary man - who is actually quite ordinary - achieved something so great that he actually created a fundamental shift in how we, as a people, interact with each other. That's a beautiful thing. And I want people in the audience to be like, 'If this man - who is so much a human being - can achieve such great things, then I, as this complicated human being, can create great things too.'"

- Katori Hall, playwright

This production contains mature language, smoking and special effects including haze, fog and strobe lights.