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

	Performance Dates	Year	Play(s)
	Summer	2019	Grease
	May 20, 27, June 3, 9, 10, 17	2018	Mamma Mia
	Summer	2017	Beauty and the Beast Hair
	Summer	2016	West Side Story
	Summer	2015	Peter Pan
	Summer	2014	South Pacific
	Summer	2013	The Sound of Music (100th Anniversary)
	Summer	2012	The Music Man
	Summer	2011	Hairspray
	Summer	2010	Guys and Dolls
	Summer	2009	Man of La Mancha
	Summer	2008	Wizard of Oz
	Summer	2007	Hair
	Summer	2006	Fiddler on the Roof
	Summer	2004	My Fair Lady
	Summer	2003	Annie
	Summer	2002	Bye Bye Birdie
	Summer	2001	Oliver!
	Summer	2000	A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
	Summer	1999	West Side Story
	Summer	1998	Hello Dolly
	Summer	1997	South Pacific
	Summer	1996	My Fair Lady
	Summer	1995	Guys & Dolls
	Summer	1994	Fiddler on the Roof
	Summer	1993	The Music Man
	Summer	1992	Oklahoma!
	Summer	1991	Wizard of Oz
	Summer	1990	Anything Goes
	Summer	1989	Brigadoon
	Summer	1988	South Pacific
	Summer	1987	King & I (75th Anniversary)
	Summer	1986	Peter Pan
	Summer	1985	The Sound of Music
	Summer	1984	Fiddler on the Roof
	Summer	1983	The Music Man
	Summer	1982	Oklahoma!
	Summer	1981	Annie Get Your Gun & Henry V
	Summer	1980	Carnival
	Summer	1979	Indians
	Summer	1978	Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
	Summer	1977	Clothes
	Summer	1976	Celebration '76 : American music and dance retrospective
	Summer	1975	Music of America
	Summer	1974	Rough an' Ready
	Summer	1973	Picnic and hike, guest of honor State Senator Peter Behr excerpts from Oklahoma! and Jacques Brel
	Summer	1972	Rough an' Ready
	Summer	1971	Playboy of the Western World
	Summer	1970	Tamalpa
	Summer	1969	The World We Live In
	Summer	1968	Alice Through the Looking Glass
	Summer	1967	Kismet
	Summer	1966	Peer Gynt
	Summer	1965	Rough an' Ready
	Summer	1964	Flamenca
	Summer	1963	Tamalpa
	Summer	1962	Rip of the Mountain
	Summer	1961	Robin Hood
	Summer	1960	Alice in Wonderland
	Summer	1959	The Pied Piper
	Summer	1958	Rough an' Ready
	Summer	1957	Tamalpa
	Summer	1956	The Birds
	Summer	1955	The World We Live In
	Summer	1954	The Tempest
	Summer	1953	Tamalpa
	Summer	1952	Land of Oz
	Summer	1951	A Thousand Years Ago
	Summer	1950	Robin Hood
	Summer	1949	Rough an' Ready
	Summer	1948	If I Were King
	Summer	1947	Alice in Wonderland
	Summer	1946	Tamalpa
		1945	No play (Grounds in use by US Army)
		1944
		1943
		1942
	Summer	1941	A Thousand Years Ago
	Summer	1940	The World We Live In
	Summer	1939	The Valiant Cossack
	Summer	1938	Tamalpa
	Summer	1937	Thunder in Paradise
	Summer	1936	Androcles and the Lion
	Summer	1935	The World We Live In (from Ross Valley Players)
	Summer	1934	The Girl of the Golden West
	Summer	1933	The Daughter of Jorio
	Summer	1932	Rob Roy
	Summer	1931	The Trail of the Padres
	Summer	1930	The Sunken Bell
	Summer	1929	Peer Gynt
	Summer	1928	Flamenca
	Summer	1927	The Gods of the Mountain
	Summer	1926	Rip Van Winkle
	Summer	1925	Drake
		1924	No play (hoof & mouth disease epidemic)
	Summer	1923	Tamalpa
	Summer	1922	The Pied Piper
	Summer	1921	Tamalpa
	Summer	1920	As You Like It
	Summer	1919	Tally-Ho
	Summer	1918	Robin Hood
	Summer	1917	Jeppe-on-the-Hill
	Summer	1916	William Tell
	Summer	1915	Rip Van Winkle
	Summer	1914	Shakuntala
	Summer	1913	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