Mountain Play Association

The Mountain Play Association (MPA, or Mountain Play) is a 501(c)3 organization responsible for the production of theatrical events at the Sidney B. Cushing Amphitheater (formerly the Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater) within Mount Tamalpais State Park on Mount Tamalpais in Marin County, California, United States. The stone amphitheater, named for the owner of the railroad company which constructed the Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway,[1] is at an elevation of 2,000 feet and has 4,000 seats.

Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater
Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre
The Mountain Play stage set up for a presentation of the musical Annie in 2003.
LocationMount Tamalpais State Park, 3801 Panoramic Hwy., Mill Valley, Marin County, California, United States
Coordinates37.91258°N 122.60844°W / 37.91258; -122.60844
Built1930s
ArchitectEmerson Knight
Websitewww.mountainplay.org
NRHP reference No.14001234
Added to NRHPFebruary 2, 2015

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.[2][3] The Mountain Play presents one musical a year, in May and June. 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."

The theater group venue was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on February 2, 2015, for architecture and cultural history.[4]

History

The organization was founded in 1913, and is a member of Theatre Bay Area and the North Bay Theatre Group. The venue was named for Sidney B. Cushing, the owner of the railroad company which constructed the Mount Tamalpais Scenic Railway.[1] Prior to the 1930s and the construction of the open air amphitheatre, the audience sat on a bowl-shaped lawn.[5] The venue is located just below the 2,571-foot East Peak.[1]

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 performance was financed by politician John C. Catlin, the first president of the Mountain Play Association.[3] Congressman William Kent, who owned the land on the mountain where the amphitheater stood, was one of its vice presidents. Garnet Holme served as the theatre director, from 1913 until his death in 1929.[6][7]

The first Mountain Play produced was Abraham and Isaac.[8] Members of the audience hiked the eight miles from Mill Valley, or steamed up the mountain on the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway, once billed as the "Crookedest Railroad in the World."[9]

List of performances
Performance Dates YearPlay(s) Notes[10]
May 21, 28; June 4, 10, 11, 18 2023 Into the Woods [11]
May 22, 29; June 5, 11, 12, 19 2022 Hello, Dolly! [12][13]
2021 No play (theater closed for COVID-19 safety) [14][7]
2020
Summer 2019 Grease
May 20, 27, June 3, 9, 10, 17 2018Mamma Mia [15]
Summer 2017Beauty and the Beast, and Hair [16][17]
Summer 2016West Side Story
Summer 2015Peter Pan
Summer 2014South Pacific
Summer 2013The Sound of Music (100th anniversary) [8]
Summer 2012The Music Man
Summer 2011Hairspray
Summer 2010Guys and Dolls [18]
Summer 2009Man of La Mancha
Summer 2008Wizard of Oz
Summer 2007Hair [19]
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 because the grounds were in use by U.S. Army [7]
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 due to hoof and mouth disease epidemic [7]
Summer 1923Tamalpa
Summer 1922The Pied Piper
Summer 1921Tamalpa
Summer 1920As You Like It
Summer 1919Tally-Ho
Summer 1918Robin Hood and The Three Kings [5]
Summer 1917Jeppe-on-the-Hill
Summer 1916William Tell
May 1915Rip Van Winkle [20]
May 1914Shakuntala [21]
Summer 1913Abraham and Isaac [8]

Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater
Main articles: Cushing Memorial Amphitheatre and Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival

In 1916, Kent deeded the theater to the MPA. Twenty years later, MPA turned the theater over to the Mount Tamalpais State Park, which then surrounded it. In the 1930s the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) worked to install the massive serpentine stones that now form the 4000-seat Sidney B. Cushing Memorial Amphitheater.[1][22]

In 1930, the Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railway stopped running.[7] It was the site of the KFRC Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival, a historic rock music festival in June 1967.[1]

Since 1977, when Marilyn Smith took over as executive director, the Mountain Play presented Broadway musicals on the mountain.[7] In 2014, they presented South Pacific, from May 18 through June 15. Past productions have included Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, and Hair.

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. Liberatore, Paul (April 12, 2008). "Veterans of 75-year-old Civilian Conservation Corps honored at Mountain Theater". Marin Independent Journal. Archived from the original on November 14, 2011.
  2. Hotelling, Neal (30 Aug 2019). "Mayoral questions included feeding a horse, beer and censorship" (PDF). Carmel Pine Cone. Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA. p. 22. Retrieved 2022-04-27.
  3. "John C. Catlin, Son Of Capital Pioneer, Dies". The Sacramento Bee. Sacramento, CA. July 11, 1951. p. 8 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. "Mount Tamalpais Mountain Theater". NPGallery, Digital Asset Management System.
  5. "Audience for the sixth Mountain Play, Robin Hood and The Three Kings, Mount Tamalpais, 1918 [photograph]", Calisphere, Marin County Free Library, 1918, retrieved 2024-03-06
  6. "Mountain Play, down but not out". The Sausalito Historical Society. 2020-05-13. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  7. Clinton, Larry (2020-05-26). "Mountain Play, down but not out". Marin Local News. Archived from the original on June 22, 2021. Retrieved March 5, 2024.
  8. Jones, Chad (May 17, 2013). "Mountain Play reaches 100 in Marin". SFGATE. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  9. Wurm, Theodore G.; Graves, Alvin C. (1954). The Crookedest Railroad in the World: California's Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railroad (1st ed.). Fresno, CA: Academy Library Guild. p. 12.
  10. "Past Productions".
  11. "Mountain Play returns with 'Into the Woods'". Marin Independent Journal. May 22, 2023. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  12. Hamer, Caitlin (2022-04-22). "Hello, Dolly! Takes the Stage at Mountain Play". Marin Living Magazine. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  13. "The Mountain Play Returns With Hello, Dolly!". Mill Valley, CA Patch. Bay Area Living. 2022-05-19. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  14. "Wracked With Uncertainty Amidst COVID-19 Lockdown, Mountain Play Cancels 107th Season". Enjoy Mill Valley. March 25, 2020. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  15. "Mamma mia, there's some fine dining at the Mountain Play". Marin Independent Journal. May 29, 2018.
  16. "Full Cast Announced for Mountain Play's production of HAIR In Concert". Mill Valley, CA Patch. Bay Area Living. 2017-03-28. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  17. "Mountain Play Presents Beauty & The Best, Hair On Mount Tamalpais". CBS San Francisco. June 6, 2017. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  18. "Mountain Play pianist and musical director Chambliss knows it can be freezing or boiling". Marin Independent Journal. May 19, 2010. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  19. Harlib, Leslie (2007-06-03). "Flower power flashback: 'Hair' at Mountain Play". East Bay Times. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
  20. "Joseph McCauley in the role of Rip Van Winkle in the Mountain Play Association's 1915 production on Mount Tamalpais [photograph]", Calisphere, Marin County Free Library, 1915, retrieved 2024-03-06
  21. "Cast of the 1914 Mountain Play, Shakuntala, at the theater on Mount Tamalpais [photograph]", Calisphere, Marin County Free Library, 1914, retrieved 2024-03-06
  22. "Mount Tamalpais State Park CCC Features". CA State Parks. Retrieved 2024-03-06.
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