Photos: Akeem Davis and Kishia Nixon Star In THE MOUNTAINTOP At Arden Theatre

Arden Theatre Company continues its 2025/26 season with The Mountaintop, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Katori Hall and directed by Barrymore Award winner Brett Ashley Robinson. Check out photos of the production.

Set at Memphis’s Lorraine Motel on April 3, 1968, the evening before his assassination, The Mountaintop imagines an intimate encounter between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Camae, a hotel maid whose arrival transforms his quiet night into a deeply personal reckoning. Over the course of 90 minutes, the play reveals the humor, doubts, and humanity of a leader confronting his own mortality and legacy.

“The Mountaintop blends history and magical realism to imagine the last night of Dr. King’s life,” said director Robinson. “It is deeply funny, moving, and inspiring, and encourages audiences to dream of how to carry King’s legacy forward.”

The two-person cast features Akeem Davis (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) and Kishia Nixon (Camae). Davis is a Barrymore Award winner and familiar face to Arden audiences from King Hedley II, Intimate Apparel, and The Lehman Trilogy. Nixon’s Arden credits include Holy Grail of Memphis, The BFG, and Clyde’s, alongside regional appearances at Theatre Exile, Delaware Theatre Company, and Lantern Theatre Company.

The creative team includes Robinson (Director), Gabe Moses (Assistant Director), Reiko Huffman (Scenic Design), J. Dominic Chacon (Lighting Design), Asaki Kuruma (Costume Design), Elizabeth Atkinson (Sound Design), Jorge Cousineau (Projection Design), and Matthew Ryan Melchior (Stage Manager).

The Mountaintop runs through December 14, 2025 on the Arcadia Stage at Arden Theatre Company (40 N. 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA). Single ticket prices start at $37. Tickets are available at ardentheatre.org, by phone at 215.922.1122, or at the Arden box office.

Photo Credit: Ashley Smith, Wide Eyed Studios

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