Top Dog Underdog

[Pages:62]"Suzan-Loni Parks is a nemankable plaJrwnight. She is an oniginal whose fierce intetligence, and feanless appnoach t0 cpaft, subvert theatrical convention and produce a mature and inimitable art that is as exciting as it

'is fresh. I am standing with my hat in the air." -August Wilson

"This latest offering from the fenoc'iously talented author of The America Ploy and In the Blood...is as exciting as any new ptay fnom a young Amenican since Tony Kushner's Angels in Anerica." -Ben Brantley, New York Times

"In Topdog/llnderdog history scneams and bleeds in this work of Panks's as

intensely as ever." -Alisa Solomon, ViLLage Voice

"Topdog/tlnderdog is demandingty smart, dark and nesonant. Parks's intense examination of who's up/who's down tension, her fascination with questions of btack/white, older brother/younger brothen freedom/slavery, and family mJrth past/reality pnesent, is given sharp form in a fine production." *Lisa Sch warz baum, E nte rtoi n m e nt Weekly

Topdog/Underdog, a darkty comic fable of brotherly love and famity identity, tetts the storj/ of two bnothers, Lincoln and Booth, names given t0 them as a joke bJ the'in fathen Haunted bJ the past ancl their obsession with the stneet con game, three-card monte, the bnothens come to tearn the tnue natune of

thein histony.

-o{

TOPDOC 300ul0Nn Tooo H

In the eanly 1980s suzan-Lori Parks took a wrifing

class w'ith James Baldw'in and, at his suggestion, began

wniting ptays. These plays 'include In the Elaod {?000

,'F-\

I

H

Pulitzen Prize nom'inee\, Fucking A, Venus (1996 oBIE

Awand], The America PLay and, Inperceptible Mutabitities

in the Third Kingdom (1990 0BIE Awand, Best New

American Play), among othens, most of which have been

pubtished by Theatre Communications Group (TCG). Hen

first feature film, 6irl 6, was directed bJ Spike Lee. Ms.

Panks is the recipient 0f the 200i. MacAnthur "6en"ius"

Gnant. She was necentlJ .included in Time Magazine's

"Time 100: The Next Wave of Innovatons." Ms. Parks nuns

the A.S.K. Theaten Pnojects Writing fon Penformance

Pnogram at California Inshtute of the Ants. Cunnentty

she is wonking on a new ptay and hen finst novet.

TOPt}OG 300ul0Nn

ISBN 978- 1-55936-201-6

I illilllilllllLilllllll ltll[l]t[[t

Sandra-Lee Phipps

(9

Pentagram

(J

Theatne Communications Group

F

May 2015

Dear First-Year Student:

on behalf of President stuart Rabinowitz and the entire Hofstra community, greetings, and welcome to Hofstra University. you are about to join a vibrant, engaged, diverse community, with opportunities ranging from clubs, concerts and athletics to internships and all the cultural events the New york metropolitan area has to offer. First and foremost, however, we are an academic community. At Hofstra, not only will you pursue subjects that already interest you, but our

faculty will also spark your interests in new directions.

we use our summer orientation program to give you a taste of the kind of

excitement you will experience this fall in a Hofstra classroom. To that end, we are asking all first-year students to read Suzan-Lori parks's play, Topdog/L.tnderdog.

we'll discuss it together this summer when you come for orientation. The play won the Pulitzer Prize for drama in 2oo2 and went on to successful runs on and off-Broadway and elsewhere. I think as you read it you will see why. lt tells the story of two brothers, Lincoln and Booth. whose names were given to them as a joke. lt recalls the darkness of the Biblical story of cain and Abel, with its universal themes of sibling rivalry and resentment-but it transplants these themes into a contemporary context of comedy and race. we know we cannot escape our past, yet we also feel a sense of freedom and responsibility as we

confront the future.

To get started, visit hofstra.edu/commonreading. There, you can view video clips of Hofstra faculty and students talking about the book, and you can share your

own thoughts about it. lf you have questions about the common reading or

about New Student Orientation, please call (5j6)463-4g74 or send an e-mail to orientation@hofstra.edu.

I look forward to meeting you this fall

Sincerely,

Herman A. Berliner, Ph.D. Provost and Senior Vice president for Academic Affairs

OTHER BOOKS BY SUZAN-LORI PARKS AVAILABLE FROM TCG

The America PIay and Other Worhs Ventn The Red Letter Plays (includes In the Blood and Fucking A)

IoPDoG tlu0uilNn

SUZAII.IORI PARKS

IHEATRE COMMUNIGATIOI{S GROUP NEW YORK

Topdog/Underdog is copyright @ 1999, 200I, 2002 by Suzan_Lori parks

Topdog/Underdog is pubiished by Theatre Communications Group, Inc.,

520 Eighth Avenue, 24thFloor, New york, l\y 10018_4156.

AII rights reserved. Except.for briefpassages quoted in newspaper, maga_ zine, radio or television reviews, no part of this book may b" ."p.odu"eii., any form orby any means, electronic or mechanicat, includlng photo"opf-_ ing or recording, or by an information storage and retrievai .yr]"_, *lthout permission in writing from the publisher.

Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that this materiar, being fury

protected under the copyright Laws of the united States of America Jnd ari

f, other countries

ject to.a royalty.

of Ail

the Berne and Universal Copyright Conventions, is sub_ rights including, but not limiied professional, amateur,

recording. motion picture, recitation, telerdsion broadcasting, and the rights

lecturing, public reading, of traniatio.r into ro."ig";

i.uurdrlgou"";.",;i

are expressly reserved. Particular emphasis is placed o.r the"quesiio.r'of

readings and all uses ofthis book bv edlcationar institutions, permission for which must be secured frgm_the author's representative, Geo.ge p. Lane.

9:"i'::3li*: Agency, 162 Fifth Avenue,6ti, Floor. ttew york,"wy rOOtO:

12121271-9000.

This

lbrk

public-ation is made State Council on the

possibie in part with Arts, a State Agency.

p' ublic

funds

from

the

New

TCC books are exclusively distributed to the book trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-publication Data

Parks, Suzan-Lori.

Topdog/underdog / Suzan-Lori parks.- lst ed.

p.cm.

ISBN-13: 978-l-55936-201-6 ISBN-IO: r-55936-201-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Brothers-Drama. 2. Sibling rivairy-Drama. I. Title: Topdog/underdog. II Title.

PS3566.A736 T66 200r 812'.54-dc2l 200t02i216

Cover design by Pentagram Tert design and composition by Lisa Govan

First Edition. December 2001 Fourteenth Printing. July 2016

4 Paul 0scher

who taught me how 2 throw the cards

In January 1999I was thinking about a play I'd written seven years earlier called The America PIay.In that play's first act we watch a black man who has fashioned a career for himself: he sits in an arcade impersonating Abraham Lincoln and letting people come and play at shooting him dead-like John Wilkes Booth shot our sixteenth president in 1865 during a performance at Ford's Theatre. So I was thinking about my old play when another black Lincoln impersonator, unrelated to the first guy, came to mind: a new character for a new play.

This time I would just focus on his home life. This new

Lincoln impersonator's real name would be Lincoln. He would

be a former 3-card monte hustler. He would live with his

brother, a man named Booth.

My interest in 3-card monte began one day when my

husband Paul and I were walking along Canal Street and saw some guys doing the shell game. I was fascinated because, while I'd seen the scam before, this time I had someone whispering

a running commentary in my earz a kind of play-by-play,

explaining the ins and outs of the scam, what was really going down. Sure enough the commentator was my husband. Tirrns

out that, back in the days when he played in the Muddy

Waters Blues Band, Paul would, for fun, hustle 3-card monte between sets. So when we got home that day he sat me down and showed me how to throw the cards.

This is a play about family wounds and healing. Welcome to the family.

Suzan-l0fi Pads

April2002

Ptoduction History

Topd,oglUnderd,og had its world premiere on July 22,200L, at The Joseph Papp Public Theater/New York Shakespeare Festival (George C. Wolfe, Producer) with support from

AT&T:OnStage. The directorwas George C. WoHe. The scenic

design was by Riccardo Herndndez, costume design was by Emilio Sosa, lighting design was by Scott Zielinski, sound

design was by Dan Moses Schreier, the production stage man-

ager was Rick Steiger and the stage manager was Gwendolyn M. Cilliam. The cast was:

Booth Lincoln

Don Cheadle Jeffrey Wright

TopdoglUnderdog opened on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre on April7,2002. The directorwas George C. WoHe. The scenic design was by Riccardo Herndndez, costume design was by Emilio Sosa, lighting design was by Scott Zielinski, sound design was by Dan Moses Schreier, the production stage manager was Rick Steiger and the stage man-

ager was Gwendolyn M. Gilliam. The cast was:

Booth IinGoln

Mos Def Jeffrey Wright

U]{DERD0G/S00d0r

Ihe Playets

Lincoln

the topdog

Booth

(aka 3-Card), the underdog

Place here

Iime

now

AulhOt's l{OteS: From the ooElements of Style"

I'm continuing the use of my slightly unconventional theatrical elements. Here's a road map.

t (Rest)

Take a little time, a pause, a breather; make a transition.

I A Spell

An elongated and heightened (Resl). Denoted by repetition of figures' names with no dialogue. Has sort of an architectural look:

Lincoln Sooth LinGoln Booth

This is a place where the figures experience their pure true simple state. While no action or stage business is neces-

sary directors should fill this moment as they best see fit.

I [Brackets in the text indicate optional cuts for production.] r (Parentheses around dialogue indicate softly spoken pas-

sages (asides; sotto voce)).

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