play notes

Title: TOPDOG/UNDERDOG
Author: Suzan-Lori Parks
Published by: Dramatists Play Service, Inc.
The play's setting: New York, NY
Casts:
- Lincoln: Jeffrey Wright (later Mos Def)
- Booth: Don Cheadle
Opening dates:
- Premiered at the Joseph Papp Public Theater (July 26, 2001)
- Opened on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre (April 7, 2002)

Date of Reflection: January 1999
Previous Work: The America Play (written seven years earlier)
- Features a black man impersonating Abraham Lincoln.
- Engages in interactive play where people shoot him as part of entertainment.
Inspiration for New Play:
- Introduces a new character, another black Lincoln impersonator.
- Focuses on his home life, introducing characters named Lincoln and Booth (suggestive relation to the historical figure and John Wilkes Booth).
Personal Experience with 3-card Monte:
- Inspired by a conversation with husband regarding the shell game seen on Canal Street.
- Husband, Paul, was a hustler of 3-card monte during his music career.

Elements of Style:
- Uses unconventional theatrical elements, such as pauses and repetitions, noted in transcription style.
- Explains distinct denotations:
- (Rest) - denotes pauses.
- (Parentheses) - indicates softly spoken passages or asides.
- [Brackets] - show possible cuts for production.

Setting: A seedily furnished room in a rooming house, the environment is minimalistic with basic furniture.
Booth's Action:
- Practices the 3-card monte hustle, initially clumsy and mechanical.
- Dialogue demonstrates his hustling technique with emphasis on showmanship and engagement of potential players.
- Uses colorful and engaging rhetoric to entice involvement, leading to a harsh self-outburst at imagined players who lose.
Lincoln's Entrance:
- Lincoln enters dressed as Abraham Lincoln while Booth is still engrossed in his practice.
- Initial tension as Booth draws a gun, but Lincoln's non-threat prompts a discussion about his getup.
Character Dynamics:
- Booth adamantly dislikes Lincoln's disguise out of concern for image and impending relationships.
- They share a more personal discussion about women and loyalty.

Time Transition: Set in the immediate time following Scene One, now focusing on a Friday evening.
- Booth, showing signs of materialism, reveals his character's ongoing struggles and aspirations.
Booth's Romantic Interest:
- Planning a date with Grace, demonstrating a desire to elevate his status; he wants to impress her with wealth he suggests garnered through less honest means (boosting jewelry).
Booth's Plans:
- Engages in mischievous design, displaying ambition contrasted against Lincoln’s contemplative resignation to his circumstances.
Shared Childhood Memories:
- The brothers reminisce about their shared experiences growing up, illustrating their bond and the emotional undercurrent of family trauma.
Underlying Tensions:
- Lincoln reveals thoughts on his work situation and deeper reflections on their family dynamic, hinting at generational cycles of failure and trauma.

Transition to Evening: Lincoln wakes in a drunken stupor; Booth's narrative exposes his self-congratulating nature contrasted against Lincoln’s quiet contemplation.
- Social dynamics continue to play out as they navigate desires for connection with women and their shared understanding.
Struggle with Identity:
- Both men conceptually explore their pasts, ambitions, and the nature of familial bonds.
Financial Situations:
- Exchange information about small finances—a running theme of struggle.

Character Evolution:
- Lincoln, having re-engaged with his hustling past, enjoys the thrill of unexpectedly garnering cash.
- Subtle shifts in character balance as Booth feels overshadowed, driving conflict.
- Emphasis on Lincoln’s hustling days in the past as motivating factors.

Immediate Conflict: The scene builds towards an explosive confrontation as the brothers' ambitions collide.
- Booth, recognizing Lincoln’s past failures and their implications, becomes increasingly insecure.
Profound Climax:
- A series of escalating exchanges leads to a climax where Lincoln is fatally shot, underscoring themes of betrayal and rivalry.
Final Emotional Exchange:
- Highlighting their deep-seated issues of respect, familial loyalty, and survival instincts leading to Booth’s ultimate outburst of regret and anger.

Rivalry and Brother Dynamics:
- Physical manifestations of jealousy and ambition, showing how societal conditions breed tension.
Identity and Historical Context:
- The weight of historical figures on modern representations of selfhood among black men.
Economic Struggles:
- Insights into economic conditions faced by marginalized communities and how aspirations often clash with reality, revealing despair and destructive behaviors as coping mechanisms.