EastLine Theatre
in association with
Westbury Arts
presents
The Mountaintop
by Katori Hall May 12 - 28, 2023 Westbury Arts
The Mountaintop runs 1h30m with no intermission. Please be aware this performance includes discussion of racism, violence, death, sex and infidelity, and includes racially insensitive language and derogatory terminology. Please be aware this production simulates tobacco use and features flashing images.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Kerby Darius
Camae Christen Dekie
Direction Van-Leon Whitaker
Stage Management Michelle Savin
Costume Coordination Morgan Moffitt
Set Design Michelle Savin & Nicole Savin
Lighting & Sound Design Danny Higgins
Production Photography Anthony Noto
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Kerby Darius
Camae Christen Dekie
Direction Van-Leon Whitaker
Stage Management Michelle Savin
Costume Coordination Morgan Moffitt
Set Design Michelle Savin & Nicole Savin
Lighting & Sound Design Danny Higgins
Production Photography Anthony Noto
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This performance is taking place on unceded Native land. Long Island has been and still is home to Indigenous communities including the Lenape, the Shinnecock, the Unkechaug, the Montauketts, and the Matinecock, amongst others. You can find out more about Native American history and culture on Long Island at On This Site.
EastLine Theatre
Danny Higgins & Nicole Savin,
Co-Artistic Directors
Morgan Moffitt & Paul DeFilippo,
Associate Artistic Directors
EastLine Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our programming is made possible through your donations. Donations can be made fee-free via Facebook or with a small fee via BookTix. All donations are tax-deductible.
The EastLine Theatre Board of Directors is: Larry Meneses, Lynda Gaug, Matt Rosenberg, Nicole Savin, Danny Higgins, and Steven Prendergast
The EastLine Theatre Creative Associates are: Abi Alam, Anna Stacy, Aly Kantor, Anthony Noto, Bryan Bowie, David Bullen, Deanna Ibrahim, Jess Reed, Jill Linden, Joe Boccia Jr., John Brautigam, Julianna Frasca, Lynn Ciorciari, Matt Rosenberg, Melanie Lipton, Morgan Moffitt, Nicole Savin, Paul DeFilippo, Sheilah Barksdale, and Remi Watts.
If you’re enjoying today’s performance and want to hear more from us, sign up for our mailing list!
In 2023 we enter double digits. Ten years! We cannot think of a better reason for nostalgia, reflection, and growth, and there will be so much of that to come in 2023 with your support. As we enter our second decade, in many ways we are still the scrappy little theatre company that could: as we scramble to find rehearsal space, or schlep an entire Shakespeare play's worth of supplies into a park on a sweltering day. The growing pains of adolescence are evident as we expand and develop our ways of working, as we increase the number of artists we are paying each year, as we reach to bring you the kind of theatre you are not seeing anywhere else on Long Island. Every time you choose to go to the theatre you are making the choice to go on a journey with us. We know it's easier to stay at home, to flip through Netflix. We would simply not exist without this community, and we want to thank you for being a part of it for ten messy and magical years. Across 2023 you'll find us developing new work by Long Island playwrights, crafting Long Island premieres of incisive contemporary plays, bringing free Shakespeare to parks across Long Island, celebrating Hispanic Heritage Month, hosting our monthly community book club, and more!
Your donations keep our programming free and low-cost, while maintaining the level of quality, innovation, and experimentation we strive to make our hallmark. Every dime is spent on artist pay, production supplies, and theatrical magic. EastLine Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Our programming is made possible through your donations. Donations can be made fee-free via Facebook or with a small fee via BookTix. All donations are tax-deductible.
Thank you always for your kindness and generosity, but more than ever on our tenth anniversary.
Kerby Darius and Christen Dekie
Kerby Darius (he/him) is an actor based in Brooklyn, New York. In his young career, he has starred in numerous short films and plays, most recently Hay Fever and Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice produced by Stag and Lion Theater with whom he is a member of. He has trained at York University in Toronto, The Barrow Group, and the Magnet Theater. In addition to acting, he also performs stand up comedy where he has performed in comedy clubs/festivals across the US, Canada, and the UK. He is also a writer who contributes for The Onion and Flexx Mag.
Christen Dekie (she/her) is a graduate from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an award-winning actor for BroadwayWorld’s Best Performer in a Musical, starring as Aida in AIDA for Studio Theatre of Long Island. Past credits also include Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical at Studio Theater of Long Island, Anne of Cleeves in The Royal Family Production’s Wives of King Henry VIII, Betty & The Belrays at Theater for New City and La Mama and Dreams In Black Major at Ars Nova and The National Black Theater.
