The Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe recently received a $10,000 Arts Work award from the National Endowment for the Arts to help underwrite its 2018 production of The Mountaintop, a fictional account of the last night of Dr. Martin Luther King’s life. The funds will also be used to underwrite costs of community outreach activities related to the play. WBTT will take a four-pronged approach to the community outreach activities. First, there will be two free performances of The Mountaintop for low-income residents, one specifically for school-aged children. Next, WBTT will hold a free “Voices” community discussion about the play and Dr. King’s leadership in the civil rights movement. Third, WBTT will incorporate readings from The Mountaintop in a new Jazzlinks curriculum for area high school students that will focus on the civil rights movement. Finally, the show and Dr. King’s legacy will be tied into WBTT’s 2018 summer musical intensive theatre program, "Stage of Discovery.”

West Coast Black Theatre