Katori Hall, the acclaimed Playwright who wrote The Mountaintop, a 2009 play set in Memphis’ Lorraine Motel on the eve of Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, is rightfully angry that a director cast a white actor in the role of King.
According to Hall, neither Michael Oatman, the Creative Director of the African Community Theater, nor Kent State contacted her before making the decision, a choice she considers “disrespectful.” Hall learned about the decision only after the play had closed.
In August
, Oatman reinforced the decision to cast both a white actor and black actor as a “true exploration of King’s wish that we all be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin.” Needless to say, Hall remains unimpressed. In an interview with the Guardian, she said:
“I just really feel as though it echoes this pervasive erasure of the black body and the silencing of a black community – theatrically and also, literally, in the world.”
In response to Kent State’s decision, Hall has updated The Mountaintop’s licensing agreement to indicate that the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. must be played by a black actor. Any other casting decisions now require her approval.
