Topdog/Underdog Opens at Lincoln College
Play based on the modern struggles dealing with American life Opens April 12

[April 12, 2018] 

LINCOLN 

Topdog/Underdog, opens this evening (Thursday, April 12) at the Johnston Center for Performing Arts at Lincoln College. The play is a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity. The play was written by Suzan-Lori Parks and won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

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. Deserted by their parents at a young age, Lincoln and Booth were forced to fend for themselves while relying on each other. As adults, the tension between the brothers is high; the brothers face poverty, relationships, gambling, work, and racism. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.

The Lincoln College production will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, April 12-14 and on Sunday, April 15 at 2:30 p.m. Doug Rosson, lead faculty for the Lincoln College Theatre Department cautioned that the play’s gritty portrayal of urban poverty contains language not suitable for children.

Topdog/Underdog premiered in 2001 off-Broadway in New York City. In 2002, the play premiered on Broadway and won both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Outer Critics Circle Award. Parks recently released a book titled 100 Plays for the First Hundred Days and is the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Lincoln - played by Maurice Moore

Booth - played by DeAvion Gillarm

The role of Lincoln is played by Maurice Moore, while Booth is portrayed by DeAvion Gillarm.

Director is Doug Rosson. Katie Eickhoff is the technical director. Tickets can be reserved by calling the Johnston Center box office at 217-735-7280.

[Mark Gordon
Public Relations and Media Manager
Lincoln College
300 Keokuk Street]