Topdog/underdog
by Suzan-lori Parks

Topdog/underdog Book Cover
Topdog/underdog Cover

Awards & Recognition

Drama League Award Outer Critics Circle Pulitzer Prize Tony Award

Winner! 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winner! 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play Winner! 2023 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Revival of a Play Nominee: Three 2023 Drama League Awards, including Outstanding Revival of a Play

Synopsis

Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama

A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks latest riff on the way we are defined by history.

The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment.

Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.

Suzan-Lori Parks is the author of numerous plays, including In the Blood and Venus.

She is currently head of the A.S.K.

Theater Projects Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia.

Press Reviews

"[A] vibrant comic drama of shifting identity and betrayal… from the ferociously talented author of In the Blood and The America Play."

— The New York Times

"The issues are gripping, the characters are dynamite… a must-see play."

— Backstage

Characters

Character
Booth

AKA 3-Card, the underdog

Lincoln

The topdog

Videos

Topdog/Underdog Monologue – South Coast Repertory Theatre

Publication

Year 2001
Binding Paperback
Edition 1st
Pages 110
Place New York
Language English
ISBN-13 9781559362016
ISBN-10 1559362014
eISBN-13 9781559366243
LCCN 2001027316
LCC PS3566.A736 T66 2001
DCC 812/.54

Topdog/underdog is a American play written by Suzan-lori Parks and published by Theatre Communications in New York (2001).

Digital editions available on Amazon Kindle, Apple Books, Google Play (eISBN 9781559366243).

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4.5

7k ratings · 12k reviews

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