With Top-Notch Performances, Front Porch Arts Collective’s ‘The Mountaintop’ Soars

October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Dominic Carter as MLK in Front Porch Arts Collective‘s ‘The Mountaintop’

‘The Mountaintop’ – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Scenic Design by Ben Lieberman. Lighting Design by Brian Lilienthal. Sound Design by Joshua Jackson. Presented by the Front Porch Arts Collective at the Suffolk University Modern Theatre, 525 Tremont Street, Boston, through October 12, 2025

A powerful production of the play The Mountaintop is running at Suffolk’s Modern Theatre – a short Green Line ride away from the university (BU) where MLK earned a PhD in systematic theology in 1955, on the same campus where he delivered a speech entitled “The Future of Desegregation” at the Ford Hall Forum in 1963, and blocks away from the Boston Common, where he delivered a speech in 1965 and where a permanent monument honoring the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott King was unveiled in 2023.

‘The Mountaintop’ Is A Gripping Rendering of MLK’s Last Night

October 2, 2025October 8, 2025 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

The Mountaintop – Written by Katori Hall. Directed by Maurice Emmanuel Parent. Presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective in collaboration with Suffolk University at Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St., Boston, through October 12.

By Shelley A. Sackett

Playwright Katori Hall couldn’t have asked for a better production of his Olivier Award-winning play, The Mountaintop, than the one it is receiving at the Modern Theater at Suffolk University. Under Maurice Emmanuel Parent’s pitch-perfect direction, its two stars, Dominic Carter and Kiera Prusmack, deliver impeccable performances as civil rights and social justice leader, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Camae, a motel employee. Ben Lieberson’s set is straightforward and literal, a classic 1960s era, no frills, wood-paneled motel room.

High Spirited ‘Chicken & Biscuits’ Marks Front Porch’s First Solo Production

January 7, 2023 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

Cast of ‘Chicken & Biscuits’ by The Front Porch Arts Collective at Suffolk University Modern Theatre

‘Chicken & Biscuits’ — Written by Douglas Lyons. Directed by Lyndsay Allyn Cox; Scenic Design by Erik D. Diaz; Costume Design by Zoe Sundra; Lighting Design by M. Berry; Sound Design by Anna Drummond. Presented by The Front Porch Arts Collective at Suffolk University Modern Theatre, 525 Washington St., Boston through January 8.

By Shelley A. Sackett

The architectural bones of Suffolk University’s Modern Theater are a set made to order for ‘Chicken & Biscuits,’ the first solo production by The Front Porch Arts Collective, a Black theater company whose previous presentations have been in collaboration with other larger companies.

GBSC, Front Porch Collective Comically Re-Invent ‘The Three Musketeers’

June 9, 2019June 9, 2019 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

(Lyndsay Allyn Cox, Paige Clark, Marc Pierre, James Ricardo Milord, Tonasia Jones, Stewart Evan Smith in GBSC, Front Porch Arts Collective’s ‘The Three Musketeers’ – Photo credit: Maggie Hall Photography)

Reviewed by Tony Annicone

Chivalry comes to life with a comic, swashbuckling and intriguing version of The Three Musketeers at Greater Boston Stage in collaboration with the Front Porch Arts Collective, who seek to advance racial equity in Boston. D’Artagnan, a country boy, is determined to join the prestigious Musketeers in defending one and all from the evil Cardinal Richelieu. Director Dawn M. Simmons presents a gender bending version of the show as they take us on an exciting journey into yesteryear. The show is written by Catherine Bush and adapted from Alexander Dumas’ novel. It celebrates honor, lust for life, romance and true friendship. Of course there are many evil plots and schemes to avert by these Musketeers and their young protégé. Their friendship is what endures during their struggles with adversity and how sticking together through thick and thin wins the day. The astounding swordfights, fights and pratfalls are breathtaking and directed perfectly by Angie Jepson, while the costumes by Amanda Mujica are beautiful.

Essays In Idelness

March 17, 2017April 2, 2017 Theater MirrorLeave a comment

by Larry Stark

(Essays in Idleness is a feature that periodically runs – uneditied – that expresses the thoughts of our founder Larry Stark)

THERE’S A NEW COMPANY IN BOSTON!

“THE FRONT PORCH ARTS COLLECTIVE” (https://www.centralsquaretheater.org/about/front-porch-arts-collective/) will be in residence at The Central Square Theatre for a year, and next weekend their first production will be a staged reading of Marcus Gardley’s play “The House That Will Not Stand” —as first in “The God’s Closet Reading Series” of at least six. The date is 26 March, at 7:00 p m., and reservations for this reading are recommended.