Detroit Public Theatre’s ‘The Mountaintop’ is not a history lesson. It is a reckoning.
The first thing I noticed was not a speech. Not a halo. Not a “great man” glow. It was the feet. The Mountaintop has a way of yanking Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. down from the pedestal and placing him where he actually lived, in a body that gets tired, in a mind that spirals, in a room where the future presses against the door like weather. Detroit Public Theatre’s production understands that if you are going to tell this story, you cannot do it with reverence alone. You have to do it with nerve. Because the play is not interested in worship. It is interesting in its cost.
[Warning: Spoilers from The Mountaintop are below!]
Observing history in The Mountaintop
Katori Hall’s The Mountaintop drops audiences into April 3, 1968, inside Room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. Dr. King has just delivered the “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop” speech. The adrenaline is gone. The room is quiet in that particular way hotel rooms are quiet, where silence feels temporary and a little unsafe. A storm is raging outside. King is exhausted, alone, and trying to come down from the burden of being “on” for the world. Then there is a knock.
A woman named Camae arrives with coffee and an attitude that does not match the moment we think we are in. She talks too loudly, moves too comfortably, and refuses to treat him like a sacred artifact. Their conversation starts as a tense, funny, flirt-at-your-own-risk sparring match, then turns into something stranger, sharper, and ultimately much bigger than two people killing time in a motel room. As the night deepens, a secret is revealed, and King is forced to confront not just his mortality, but his legacy, his doubt, and what it means to be a human being while everyone demands you be a symbol.
Katori Hall’s play volleys between funny, unsettling, and quietly devastating
What makes The Mountaintop land is that it does not stay in one emotional lane. It can be wickedly funny, then turn on a dime and punch you in the chest. The humor is not there to soften the story. It is there because humor is one of the only survival tools humans have when fear is circling. This production leans into that. It lets the audience laugh, then makes that laughter feel complicated. It lets the room warm up, then cools it instantly. You can feel the air change when the play shifts gears, and when it does, the show stops being “a play about Dr. King” and becomes a play about what we ask of leaders, what we erase when we mythologize them, and what it means to keep going anyway.
Spotlight on the actors of Detroit Public Theatre’s The Mountaintop
Brian Sullivan Taylor does not play King as a polished public figure who always knows the right thing to say. He portrays him as a man carrying physical weight. This is a performance built on tension. The tension between exhaustion and duty. Between fear and conviction. Between wanting to be ordinary for five minutes and knowing he cannot afford it. Taylor finds a private King without turning him into a caricature or a shock headline. The vulnerability feels earned, not performative. When he is defensive, you understand why. When he is funny, it is because the alternative is to crack. When he is quiet, it is because he is listening for the thing nobody in his position ever gets to say out loud.
Most importantly, Taylor lets King be complicated without ever losing the character’s gravity. You do not forget who you are watching. You just finally see him as someone with a pulse.
Camae is a role that can go wrong fast if an actor only plays one layer of her. If she is only sass, she becomes a gimmick. If she is only a mystery, the play becomes a lecture. If she is only seduction, the story gets cheap. Rebecca Rose Mims does none of that.
She comes in like a spark and keeps the room unpredictable. The comedy is precise. The timing is sharp. The confidence is real. But underneath the boldness, you can feel intelligence at work. Camae is constantly measuring the room, recalibrating, shifting the temperature. Mims makes her presence felt intentionally, even when she is playful. Especially when she is being playful. And when the play asks Camae to become something larger than the flirtatious stranger with coffee, Mims threads that needle without dropping the human texture. She never stops being a person, even when the play begins to play with myth.
Why this play sticks
Many plays about famous figures aim to leave you feeling inspired. This one wants you to leave feeling responsible. The Mountaintop does not let you consume King as comfort. It asks you to confront what we do when we turn people into icons and call it respect. It asks what gets lost when we scrub away the human edges. It asks what we expect from leaders, and what we are willing to do ourselves once the leader is gone. Detroit Public Theatre’s production is bold enough to make that question personal. It is not a museum plaque. It is a live wire. And that is why it matters.
Know before you go
Venue: Detroit Public Theatre, 3960 Third Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201
Run: February 4 to March 8, 2026
Ticket pricing: General Admission $52, Thursdays $30, True Cost $100 (plus a per-ticket service charge)
Parking: Prepaid, reserved, attended lot at 4134 Third Avenue (between Alexandrine and Willis). Metered parking is available on Selden Street and Third Avenue, plus some free residential street parking nearby.
Lobby bar: Open one hour before each performance for pre-show and post-show drinks, including alcohol free options.
Post show dialogues (select dates): February 15 at 2:00 PM, February 18 at 2:00 PM, February 20 at 7:30 PM, February 22 at 2:00 PM, March 1 at 2:00 PM, March 7 at 2:00 PM
Accessibility: Accessible seating and assistive listening technology available. Contact the box office in advance with any needs.
Young child policy: No children under 5 and no babes in arms during performances.
Bag policy: Bags may be searched at the discretion of the front of house and security.
Box office: Open Wednesday to Friday, 12:00 PM to 5:00 PM, and also two hours prior to every performance. Phone 313 974 7918 or via their website.
For more information about The Mountaintop, check out their official site! Have you seen this show yet? Let us know your thoughts @bsb.insider on social media!
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