Kerby Darius (he/him) is an actor based in Brooklyn, New York. In his young career, he has starred in numerous short films and plays, most recently Hay Fever and Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice produced by Stag and Lion Theater with whom he is a member of. He has trained at York University in Toronto, The Barrow Group, and the Magnet Theater. In addition to acting, he also performs stand up comedy where he has performed in comedy clubs/festivals across the US, Canada, and the UK. He is also a writer who contributes for The Onion and Flexx Mag.
Christen Dekie (she/her) is a graduate from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and an award-winning actor for BroadwayWorld’s Best Performer in a Musical, starring as Aida in AIDA for Studio Theatre of Long Island. Past credits also include Oda Mae Brown in Ghost the Musical at Studio Theater of Long Island, Anne of Cleeves in The Royal Family Production’s Wives of King Henry VIII, Betty & The Belrays at Theater for New City and La Mama and Dreams In Black Major at Ars Nova and The National Black Theater.
Starting in October, EastLine will be opening its doors to a new generation of artists through a program called Gen Connect. Gen Connect is a free arts program that provides space for teens to express their ideas and tell their stories. Interested teens will sign up to participate in weekly workshops at Westbury Arts, guided by artists in theater, music, poetry, visual arts, and more. Over this three month program, teens will explore issues and themes that matter to them, and create their own artwork to put their thoughts to action. The program will culminate in an open mic-style event at Westbury Arts that will be open to the community. If you or someone you know is interested in joining Gen Connect, please email deanna@eastlinetheatre.org for more information on how to sign up. Follow GenConnect_li on Instagram for updates.
Morgan Moffitt (they/them) is an associate artistic director, actor, technician, director, playwright, and frequent audience member/fan of EastLine Theatre and is thrilled to be adding “costume coordinator” to that list. After getting their degree in theatre design and technology from Adelphi, they have worked in the wardrobe room for numerous shows at the Argyle Theatre, Kinky Boots off-Broadway, and Sleep No More at the McKittrick Hotel to name a few. They’d like to thank everyone at EastLine for letting them work on this truly beautiful show, as well as their friends, family, and incredible partner Remi for all of their support.
Michelle Savin (she/her) is a Long Island-based visual artist. Previous scenic painting and prop design credits at EastLine include These Gilded Souls, Our Leading Lady, Amadeus, Intimate Apparel, and Indecent. Other previous production credits include Into the Woods, I Remember Mama, and Noises Off. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Michelle is a handler with Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program, where she is teamed with her loyal pup, Sadie. With gratitude to Caitlin, for everything.
Van-Leon Whitaker (he/him) is elated to be part of this heartfelt project and excited to be making his directorial debut at EastLine Theatre. Some of Van’s notable acting credits include Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (John Prentice, Sr.), Pipeline (Xavier), Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker/Booker T. Washington), The Full Monty (Noah “Horse” T. Simmons), Dreamgirls (Marty), Parade (Newt Lee), Showboat (Joe). Other favorite roles include Flick in Violet, Tom Robinson in To Kill A Mockingbird, Jim in Big River, Lt. Matthew Markinson in A Few Good Men , Reginald Tasker in The Bad Seed, Lady Bracknell in Being Earnest, and Queeqeg in Moby Dick Rehearsed. Van’s hope is that this riveting and dynamic play will inspire each of us to take a new look at life through Love’s eye… so that each of us can leave this theater renewed and enlightened in our individual walks, and in each of our unique quests in navigating this wonderful and very complicated journey we call life! All of us can carry the baton and together we can scale the mountaintop!
Morgan Moffitt (they/them) is an associate artistic director, actor, technician, director, playwright, and frequent audience member/fan of EastLine Theatre and is thrilled to be adding “costume coordinator” to that list. After getting their degree in theatre design and technology from Adelphi, they have worked in the wardrobe room for numerous shows at the Argyle Theatre, Kinky Boots off-Broadway, and Sleep No More at the McKittrick Hotel to name a few. They’d like to thank everyone at EastLine for letting them work on this truly beautiful show, as well as their friends, family, and incredible partner Remi for all of their support.
Michelle Savin (she/her) is a Long Island-based visual artist. Previous scenic painting and prop design credits at EastLine include These Gilded Souls, Our Leading Lady, Amadeus, Intimate Apparel, and Indecent. Other previous production credits include Into the Woods, I Remember Mama, and Noises Off. In addition to her artistic pursuits, Michelle is a handler with Pet Partners Therapy Animal Program, where she is teamed with her loyal pup, Sadie. With gratitude to Caitlin, for everything.
