The Mountain Play stage set up for a presentation of the musical Annie in 2003.

The Mountain Play Association is a 501(c)3 organization responsible for the production of theatrical events at the Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheater on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California. The stone amphitheater, named for the owner of the railroad company which constructed the Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway, is at an elevation of 2,000 feet and has 4,000 seats.

The organization was founded in 1913, and is a member of Theatre Bay Area and the North Bay Theatre Group. John C. Catlin became the first president of the Mountain Play Association. He financed the first play in the Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre in 1913.[1][2]

The Mountain Play presents one musical a year, in May and June. In 2014, they presented South Pacific, from May 18 through June 15. Past productions have included Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hair.

The mission statement of the Mountain Play Association reads, "The Mountain Play Association’s mission is to produce an annual, spectacular, outdoor theatrical experience that nurtures an appreciation of Mt. Tamalpais, involves and strengthens the community, and builds on decades of tradition."

History

First performance

One of the oldest non-profit theater companies in the area, the Mountain Play staged its first theatrical performances in the natural amphitheater on top of Mt. Tamalpais in Marin County in 1913. The first Mountain Play produced was Abraham and Isaac. Members of the audience hiked the eight miles from Mill Valley or steamed up the mountain on the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, the "Crookedest Railroad in the World." The Mountain Play Association (MPA) was formed the following year. Congressman William Kent, who owned the land on the mountain where the amphitheater stood, was one of its vice presidents.

List of performances [3]

Performance Dates YearPlay(s)
May 21, 28; June 4, 10, 11, 18 2023 Into the Woods
May 22, 29; June 5, 11, 12, 19[4] 2022 Hello, Dolly!
2021 No play (Theater closed for COVID-19 safety)
2020
Summer 2019 Grease
May 20, 27, June 3, 9, 10, 17 2018Mamma Mia
Summer 2017Beauty and the Beast

Hair

Summer 2016West Side Story
Summer 2015Peter Pan
Summer 2014South Pacific
Summer 2013The Sound of Music (100th Anniversary)
Summer 2012The Music Man
Summer 2011Hairspray
Summer 2010Guys and Dolls
Summer 2009Man of La Mancha
Summer 2008Wizard of Oz
Summer 2007Hair
Summer 2006Fiddler on the Roof
Summer 2005Oklahoma!
Summer 2004My Fair Lady
Summer 2003Annie
Summer 2002Bye Bye Birdie
Summer 2001Oliver!
Summer 2000A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Summer 1999West Side Story
Summer 1998Hello, Dolly!
Summer 1997South Pacific
Summer 1996My Fair Lady
Summer 1995Guys & Dolls
Summer 1994Fiddler on the Roof
Summer 1993The Music Man
Summer 1992Oklahoma!
Summer 1991Wizard of Oz
Summer 1990Anything Goes
Summer 1989Brigadoon
Summer 1988South Pacific
Summer 1987King & I (75th Anniversary)
Summer 1986Peter Pan
Summer 1985The Sound of Music
Summer 1984Fiddler on the Roof
Summer 1983The Music Man
Summer 1982Oklahoma!
Summer 1981Annie Get Your Gun & Henry V
Summer 1980Carnival
Summer 1979Indians
Summer 1978Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
Summer 1977Clothes
Summer 1976Celebration '76 : American music and dance retrospective
Summer 1975Music of America
Summer 1974Rough an' Ready
Summer 1973Picnic and hike, guest of honor State Senator Peter Behr excerpts from Oklahoma! and Jacques Brel
Summer 1972Rough an' Ready
Summer 1971Playboy of the Western World
Summer 1970Tamalpa
Summer 1969The World We Live In
Summer 1968Alice Through the Looking Glass
Summer 1967Kismet
Summer 1966Peer Gynt
Summer 1965Rough an' Ready
Summer 1964Flamenca
Summer 1963Tamalpa
Summer 1962Rip of the Mountain
Summer 1961Robin Hood
Summer 1960Alice in Wonderland
Summer 1959The Pied Piper
Summer 1958Rough an' Ready
Summer 1957Tamalpa
Summer 1956The Birds
Summer 1955The World We Live In
Summer 1954The Tempest
Summer 1953Tamalpa
Summer 1952Land of Oz
Summer 1951A Thousand Years Ago
Summer 1950Robin Hood
Summer 1949Rough an' Ready
Summer 1948If I Were King
Summer 1947Alice in Wonderland
Summer 1946Tamalpa
1945 No play (Grounds in use by US Army)
1944
1943
1942
Summer 1941A Thousand Years Ago
Summer 1940The World We Live In
Summer 1939The Valiant Cossack
Summer 1938Tamalpa
Summer 1937Thunder in Paradise
Summer 1936Androcles and the Lion
Summer 1935The World We Live In (from Ross Valley Players)
Summer 1934The Girl of the Golden West
Summer 1933The Daughter of Jorio
Summer 1932Rob Roy
Summer 1931The Trail of the Padres
Summer 1930The Sunken Bell
Summer 1929Peer Gynt
Summer 1928Flamenca
Summer 1927The Gods of the Mountain
Summer 1926Rip Van Winkle
Summer 1925Drake
1924No play (hoof & mouth disease epidemic)
Summer 1923Tamalpa
Summer 1922The Pied Piper
Summer 1921Tamalpa
Summer 1920As You Like It
Summer 1919Tally-Ho
Summer 1918Robin Hood
Summer 1917Jeppe-on-the-Hill
Summer 1916William Tell
Summer 1915Rip Van Winkle
Summer 1914Shakuntala
Summer 1913Abraham and Isaac

Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater

In 1916, Kent deeded the theater to the MPA. Twenty years later, MPA turned the theater over to the state park, which then surrounded it, and over the next ten years the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to install the massive serpentine stones that now form the 4000-seat Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater. The theater was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2015.

Since 1977, when Marilyn Smith took over as executive director, the Mountain Play presented Broadway musicals on the mountain.

In 1980, the Mountain Play introduced sign language interpretation at its May performances on Mt. Tamalpais. In the early 1980s, special accommodations were developed for patrons with wheelchairs, including the grading of a path to the theater and the construction of a shaded wheelchair platform.

In 1993, the Mountain Play expanded its 10-year-old programs for the visually impaired to include professional describers who provide simultaneous audio description. Equipment was upgraded in 1997, which enables users to sit anywhere in the theater rather than in a specially designated area.

A "Day on the Mountain" outreach program was introduced in 1993 to introduce low-income/at-risk children both to musical theater and to Mt. Tamalpais. Working with Bay Area social service agencies, the Mountain Play provides tickets and transportation to the show, pre-performance workshops and guided nature hikes on the mountain. Since 1995, the Mountain Play has also presented an annual performance at the Redwoods retirement center in Mill Valley for an audience of elderly patrons who can no longer make it up to the mountain.

See also

References

  1. Neal Hotelling (30 Aug 2019). "Mayoral questions included feeding a horse, beer and censorship" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, California. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  2. "John C. Catlin, Son Of Capital Pioneer, Dies". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, California. 11 Jul 1951. p. 8. Retrieved April 27, 2022.
  3. "Past Productions".
  4. "Mountain Play Program 2022". Mountain Play Association. 2022: 1. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)

37°54′45″N 122°36′30″W / 37.91258°N 122.60844°W / 37.91258; -122.60844

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