Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
"Topdog/Underdog" is a poignant play by Suzan-Lori Parks that explores the complex relationship between two African American brothers, Lincoln and Booth, as they navigate their struggles with identity, socioeconomic challenges, and familial ties. Set in a modest boarding house, the play contrasts Lincoln, who earns a living as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator, with his younger brother Booth, an unemployed hustler with aspirations of success. The narrative unfolds through their interactions, revealing deep-seated vulnerabilities, past traumas including parental abandonment, and the pressure of societal expectations.
As the brothers engage in the street game of three-card monte, themes of competition, survival, and betrayal emerge, culminating in a tragic confrontation. The play's exploration of brotherhood is grounded in both humor and tragedy, reflecting the complexities of their lives and ambitions. "Topdog/Underdog" premiered off-Broadway in 2001 before moving to Broadway and has since received critical acclaim, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, cementing its status as a modern classic. It has been celebrated for its incisive commentary on race, family dynamics, and the American experience, and it continues to resonate with audiences through various revivals.
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Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks
First produced: 2001; first published, 2001
Type of work: Drama
Type of plot: Psychological realism
Time of plot: Now
Locale: Here
Principal characters
Lincoln (Link) , the topdogBooth (3 Card) , the underdog, his brother
The Story:
Booth, an African American man in his early thirties, sits in a small, ill-conceived boarding-house room, playing three-card monte, a game of hustling and chance. His gaming table is composed of a plank across two mismatched milk crates. His manipulation of the cards is awkward, indicating a lack of skill and experience. Booth is startled by the entrance of his older brother, Lincoln, and he pulls a gun. Lincoln is dressed like his namesake, he wears a fake beard, and his face is whitened by stage makeup.
Link, as he is called by his brother, is employed as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator: He is assassinated in play by persons desiring to reenact history by pulling the trigger. Booth, on the other hand, is unemployed and deeply infatuated with Grace, the woman of his dreams. Because of his strong desire to succeed as a hustler, Booth decides to change his name to “3 Card.” Lincoln, prior to his new career as a presidential impersonator, had been a successful three-card monte player; he gave up the game after a close associate, Lonnie, was shot and killed by an irate customer. However, he is nervous about the security of his job reenacting history: It seems that he is about to be replaced by a dummy as a cost-saving move. He practices dying as Abraham Lincoln in an effort to defer his being let go.
The following evening, Booth enters dressed in an oversized coat, from which he extracts the booty he has lifted from various shops. In his cache are such disparate items as two new suits, girlie magazines, and a bottle of whiskey with two glasses. Though not skillful at three-card monte, he seems adept at shoplifting. Lincoln wants to practice dying, but Booth has a rendezvous with his girlfriend, a woman “so sweet she makes my teeth hurt.” Upon his brother’s departure for his date, Lincoln is left with the whiskey and begins to drink.
Upon his return from a successful date with Grace, Booth finds a drunk Lincoln. Because of his need to win Grace, Booth insists that Lincoln teach him to be a successful three-card monte hustler. In return, Lincoln cajoles his brother into helping him practice dying as the assassinated president.
When Lincoln thinks his brother is asleep, he begins to test himself to see if he still has the chops for three-card monte. According to the stage directions, “He studies [the cards] like an alcoholic would study a drink.” Without his knowledge, he is watched intently by Booth.
Some time later, Booth is setting up for a romantic dinner with Grace. It is past two in the morning, and Lincoln comes in from work. Given the extremely late hour, Grace is obviously not coming as Booth had expected, but he refuses to accept this fact. Lincoln reveals that he has lost his job: he has been replaced by a wax dummy. Booth, who has “boosted” all the finery used to set the table, is pleased with the news; his brother is now free to return to the streets as the hustler supreme. It is revealed that the two were deserted when they were teenagers, first by one of their parents and then by the other. Lincoln muses, “Maybe they got 2 new kids. 2 boys. Different than us, though. Better.”
With nothing to lose, Lincoln begins to teach Booth three-card monte in earnest. Lincoln allows Booth to win each throw of the cards; after all, they are playing in jest, with no stakes on the table. With his success against his brother, Booth leaves to find his missing date. Lincoln continues to work the cards, faster and faster, as the scene ends.
The next night, Thursday, Lincoln enters with a wad of money he has made on the street by hustling cards. Booth is already in the room; his mood is heavy. Lincoln announces the success he has had; Booth boasts of his success as well, that Grace actually asked him to marry her and she wants to move into the room with him, meaning that Lincoln will need to leave right away. Lincoln reveals he has a new job as a security guard.
The truth slowly begins to be revealed. Booth has not been romantically successful, and he needs success of some sort. He convinces Lincoln to play three-card monte with him for real stakes, his inheritance from his mother, five hundred dollars. The game begins, in earnest this time. Booth announces that he is not getting married after all, that he has actually shot and killed Grace. He loses his inheritance to Lincoln’s hustle. Booth stands behind Lincoln, the same way they had practiced before, only this time he has his gun in his hand, pressed against his brother’s neck. He pulls the trigger. Lincoln is assassinated one final time. The play ends with Booth, sobbing, hugging his dead brother’s body.
Impact
Topdog/Underdog is widely recognized as a modern classic and Suzan-Lori Parks's best-known work. After premiering off-Broadway in 2001 it enjoyed a stint on Broadway the following year, directed by George C. Wolfe. The play earned much critical acclaim and several major awards, including the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and several Outer Critics Circle Awards. It was also nominated for a Tony Award for Best Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play. Other honors over the years included the number-one spot on a 2018 list of the greatest American plays of the previous quarter century by the New York Times and ranking number twenty-four on Time Out's list of the best plays of all time.
Topdog/Underdog has also enjoyed several prominent revivals. Another Broadway production opened in 2022 and won a Tony Award for best revival.
Bibliography
Anderson, Lisa M. Black Feminism in Contemporary Drama. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2008. In her chapter “Battling Images: Suzan-Lori Parks and Black Iconicity,” Anderson brings clarity and understanding to the developing art of the playwright.
Green, Amy S. “Whose Voices Are These? The Arts of Language in the Plays of Suzan-Lori Parks, Paula Vogel, and Diana Son.” In Women Writing Plays: Three Decades of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2006. Focuses on the works of Parks alongside two other American female playwrights.
Harms, Talaura. "Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog Wins 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play." Playbill, 11 June 2023, playbill.com/article/suzan-lori-parks-topdog-underdog-wins-2023-tony-award-for-best-revival-of-a-play. Accessed 2 Aug. 2023.
Parks, Suzan-Lori. The America Play, and Other Works. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1995. The character of a Lincoln-esque figure at a penny-arcade was introduced by Parks in The America Play as The Founding Father. Among her other works collected in this volume are three essays written in 1994 that provide insights into the playwright’s methods.
Parks, Suzan-Lori. “Tradition and the Individual Talent.” In Stages of Drama: Classical to Contemporary Theater, edited by Carl H. Klaus, Miriam Gilbert, and Bradford S. Field, Jr. 5th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s Press, 2003. Parks’s commentary on the relationship between artistic tradition and artistic creativity responds to the essay of the same name by T. S. Eliot.