Some audiences struggle with portrayals of civil rights hero as less than saintly

When A.K. Murtadha pauses, considering his words, you can feel him easing into character and exploring the role of Martin Luther King Jr.

His voice drops.

His accent thickens.

His speech becomes more rhythmic, measured and formal.

Murtadha becomes the Baptist preacher and civil rights hero who gave some of most stirring speeches of the 20th century.

Sarasota audiences know him as King from ensemble productions of Robert Schenkkan’s “The Great Society”and “All the Way” in the last two seasons at Asolo Repertory Theatre. He plays the character once again in “The Mountaintop,” beginning Wednesday at the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe, but this is a different kind of play with a different kind of King.

He gulps coffee and sneaks cigarettes.

He shares his doubts, along with a morbid sense of humor.

He spends an imaginary evening before his death flirting, joking and mourning with a beautiful maid named Camae who becomes something more in Room 306 of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis.

“It’s a more candid look at King,” says Murtadha. “More personal. It focuses on this life he’s lived, this life being a race, and it’s time for him to pass the baton.”

The day before King was assassinated — April 4, 1967 — he gave a speech called “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” which seemed to anticipate his death.

The play named for that speech was written by Katori Hall, a Memphis native. Her story dramatizes the private life of King, who had a number of extramarital affairs. She imagines Camae, played by Emerald Rose Sullivan, as an earthy maid who teases “Preacher K” about the way he looks at her body.

“You can’t have King on this pedestal the whole time to play him,” Murtadha says. “He was a man with faults and some of it was his licentiousness. He was a human being. He was a human being.”

Camae’s play

Chuck Smith, who is staging “The Mountaintop,” is resident director of the Goodman Theater in Chicago. He’s seen audiences struggle with portrayals of King as less than saintly.

He’ll never forget an after-show discussion of “The Good Negro,” another play with a critical take on King.

“One of the teachers wanted to jump on the stage and kick my butt,” he says. “I had to say, ‘Look, this is theater. What theater does is tell the truth.’”

In the last three years at Westcoast, Smith has directed “Knock Me a Kiss,” “The Piano Lesson” and “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” Those plays led him to Sullivan, a local actress, for the crucial role of Camae.

"I never thought of anyone else for the role,” Smith says. “Katori Hall created a character that’s going to live for a long time. I see this as her play. She makes the play move in whatever direction it needs to move in.”

The production, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, features costume design by Adrienne Pitts and Patricia Gregory, scenic design by Michael Newton-Brown and lighting by Michael Pasquini. The fight coordinator is Dan Granke.

‘What am I doing today’

Abdul-Khaliq Murtadha, better known as “A.K.,” grew up in Washington, D.C. His father was a New Yorker who converted to Islam.

He studied acting at Indiana University, Howard University and the University of California, San Diego. He now lives in Indianapolis and works in Los Angeles, but he and his wife have spent a lot of time in Sarasota.

He has a favorite spot overlooking Sarasota Bay.

“It’s very calming.” he says. “I like to go there and sit. I sit and say, ‘I’m here, what am I doing today.’”

Murtadha is 45 — six years older than King was when he died — but he looks younger and thinner than the famous civil rights leader. On stage, he tries to appear stressed and weary. He talks to himself, pacing back and forth, scribbling notes for a speech.

“King had heart issues and stomach issues,” he says. “His nerves were bad. He’d been kicked, shot at, stabbed — everything. That’s what we’re trying to get at in the play.”

The demystification of King is immediate in “The Mountaintop.” One of the opening scenes has King using the bathroom in his motel room.

“This writer knows exactly what she’s doing,“ says Smith. “You know, the man peed. He’s human and that’s the humanity. We all do that.”

On the very first day of rehearsal, he told Murtadha that the goal wasn’t to imitate King or to mirror him.

“We’re here to show this character, this human being, this man,” Smith says. “This man happens to be Martin Luther King Jr.”