Mountain Play Association

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.

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

Year	Performance Dates	Play(s)
2018	Summer	TBD
2017	Summer	Beauty and the Beast Hair
2016	Summer	West Side Story
2015	Summer	Peter Pan
2014	Summer	South Pacific
2013	Summer	The Sound of Music (100th Anniversary)
2012	Summer	The Music Man
2011	Summer	Hairspray
2010	Summer	Guys and Dolls
2009	Summer	Man of La Mancha
2008	Summer	Wizard of Oz
2007	Summer	Hair
2006	Summer	Fiddler on the Roof
2005	Summer	Oklahoma!
2004	Summer	My Fair Lady
2003	Summer	Annie
-	-	-
1913	Summer	Abraham 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

• Mount Tamalpais State Park

External links

• Mountain Play Association