Playwright upset that the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. is given to a white actor

An amateur production of the play ‘The Mountaintop’, which is set in Memphis on the eve of Martin Luther King’s assassination, has drawn the ire of its writer because its director’s choice to cast a white-skinned actor in the role of King.

Katori Hall, the play’s original writer, received an email on October 4 regarding a rendition of her play at Kent State University. She was shocked to learn that the production double cast the lead role of King with a black and white actor.

“At first glance I was like, ‘Unh-uh, maybe he [is] light-skinned. Don’t punish the brother for being able to pass.’” Hall wrote on the blog The Root, “But further Googling told me otherwise.”

This justifiably angered Hall, who was quick to notify her agent to send a ‘damning letter’ to the university, which noted that though it may be considered an interesting experiment, it is not what Hall wrote or intended.

In light of what has happened at Kent State, Hall now includes the following clause in her licensing agreement: “Both characters are intended to be played by actors who are African-American or Black. Any other casting choice requires the prior approval of the author.”

Hall wrote that neither the director or a representative for the school consulted her prior to the casting.

Michael Oatman, the director of the production, was contacted by Hall a month after production had ended to express her concern.

“I didn’t want this to be a stunt, but 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,” Oatman said in statement in August promoting the play.

“I wanted the contrast… I wanted to see how the words rang differently or indeed the same, coming from two different actors, with two different racial backgrounds.”

“I suppose this is what breaks my heart most of all,” Hall wrote on The Root, “We live in a world where a director wants to measure the impact of King’s words coming from a black body versus a white one. Does this director think that an audience wouldn’t accept them from a black body?”