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