Топдог/Андердог: Пьеса Сюзан-Лори Паркс

Play by Suzan Lori Parks

Topdog/Underdog is a play by American playwright Suzan Lori Parks which premiered in 2001 off Broadway in New York City. The next year it opened on Broadway, at the Ambassador Theatre, where it played for several months. In 2002, Parks received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Outer Critics Circle Award for the play; it received other awards for the director and cast. In 2023, it won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

The play chronicles the adult lives of two African American brothers as they cope with poverty, racism, work, women, and their troubled upbringings. Lincoln lives with Booth, his younger brother, after being thrown out by his wife. Booth reminds Lincoln that his presence was meant to be a temporary arrangement. But Lincoln, who works at an arcade as a whiteface Abraham Lincoln impersonator, is their sole source of income. While the work is honest, both brothers find it humiliating. Booth repeatedly attempts to persuade Lincoln to return to running games of three card monte. Lincoln had sworn off the hustle after one of his crew had been shot dead, believing he would be next. Idolizing his brother's former glory, Booth aspires to become a three card monte card sharp, frequently practicing the routine in his apartment, although his act is awkward; his own talent lies in shoplifting. Booth is preoccupied with a woman named Grace whom he tries to impress with shoplifted luxuries. He boasts to his brother about their relationship, but in truth she spurns his advances. Lincoln reveals that his wife Cookie had misread his depression as lack of interest in her, before she threw him out and slept with Booth. In the present, Lincoln is about to be laid off, replaced at his job by a wax model. Booth suggests that Lincoln save his job by vividly acting out Abraham Lincoln's death throes after the customers shoot him with the provided blank—an idea they rehearse before abandoning. The brothers reflect on their past together: Their parents deserted them as teenagers. Each parent, before leaving with a new lover, left one brother $500 in cash, which they refer to as their "inheritance". Lincoln spent his; Booth saved and hid his, never even opening the stocking that held it. After losing his job at the arcade, Lincoln returns to three card monte the next day and comes home exuberant. Meanwhile, Booth boasts that Grace has proposed marriage to him. Lincoln suggests that Booth find employment in order to keep Grace, calling his card shark abilities "double left handed." Insulted, Booth challenges him to a game of three card monte. Lincoln leads him to believe that he can win, inducing Booth to wager his $500 inheritance on the game before beating him. Laughing, Lincoln explains that the conceit behind three card monte is that the dealer always decides when he wins. Over Booth's protests, he tries to open the stocking containing the inheritance. An agitated Booth reveals that he had shot Grace. Lincoln attempts to return the inheritance, but Booth dares him to open it instead. As Lincoln cuts the stocking, Booth brings a gun to Lincoln's neck and shoots him. Booth rants at his brother's corpse for mocking him and stealing his inheritance, before crumpling and sobbing over the dead body.

Topdog/Underdog opened off Broadway at the Public Theater on July 26, 2001, and closed on September 2, 2001. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the play starred Don Cheadle (as Booth) and Jeffrey Wright (as Lincoln). The play opened on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre on April 7, 2002, and closed on August 11, 2002. Cheadle was replaced by Mos Def; directed by George C. Wolfe. A 2011 production at the Shaw Festival in Canada starred Kevin Hanchard (as Booth) and Nigel Shawn Williams (as Lincoln). This production had a second run at The Theatre Centre in Toronto later in the same year through Obsidian Theatre Company. Hanchard and Williams were both nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role – Play at the 2012 Dora Mavor Moore Awards; Williams won the award. Director Philip Akin also won the Dora for Outstanding Direction of a Play/Musical. In 2022, the play was revived on Broadway 20 years after its initial debut, directed by Kenny Leon and starring Corey Hawkins (as Lincoln) and Yahya Abdul Mateen II (as Booth). It ran at the Golden Theatre, previewing on September 27, 2022, officially opening on October 20, 2022, and closing on January 15, 2023. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.

Parks commented on the play: "I think the meaning of the play isn’t just confined to a man's experience I think it's about what it means to be family and, in the biggest sense, the family of man, what it means to be connected with somebody else." She noted that the play speaks to "who the world thinks you’re going to be, and how you struggle with that."

MCA released an album of music associated with Topdog/Underdog in 2002. The tracklist features original works by Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright, as well as Muddy Waters (whose band Parks's husband Paul Oscher played harmonica in) and other blues musicians.