THE MOUNTAINTOP

Instructions For our second Play Assignment, you will read Katori Hall’s play, THE MOUNTAINTOP, and answer the four questions at the bottom of the assignment. The script for THE MOUNTAINTOP is available for free online via GSU. I’ve attached a link that will take you to the text. You will need to use your GSU sign-in to access it. I’ve also attached a very short video of highlights from the 2011 production of the play starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett. Please note that this a controversial play with mature themes, coarse and strong language, sexual innuendo; deals with issues of oppression, including racism; conversations about death and dying. As “The Mountaintop” begins, you immediately discover that the main character represents Dr. King. But, as Katori Hall depicts him, he may not be quite the man you expected. The character of Camae also may be a surprise. She turns out to be more than her station in life might have dictated. After reading the play, answer the following four questions, please provide specific examples from the text. Each answer should be approximately 150-250 words, totaling 600-1000 words for the entire assignment. 1. Think about the images we have of Dr. King as a martyr and an inspirational leader and compare those images to the one that the playwright, Hall, has created. How do they compare with each other? Who do you think is the “rea ” Dr. King? Why? 2. In Camae, how did Hall show how our human traits might make us “better angels”? 3. Consider the image of God that Camae describes for us. How does this view compare or contrast to the image of God that you are most familiar with? Did you like this perspective? Were you able to accept it within the context of the play? Why or why not? 4. What do you think Hall’s theme is in this play? Discuss how the characters of Dr. King and Camae lent themselves to that theme.