JAMIE HOGAN P L A Y N O T E S season: 42 issue:2 Background Information R e s o u R c e G u i d e Interviews & Commentary Discussion Programs The Artistic Perspective,For hosted byThe Artistic Director General Anita Stewart, is an Publicopportunity for audience members to delve deeper into the themes of the show through conversation with special guests. A different scholar, visiting artist, playwright, or other expert will join the discussion each time. The Artistic Perspective discussions are held after the first Sunday matinee performance. Page to Stage discussions are presented in partnership with the Portland Public Library. These discussions, led by Portland Stage artistic staff, actors, directors, and designers answer questions, share stories and explore the challenges of bringing a particular play to the stage. Page to Stage occurs at noon on the Tuesday after a show opens at the Portland Public Library’s Main Branch. Feel free to bring your lunch! Curtain Call discussions offer a rare opportunity for audience members to talk about the production with the performers. Through this forum, the audience and cast explore topics that range from the process of rehearsing and producing the text to character development to issues raised by the work. Curtain Call discussions are held after the second Sunday matinee performance. All discussions are free and open to the public. Show attendance is not required. To subscribe to a discussion series performance, please call the Box Office at 207.774.0465. Protesters and those dear to Martin Luther King, Jr. gathered for a memorial after his death at the Lorraine Motel. Discussion Dates for The Mountaintop The Artistic Perspective: Sunday, Nov. 8 in the theater, following the 2:00 p.m. matinee. Page to Stage: Tuesday, Nov. 10 at the Portland Public Library, at noon. Curtain Call: Sunday, Nov. 15 in the theater, following the 2:00 p.m. matinee. The Mountaintop by: Katori Hall Portland Stage Educational Programs are generously supported through the annual donations of hundreds of individuals and businesses, as well as special funding from: The Robert and Dorothy Goldberg Charitable Foundation & George and Cheryl Higgins & Funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts. Portland StageTable Produces The of Mountaintop Contents Thoughts from the Editorial Staff 6 Benn Speaks. 8 About the Play 9 An Interview with the Director: Charles Weldon 10 About the Playwright 11 Putting it Together: Shane Van Vliet 12 The World of The Mountaintop Memphis v. Maine, 1968 14 Non-violent Protests after King 16 Social Media to Social Movements 18 Music, Memphis, and MLK Jr. 19 Phenomenal Women: Female Civil Rights Leaders 20 Modern Day Martyrs: How We Make Saints of the Famous 22 Christianity in The Mountaintop 24 Angels in their Many Forms 25 Interview with Gerald E. Talbot 26 The Mountaintop In the Classroom Instant Lessons 28 Glossary 30 Further Resources 31 Your 2015/2016 PlayNotes Editorial Staff Hannah Cordes Connor Pate Education & Theater for Kids Intern Directing & Dramaturgy Intern Mariele Fluegeman Kerry Randazzo Directing & Dramaturgy Intern General Administration Intern Zoe Levine Sporer Grace Weiner Scenic Intern Education & Theater for Kids Intern Benn May Directing & Dramaturgy Intern 4 The MounTainTop Martin Luther King, Jr. helps young protesters march to end segregation in St. Augustine, Florida, in 1964. PlayNotes 5 Portland Stage Produces The MounTainTop ThoughTs From... I met the person who most inspired me to take action in college. While that may not be surprising, it was not a professor or student who influenced me so greatly. It was an administrative assistant named Liz. Now, Liz had her MFA in theater and had worked as a costume designer many times, but her advice to me was not about theater. She simply said, “If you stand by and say nothing while something is happening that you disagree with, you are condoning it.” I remember that quote almost daily, and not just on the big causes, but in the day-to-day interactions as well. It has motivated me to be more aware of the world around me and the impact I am making. I want to learn Arabic and work overseas. “I support you.” I think I should be a psy- chologist. “I support you.” I think I’d be happier if I taught high school history. “I sup- port you.” I want to try and be in theater. “I support you.” I want to be a playwright. “I support you.” No matter what I wanted to do or be, regardless of whether or not it made sense, my mother always supported me. After I changed my major for the third time in college, she didn’t encourage me to back peddle or stick with something that made me unhappy. She believed I would figure it out even when I was unsure which foot to put first. Often, that belief was good enough for the both of us. In October, 2014, I got the chance to hear Laverne Cox, trans woman of color, activ- ist, and actress of Orange is the New Black fame, speak at The Ohio State University. As a queer and trans person myself, I really admire Laverne’s dedication to advancing the visibility of and addressing the issues facing the trans community on a national stage. As much as I’ve followed her interviews and read her blog posts, hearing her speak in person and feeling her insistence on the importance of representation, of making narratives heard, inspired me to gather a group of students together on my own college’s campus. Together, we organized our own convocation on trans issues and received the support of the administration. My seventh-grade health teacher inspired me to stand up against other children who were mistreating me and others. He pulled me aside and asked me what was going on. He offered his help. These were gestures that no other teacher before him had extended to me. This simple act of kindness gave me the security of knowing that someone had my back in my taking action to stand up against bullies and improve my situation. 6 The MounTainTop Portland Stage Produces The MounTainTop ...The ediTorial sTaFF Any time I am inspired to act for the benefit of another human being I think of my dad. Growing up, I would drive to Sunday school with him every weekend and we would break down what I had learned in class on the way home. He had an amazing way of simplifying complex ideas. “Mitzvah” in Hebrew means commandment. But my dad taught it to me as doing something kind for another living thing, just out of the goodness of your heart. He would encourage my sisters and I to “do a mitzvah” once a week and whenever we did something selfless, he would praise us with the simple act of saying “mitzvah!” and a low high five. This one word is the root of every form of activism I participate in today. There are many people who inspire me, but my dad will always be my biggest inspiration to spread kindness and love. My first college course was a Women and Gender Studies class made up of only six women. The professor was a woman named Erica who, with her pixie-cut hair and nose ring, resembled a fairy more than a stereotypical professor. She engaged us in heated debates every morning, teaching us what it meant to be a feminist in a modern world. After years of calling myself a feminist, that word began to hold more weight than I ever thought it could. She inspired me to be curious, to speak up, to challenge those who accept the status quo, and to learn from people of different backgrounds, genders, ethnicities, and experiences. After gaining Erica as a mentor, I went on to explore the connections between theater and feminism; I taught workshops and directed plays that discuss gender roles. As I move into a career in the arts, I hope to continue to use theater to discuss these important issues. My childhood best friend was a boy named Graham who was diagnosed with brain cancer when we were 8. As a child, it was often hard for me to understand the true weight and seriousness of the situation, but over time I came to understand that, regardless of how hard it was for me to spend that much time in the hospital or how frustrating it was to be unable to do certain things because of Graham's physical limitations, life was always harder for him because he was the one specifically affected by disease. Through my friendship with Graham and the experiences that I had in relation to his illness, I learned the importance of empathy and support for others, which I continue to carry with me to this day. For a free, digital color copy of this issue PlayNotes and its bibliography, go to http://www.portlandstage.org/education/playnotes/ PlayNotes 7 Portland Stage Produces The MounTainTop Benn speaks. Why has the theater remained important for over two thousand years? Because we tell stories that remain relevant no matter what time period it is, how long ago a play was written. A good play tells a story that connects to every audience. Working on The Mountaintop has reminded me just how important the stories we tell as theater artists can be. Why does a play matter about a civil rights leader whose history we have heard repeatedly? Because it is important for us to remember that King was a man.