The Mountaintop
Live Arts
The ending of The Mountaintop features a scene where images of Martin Luther King's legacy, and the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement spill onto the set behind the protagonist, an Angel, as she helps Dr. King make peace with his impending demise. The Angel calls out names of people, places, and events, as images of them appear around her. The full text is provided below the video.
Note: The video below was split between two projectors, with the left hand images projected on a wall stage right of the actor, and the right hand images projected on a wall upstage of the actor.
Projections Designer: Matthew Ishee
Text
The Prince of Peace. Shot.
His blood stains the concrete outside Room 306
A worker wipes away the blood but not before
Jesse baptizes his hands on the balcony
The baton passes on
Memphis burning
DC burning
Cities burning
Vietnam burning
Coffins coming home
Another Kennedy killed
The baton passes on
Bayard Rustin
Stonewall riots
Andrew Young
Julian Bond
Bob Marley
Redemption songs
Angela Davis
Assatta Shakur
Afro picks
Black raised fists
Olympics
The baton passes on
White children
Black children
Crayola-color children
Together in a cafeteria
Roots
The Jeffersons
Sidney Poitier
Superfly
Isaac Hayes
James Brown
I'm black and I'm PROUD!
Jesse for President
I am somebody!
Crips
Bloods
Blue
Red
White
Crack
Smack
Marion Barry
Tracks
AIDS
Reagan wins again
Berlin walls
Apartheid falls
Robben Island sets Mandela free
Rodney King screams:
"Can't we all just get along?"
The baton passes on
No peace in the Middle East
Ruby Dee
"You sho'll is ugly!"
Spike Lee
Rwanda bleeds
Bill Clinton
Niggah, please
Skinheads
The Cosby Show
Baby mamas
Soul Train
Montel
Don't Ask Don't Tell
Run-DMC
BET
MTV
"Walk This Way"
The baton passes on
And on and on
'Ti! the break of dawn
For the American song
We shall overcome
A white Bronco flees into the night
"If it doesn't fit, you must acquit"
James Byrd
Columbine
Ron Brown
Colin Powell
Clarence Thomas
Tupac
Oprah
Biggie
Crack corners
From Crenshaw
To MLK Boulevard
Saddam Hussein
Osama bin Laden
George Bush
Condi Rice
The towers sigh
The world turns gray
September 11th
One bright morning day
Katrina, Katrina
American as apple pie
Drove the Chevy to the levee
But the Levee was drowned
The Superdome
Drive-bys
McDonald's
Diabetes
Iraq
NBA
High-paid slaves
The children of the Nile rise
A nuclear 8-Mile
Black picket fences
And Jena 6
American flags
And black presidents!
The baton passes on
The baton passes on
The baton passes on
The baton passes on