“The Mountaintop” by Katori Hall brings the audience into one of the most intimate moments in history, imagining what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s final hours were like as he sat in room 306 at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. How would King feel if he knew what was to come? This month Front Porch Arts Collective explores that question in this probing production.

Hall’s depiction of King is not that of an infallible cultural figure — it’s that of an ordinary man. In the play, King flirts and frets, he orders dinner and he experiences exhaustion from long days and challenging work. He has the same ordinary emotions as the audience.

“Katori’s work is about humanizing Dr. King — not as a myth but as a flawed, brilliant, deeply human man,” said Maurice Emmanuel Parent, director and producing artistic director at Porch. Parent played the role of King in a 2013 production of “The Mountaintop” at the Central Square Theater.

Two powerful actors guide the production: Dominic Carter as King and Kiera Prusmack, who plays an unexpected guest in room 306. Carter has played King three different times in productions of “The Mountaintop.” Every time, he says, the historical figure feels different.

“Of all the years that we’ve learned and studied about this man and praised this man, all those things are true,” said Carter. “But the other side is that Dr. Martin Luther King is just like me, too.”

In a way, that relatability reminds audience members that they don’t need to be mammoth civil rights leaders to contribute to change and to make a difference. For Carter, performing this role within Boston’s Black theater company is particularly special.

“It’s important to have representation of a theater company with people who understand and look like you, and are telling these stories that revolve around your culture and your race,” said Carter. “That to me is very sacred.”

“The Mountaintop” runs at The Modern Theatre at Suffolk University from Sept. 19 to Oct. 12. On Sept. 28 there will be a performance inviting members of the Black community and the African diaspora to gather, reflect on the material and engage with the artists involved.

Though the play is focused on King, it encourages audiences to consider where we were, how far we’ve come and what work still needs to be done.

“The glimpse of the future that Katori Hall gives Dr. King in this play — a Promised Land more equitable and inclusive than he could have imagined in 1968,” said Parent, “is both hopeful and devastating to those of us who have lived in the 50-plus years since he died.”

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