Van-Leon Whitaker (he/him) is elated to be part of this heartfelt project and excited to be making his directorial debut at EastLine Theatre. Some of Van’s notable acting credits include Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (John Prentice, Sr.), Pipeline (Xavier), Ragtime (Coalhouse Walker/Booker T. Washington), The Full Monty (Noah “Horse” T. Simmons), Dreamgirls (Marty), Parade (Newt Lee), Showboat (Joe). Other favorite roles include Flick in Violet, Tom Robinson in To Kill A Mockingbird, Jim in Big River, Lt. Matthew Markinson in A Few Good Men , Reginald Tasker in The Bad Seed, Lady Bracknell in Being Earnest, and Queeqeg in Moby Dick Rehearsed. Van’s hope is that this riveting and dynamic play will inspire each of us to take a new look at life through Love’s eye… so that each of us can leave this theater renewed and enlightened in our individual walks, and in each of our unique quests in navigating this wonderful and very complicated journey we call life! All of us can carry the baton and together we can scale the mountaintop!
Join us in July for a world premiere staged reading from These Gilded Souls playwright Aly Kantor. Free tickets available now.
from the director
About a year ago, my good friend Danny Higgins asked me to please consider a project that he’d been thinking about for the next year's lineup. And as we all do sometimes, I gave him a bobble-head and open-ended “Yeah sure” and walked off, not giving it a second thought. Fast forward to just a few short months ago, as if on cue I received a text asking if I was ready to take on the directorship of The Mountaintop! This would be my directorial debut, and quite a daunting undertaking, but I sort of mouthed an okay and immediately began praying. I immediately became inspired once I read The Mountaintop script. I knew from moment one that this project would promote renewed faith in mankind within me and also in the hearts and minds of our cast, our crew, and our audiences. I felt it in my soul that Mountaintop could engage so many of us in a new call to action to reach beyond the realms of Dr. King's “I Have A Dream” speech.
I knew that The Mountaintop had the potential to give us a window into what Martin “the man” may have felt during the isolated time when he fought against civil unrest and the awful ills of social injustice and inequality. This play, by Pulitzer-prize author Katori Hall helped us to reimagine the persona of MLK and to realize just how ordinary people can rise to the occasion to do extraordinary things in spite of impossible odds.
I commend and honor our very capable cast, Mr. Kerby Darius and Ms. Christen Dekie, who brought humanity and passion to their roles. Their characters show us all of the fears, the anxiety, the hurts, and the pains we encounter in this life; but also show us the love and the bravery it takes to confront each of our competing demons in order to triumph for a far greater and universal cause.
It is my hope that our The Mountaintop will leave each of you transformed and perhaps more engaged in a collective quest for peace and goodwill toward our fellow man.
To all of you,
Go forth. I challenge you to carry that proverbial baton far, far beyond Martin's Dream!
With Warmest Love & Regard,
VLW
This performance is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrant Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and administered by the Huntington Arts Council.
EastLine Theatre is a nonprofit theatre company that BroadwayWorld calls ‘Long Island’s best kept secret’. EastLine aims to create theatre in unlikely spaces while re-examining the canon, exploring modern plays, and bringing original works to the attention of the community. EastLine is committed to creating opportunities for women, people of color, and LGBTQIA+ people.
EastLine Theatre is a proud member of the Huntington Arts Council and the Alliance of Resident Theatres / New York.
This performance is a co-production with Westbury Arts. EastLine is thankful for their continued support.
Original Broadway production produced by
Jean Doumanian, Sonia Friedman Productions,
Ambassador Theatre Group, Raise the Roof 7,
Ted Snowdon, Alhadeff Productions / Lauren Doll,
B Square + 4 Productions / Broadway Across America,
Jacki Barlia Florin / Cooper Federman,
Ronnie Planalp / Moellenberg
Taylor and Marla Rubin Productions /
Blumenthal Performing Arts,
in association with Scott Delman.
The Mountaintop was developed at the
Lark Play Development Center, New York City,
and was first produced by Theatre 503 in June 2009
and further produced at
Trafalgar Studio One in July 2009
by Sonia Friedman Productions and Jean Doumanian,
Tali Pelman for Ambassador Theatre Group,
Bob Bartner, Freddy DeMann, Jerry Frankel,
Ted Snowdon and Marla Rubin Productions Ltd.
The Mountaintop was developed at the 2008
Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Page 3
a program of the Playwrights Foundation
(Amy L. Mueller, Artistic Director).
With thanks to Ronnie Green, Paul DeFilippo, Julie Lyon, Stanley Turetsky, Jennifer Yatco, Connie Locasio, and everyone at Westbury Arts, Stephen Burdman and New York Classical Theatre, Bobbi Morse, Colleen Brady, Fabric Wholesale Direct, Pat Vultaggio, Lynn Adler-Ciorciari, Abi Alam, and Paul & Lynda Gaug