February 22, 2006

Climbing Higher Mountains
Castmembers see own lives reflected in King’s final speech

By JUSTIN ELLIS
Contributing Writer

Margarette Mony was 11 years old when her father, seeking asylum from political persecution, move the family from Haiti to Seattle. Unable to speak English, she persevered through high school and into college while living in a homeless shelter.

So when she reads the words of Martin Luther King’s final address — about the grinding poverty and the call for freedom among people of color worldwide — the weeps at how they bear on her own experience.

On Jan. 16, Mony will take part in a reading of King’s last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” as part of Seattle Center’s annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration.

King gave the speech on April 3, 1968, in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis. He was assassinated the next day.

The production features a five-member cast directed by Tyrone Brown in association with Brownbox Theatre. The Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas recruited Brown to direct.

Each cast member was asked to submit an essay describing their own personal “mountaintop.” Mony’s essay talked about her struggles as an immigrant.

Brown hoped that every member of the cast would be able to make a connection to King’s speech: “I wanted them to ask ‘How does the speech relate to me?’”

Mony was easily able to make that connection. “When I was reading it, tears started coming down my face,” she says.

In one section Mony will read from King talking about the need to “bring the colored peoples of the world out of poverty.”

“ This is like me,” Mony says. “I’ve gone to bed hungry. I’ve been homeless.”

King’s declaration that everywhere he went, he saw people gathering together to rise up and be free also resonated with her. King said that the cry is always the same: “We want to be free.” Mony says she hears the same cry. Before she left Haiti, her family had to live in hiding because of her father’s political affiliations.

Mony can also relate to the determination of King’s audience that night to show up for the event, despite news of a coming storm. As a nursing student in Seattle Central and South Seattle community colleges, she was recently inducted into a national academic honors society. “I’m a very determined person. When I set my goals, I accomplish them,” Mony says.

Patty Pamplun, another cast member, admits that she has a hard time comparing her own “mountaintop” to King’s. “Compared to his,” she says, “I feel like, in some ways, my own struggle was very small.”

Pamplun was born in Korea and adopted to the U.S. when she was one year old. She relates to many others like her who have had to struggle to learn who they are, culturally as well as personally.

Pamplun says the speech is still relevant today, inspiring her to ask what kind of impact she is having on the world. She will be reading from a part in which King retells the Good Samaritan story from the Bible.

King says that instead of asking “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” we should ask, “if I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” Pamplun thinks this is a question we should be asking ourselves as a nation.

The cast members each read through the speech out loud with Brown a couple of times to decide who should read which sections. They were trying to get a sense of which felt most natural to them. Brown wanted them to read in their own voices as much as possible, using the speech to speak to their contemporaries. “We’re not trying to be Martin Luther King,” he says. “It will have to be dramatic in its own way.”

As a director, Brown was struck by the dramatic structure of the speech, by King’s inflection, and by the way he ends it. “No wonder people listened to him. It wasn’t just what he said, it was how he said it. He knew how to dramatize it.”

Pamplun has done some acting before, but she says this is unique because she is not playing a character, but being herself speaking King’s words. She says this allows her to put her own heart and soul into it.

Mony has never done anything like this, and is very excited to be a part of the production. “It is an honor to get to be in it,” she says. She imagines King “looking down and seeing this girl with an accent reading his speech.” 

[Reading]

Community Reading of “I’ve Been To The Mountaintop.” Mon., Jan. 16, 2:30 pm at Seattle Center, Center House Pavilion. Free admission to the reading and the all-day celebration at the Center House.

[Resource]

King’s speech can be heard or read online at www.americanrhetoric.com.

Photo by Sherry Loeser.

By JUSTIN ELLIS

Contributing Writer

M

argarette Mony was 11 years old when her father, seeking asylum from political persecution, moved the family from Haiti to Seattle. Escaping a bad family situation at 14, she lived in homeless shelters while struggling with English in high school. Now graduated, she balances work and nursing classes at two community colleges.

So when she reads the words of Martin Luther King’s final address — about the grinding poverty and the call for freedom among people of color worldwide — she weeps at how they bear on her own experience.

On Jan. 16, Mony will take part in a reading of King’s last speech, “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop,” as part of Seattle Center’s annual Martin Luther King Day Celebration.

King gave the speech on April 3, 1968, in support of striking sanitation workers in Memphis. He was assassinated the next day.

The production features a five-member cast directed by Tyrone Brown in association with Brownbox Theatre. The Central District Forum for Arts and Ideas recruited Brown to direct.

Each cast member was asked to submit an essay describing their own personal “mountaintop.” Mony’s essay talked about her struggles as an immigrant.

Brown hoped that every member of the cast would be able to make a connection to King’s speech: “I wanted them to ask, ‘How does the speech relate to me?’”

Mony was easily able to make that connection. “When I was reading it, tears started coming down my face,” she says.

In one section Mony will read from King talking about the need to “bring the colored peoples of the world out of poverty.”

“ This is like me,” Mony says. “I’ve gone to bed hungry. I’ve been homeless.”

King’s declaration that everywhere he went, he saw people gathering together to rise up and be free also resonated with her. King said that the cry is always the same: “We want to be free.” Mony says she hears the same cry. Before she left Haiti, her family had to live in hiding because of her father’s political affiliations.

Mony can also relate to the determination of King’s audience that night to show up for the event, despite news of a coming storm. She was recently inducted into a national academic honors society. “I’m a very determined person. When I set my goals, I accomplish them,” Mony says.

Patty Pomplun, another cast member, admits that she has a hard time comparing her own “mountaintop” to King’s. “Compared to his,” she says, “I feel like, in some ways, my own struggle was very small.”

Pomplun was born in Korea and adopted to the U.S. when she was one year old. She relates to many others like her who have had to struggle to learn who they are, culturally as well as personally.

Pomplun says the speech is still relevant today, inspiring her to ask what kind of impact she is having on the world. She will be reading from a part in which King retells the Good Samaritan story from the Bible.

King says that instead of asking “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?” we should ask, “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?” Pomplun thinks this is a question we should be asking ourselves as a nation.

The cast members each read through the speech out loud with Brown a couple of times to decide who should read which sections. They were trying to get a sense of which felt most natural to them. Brown wanted them to read in their own voices as much as possible, using the speech to speak to their contemporaries. “We’re not trying to be Martin Luther King,” he says. “It will have to be dramatic in its own way.”

As a director, Brown was struck by the dramatic structure of the speech, by King’s inflection, and by the way he ends it. “No wonder people listened to him. It wasn’t just what he said, it was how he said it. He knew how to dramatize it.”

Pomplun has done some acting before, but she says this is unique because she is not playing a character, but being herself speaking King’s words. She says this allows her to put her own heart and soul into it.

Mony has never done anything like this, and is very excited to be a part of the production. “It is an honor to get to be in it,” she says. She imagines King “looking down and seeing this girl with an accent reading his speech.” 

[Reading]

Community Reading of “I’ve Been to the Mountaintop, ”Mon., Jan. 16, 2:30 p.m. at Seattle Center, Center House Pavilion. Free admission to the reading and the all-day celebration at the Center House.

[Resource]

King’s speech can be heard or read online at www.americanrhetoric.com.