The Mountaintop

Content Warning: The Mountaintop and this guide discuss racism (including police brutality and murder).

Note: The Mountaintop is performed in one act with no scene breaks or intermissions. For the sake of this guide, it has been divided into two parts.

On a rainy night on April 3, 1968, an exhausted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enters the familiar Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel, which he has reserved many times. Through the door, King shouts to Ralph Abernathy, his friend and fellow leader in the Civil Rights Movement, to bring him some Pall Mall cigarettes; he occasionally coughs. After locking the door, closing the curtains, and turning on a lamp to reveal the shabby room, he starts to undress. Muttering about the sermon he’s writing, “Why America is going to hell” (5), King goes to the bathroom to relieve himself. Recognizing he’ll be attacked for his sermon, he considers, “America, you are too ARROGANT!” (5). Realizing his coffee cup is empty, he picks up a phone, checks the receiver and nightstand for listening devices, and calls the front desk to order more coffee. King is informed that they no longer offer room service, but upon learning who is calling, they agree to send coffee to what they’ve come to call the King-Abernathy Suite. He thanks the person on the line for their prayers, but with discomfort, declines their request for an autograph. After hanging up, he takes off his shoes and sniffs them. Then, King tries to call his wife Coretta Scott King (Corrie), but she doesn’t pick up.

Hearing a knock at the door, King jumps up to unlock it, expecting Abernathy with his cigarettes. Instead, it is Camae, a beautiful Black maid with a newspaper over her head to block the rain and a cup of coffee on a tray. King invites her in, she spills coffee as she moves, and he watches her as she bends over to set down the tray. As he tries to pay, she tells him that the coffee is on the house, though she would welcome a tip. It’s Camae’s first day on the job, which is why he doesn’t recognize her. However, she recognizes King, having seen him on television: “You like the Beatles” (7). King wishes people paid attention to him like they do the Beatles, and Camae agrees, “‘Specially white folks” (7). He laughs, which turns to coughing, and she suggests he drink tea instead of coffee. He replies he isn’t sick, just losing his voice from speaking. Camae wishes she could have seen King that night, having heard that he was especially awe-inspiring—and then she could tell her future children about it. He was disappointed with the turnout of about 2,000 people, which she counters is a large number. She claims it’s difficult to encourage Black attendance in poor weather for fear of God striking them with lightning. Camae’s mother used to make her sit still during storms, but “Personally, I just think God be actin’ up” (8). King admits he almost didn’t make a speech, as he hasn’t been feeling well. He believes the low attendance isn’t due to fear of God, but because people don’t care. Camae replies, “Folks ‘fraid of getting’ blown up. Churches ain’t even safe for us folks” (8).

At a sudden crack of thunder and lightning, King jumps. Anxiously, he asserts he’s fine. Camae is about to leave, but he asks if she has a cigarette. She chides King for his poor diet of coffee and cigarettes, asking about his wife’s cooking—which he misses. She has Pall Malls, which impresses King. He invites Camae to smoke a cigarette with him. With a smile, she declines, noting that as it’s her first day, she hasn’t learned how to get away with breaking the rules yet. King offers his bed, but she declines, commenting that the last guests in the room were a sex worker and her client. He persists, and Camae reluctantly agrees, remarking that he pushes even when refused. He answers he did so because she is attractive. They smoke together, and she asks if King had fun preaching. He insists it isn’t about fun, but Camae counters being important sounds fun: She lets out a stream of curse words in excitement, then claims “I’m goin’ to hell just for cussin’ in front of you. Fallin’ straight to hell”—to which he replies, “No ma’am, ‘cordin’ to your face, you done fell straight from heaven” (9).

The pair flirt before the phone rings. Camae starts to leave, but King stops her and answers his wife Corrie. He says he called earlier, and she didn’t answer. He then lies, claiming he’s drinking tea for his sore throat. Camae chuckles, and King motions for her to be quiet. Then, he mentions Corrie forgot to pack his toothbrush again, saying he’ll just buy one. He asks if she received any calls from the “ugly voices” (10) that have been harassing them, reassuring her that he isn’t afraid. Then, King talks to his daughter, who can’t sleep. He tells her to pray until she falls asleep. He asks for his wife again, but she’s in the bathroom, so he asks his daughter to pass his love and hangs up. Camae playfully admonishes King for lying about the tea, adding that coffee can cure a cold if spiked with whiskey. She produces a flask, pouring some into his cup. She observes that Corrie is beautiful, having seen her on television—but as she starts to call her by her full name, King corrects her to say “Mrs. King.” Pointing at Camae’s name tag, he contests it says “Carrie Mae” (10), not Camae. She explains people have slurred “Carrie Mae” and shortened it to “Camae,” which he playfully protests makes no sense.

After some teasing, Camae gets up to leave, instructing King to ask the switchboard operator to connect him to her if he needs anything else. She opens the door, and the storm rages. King stops her, suddenly shy and stuttering, and asks if he can get her opinion as a woman without thinking him less of a man. Camae agrees, but says her answer will depend on the question. King asks if he should shave his mustache. Surprised at the triviality of the question, Camae teases him, but he insists appearance matters as a public figure. She concludes he should ask his wife. King admits he’s hoping a shaved face will make him look younger. Camae agrees he looks older but asserts aging looks good on a man—unlike on a woman. He notes women do like older men, but she replies, “I don’t. I likes ‘em young and wild. Like me” (12). With a smile, King recalls, “I used to be young and wild myself” (12). Camae believes this is one of the necessary qualifications for a minister, as experience with sin allows one to speak of it.

