Contra Costa Civic Theatre to Present THE MOUNTAINTOP,4 4/15-5/8

Contra Costa Civic Theatre (CCCT) continues its 56th season with The Mountaintop, Katori Hall's daring reimagining of a seminal event in American history, directed by CCCT Artistic Director Marilyn Langbehn. The Mountaintop plays from April 15 through May 8- performances are Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 2pm at the theatre.

Winner of the 2010 of the Olivier Award for New Play and a 2011 Broadway hit starring Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett, The Mountaintop is a surrealistic fantasy about a chance encounter between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and a mysterious hotel maid. On April 3, 1968, after delivering one of his most memorable speeches, an exhausted King retires to his room at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, while a storm rages outside. When a stranger arrives with some surprising news, King is forced to reevaluate the meaning of his life, confront his destiny, and come to terms with his unfinished legacy.

The cast of The Mountaintop includes Khary L. Moye as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Kimberly Ridgeway as the mysterious stranger, Camae. The production features set design by two-time TBA Award winner Kuo-Hao Lo? costume design by Lisa Danz, lighting design by Courtney Johnson, sound and projections design by Michael Kelly, and props design by Devon LaBelle. Stage manager for The Mountaintop is Mackenzie Laurel Orvis, with dramaturgy by Dustin Trabert.

KATORI HALL is a playwright/performer from Memphis, TN. Hall's plays include: The Mountaintop (2010 Olivier Award for Best New Play), which ran on Broadway at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre starring Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson, Hurt Village (2011 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, Signature Theatre), Children of Killers (National Theatre, UK and Castillo Theatre, NYC), Hoodoo Love (Cherry Lane Theatre), Remembrance (Women's Project), Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, WHADDABLOODCLOT!!! (Williamstown Theatre Festival), Our Lady of Kibeho (Signature Theatre), and Pussy Valley (Mixed Blood). Her awards include the Lark Play Development Center Playwrights of New York (PoNY) Fellowship, the ARENA Stage American Voices New Play Residency, the Kate Neal Kinley Fellowship, two Lecomte du Nouy Prizes from Lincoln Center, the Fellowship of Southern Writers Bryan Family Award in Drama, a NYFA Fellowship, the Lorraine Hansberry Playwriting Award, the Columbia University John Jay Award for Distinguished Professional Achievement, the Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre, and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Playwriting Award. Hall's journalism has appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, UK's The Guardian, Essence, and The Commercial Appeal, including contributing reporting for Newsweek. The Mountaintop and Katori Hall: Plays One are published by Methuen Drama. Hall is an alumna of the Lark Playwrights' Workshop, where she developed The Mountaintop and Our Lady of Kibeho, and a graduate of Columbia University, the A.R.T. at Harvard University, and the Juilliard School. She is a proud member of the Ron Brown Scholar Program, the Coca Cola Scholar Program, the Dramatists Guild, Writers Guild of America East, and the Fellowship of Southern Writers. She is currently a member of the Residency Five at Signature Theatre Company in New York City. Katori will make her directing debut with a film adaptation of Hurt Village which received its world premiere at Signature in 2012.

A New York City native, KHARY L. MOYE has worked on several Off-Broadway productions and worked with a repertory group in Harlem before moving to the Bay Area. His most recent work includes To Kill a Mockingbird at CCCT, By The Way Meet Vera Stark at Douglas Morrisson Theatre, Of Mice And Men with Role Players Ensemble, and Glengarry Glen Ross with Altarena Playhouse? other theatre companies include: Shotgun Players, Playground at Berkeley Rep, CenterREP, African-American Shakespeare Company, and Word For Word.

KIMBERLY RIDGEWAY (Camae) began acting at age 6 in a production of Peter Pan and has since performed on stage and in film including Robin's Hood, #1, Single Husbands, The Kid Thing, A Christmas Carol, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Hopes Identity, No Good Deed, The Vagina Monologues, Oleanna, and Doubt: A Parable. Kim wrote, produced, directed, and starred in the stage plays Heavy Burdens, No More Secrets, Prospect Place, and The Gigolo Chronicles, and the film "The Confession."

MARILYN LANGBEHN (Director) is in her third season as Artistic Director at CCCT. Productions for the company include The Sound of Music, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (abridged)(revised), and August: Osage County, which received "Best Production" and "Best Director" nods at the inaugural Theatre Bay Area (TBA) awards in 2014. Since moving to the Bay Area in 2004, she has directed numerous productions including the West Coast premiere of David Mamet's Race ("Best Director", The Inlander)? Rabbit Hole ("Top Ten Bay Area Productions of the Year", Theater Dogs)? Driving Miss Daisy ("Top Ten Bay Area Productions of the Year", Contra Costa Times )? Superior Donuts (San Francisco premiere)? Frost/Nixon (Bay Area premiere)? Looking for Normal (Bay Area premiere)? Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?? She Loves Me? The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee? Jesus Christ Superstar? Kiss Me, Kate? I Love You You're Perfect Now Change? The Woman in Black? Cotton Patch Gospel? Give 'Em Hell Harry? Working? The Prisoner of Second Avenue? and Shadowlands.

Single tickets for The Mountaintop are available online at www.ccct.org or by phone at 510.524.9132. Adult tickets are $22 in advance, or $28 at the door? youth tickets for ages 16 and under are $11 in advance, or $15 at the door. Discounts available for groups of 15 or more. All performances take place at CCCT's intimate and fully accessible theatre in the Flynn building located at 951 Pomona Avenue (cross street Moeser) in El Cerrito. Free parking is available in the adjoining lot. For more information, visit www.ccct.org.

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