King asks about Camae’s qualifications as a maid, and she states, “I’m betta at cleanin’ up other folks’ messes than my own. I was called to do this” (12). Having finished his cigarette, he asks for another. However, Camae is down to her last cigarette, so he suggests they share. She again comments on how hard he is trying, and King admits, “Well, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak” (12). She gives him her last cigarette and starts to leave, and he reminds her to take her “umbrella.” Camae claims the newspaper is for him, sent by the front desk: It’s dated April 4^th, and when King questions “How’d y’all get tomorrow’s paper?”, she replies, “Tomorrow already here” (13). The headline is about King, who has been fighting on behalf of sanitation workers and threatened to march. The mayor wants to stop the march, to which King replies, “Over my dead body” (13). The article mentions he is staying at the Lorraine Motel, and the mayor comments he is “concerned” someone might hurt him. King tells Camae about a bomb threat against his flight to Memphis, Tennessee. She believes “Civil rights’ll kill ya fo’ them Pall Malls will” (13). The pair laugh, and King praises her sense of humor, calling it morbid like his. A sudden crack of thunder causes him to jump.

Camae teases King for his fear of lightning, and he affirms lighting isn’t what scares him. He starts to describe thunder, but she interrupts by saying it sounds like fireworks on July 4^th—which is nothing to fear. He calls her pretty, which she notes he has said three times—the first being when he was undressing her with his eyes. King apologizes, but Camae knows he’s just a man. She mentions her family is from Detroit, but she’s never been there. King tells her not to go, as the Black people there have “forgotten” their manners—rioting instead of protesting. This only makes Camae want to go more, and she adds that his marches aren’t working. He complains that some marchers are taking advantage of the protests to damage property and steal. A week ago, during a march for sanitation workers, someone broke a window—evoking police violence. King didn’t want to abandon his followers, but he had been plucked from the crowd and put into a car. Sixteen-year-old Larry Payne was shot and killed, and King feels compelled to lead a second, peaceful march, if only to keep Larry’s death from being meaningless.

King wonders where Abernathy is, beginning to worry about him. Abernathy has been a loyal friend, having coaxed him out of bed to make his speech. King assumes he is hanging out with his own brother and other men from their party, as King himself hasn’t been in a good mood lately; accusatory headlines are starting to get to him. Looking outside, he remarks the rain seems like it will never end. Camae answers, “Well, God ain’t gone stop cryin’ no time soon” (16). Having smoked half of the last cigarette, King hands the rest to her. He says she holds cigarettes like a man, and she says he holds his like a “fruit” (16). He tells Camae not to use this language, as “Alla God’s children have wings” (16)—including gay people. She agrees but reasserts King doesn’t hold cigarettes correctly. She teaches him how to smoke, jokingly wishing she could take a picture of him. He questions if Camae is in the FBI, and she replies, “Naw. Something bigger” (16). As she coaches King, she exclaims “If you want to lead the people, you got to smoke like the people. That way people’ll listen to you” (16). He asks if she thinks people aren’t listening, but she simply thinks they’re becoming exhausted. Camae thinks “ass-whippin’s” (16) are required for change, but he rejects violence.

King argues people complain about his activism methods but never offer alternatives. Camae replies she has a plan, but no one ever listens to women. King wants to hear this plan, so she borrows his shoes and jacket, and climbs on one of the beds. Imitating his manner of oration, she tells her imaginary audience that they’ve tried to treat white men like brothers only to be mistreated in return. To Camae, it’s time “to KILL the white man!” (18) metaphorically by establishing Black eateries and neighborhoods. She shouts, “Fuck the white man! FUCK the white man!” (18) before apologizing for cursing. King surprises her by stating, “Amen! Fuck ‘em!” (18), suggesting “Fuck the white man” (18) should be his next sermon. He admits he’s exhausted from preaching and marching, while white people ignore him and bomb Black churches. He exclaims white people “hate so easily” and Black people “love too much” (18). Camae points out that King preaches equality, and he replies everyone is human on a basic level.

King again complains about Abernathy’s absence, wishing the cigarette he and Camae shared hadn’t been her last. She then produces a second pack of Pall Malls. King stares, and she calls herself a magician. He agrees her oration is more impressive than expected. Camae is offended, until he calms her. She asks if she is a better speaker than King, but he won’t go that far. He says she’s good for a woman, and if she were a man, she’d be Malcolm X. Camae claims he and Malcolm X would have liked each other, as they had much in common—but she insinuates that unlike Malcolm X, King cheats on his wife. Still, she claims God likes both men, and if King were in heaven, he’d be God’s husband. King thinks she is being coy about wanting him as her husband, but she teases him about his smelly feet. A crash of lightning causes King to struggle to breathe. Camae tries to calm him, calling him Michael (his childhood name)—which she shouldn’t know. King suspects she is a spy trying to ruin his reputation, and tries to kick her out—but opens the door to a wall of snow. He is certain she drugged him, but then she lights a cigarette by blowing it: “I know. Angel breath is some hot breath” (24). King exclaims “You’re. An. Angel?”, and she replies, “In the flesh” (24).