Topdog/Underdog is a Pulitzer Prize-winning play with mesmerizing dialog, tantalizing rhythms and the disturbing use of cultural icons. Brotherly love and hatred take center stage with the sardonically named Lincoln and Booth, siblings trapped in society's racial and gender pigeonholes.
Lincoln, a former con man and three-card Monte sharp, gave up the card con and now works at a carnival, dressing up in whiteface as Abraham Lincoln, primed for fake assassinations. Booth has taken up his brother's old vice and is attempting to lure Lincoln back to the street. This play is both frightening and funny, with unsettling allegory and brilliant wordplay.
The production includes adult language and situations and is intended only for mature audiences.
Dallas is producing artistic director of Philadelphia's New Freedom Theatre. He has won recognition and several awards for his work with students and direction on- and off-Broadway, including two Creative Genius Awards in the U.K. and an honorary doctorate of fine arts degree from Philadelphia's University of the Arts. Dallas was the director fellow for the National Endowment for the Arts at Baltimore's Center Stage and directed the world premier of August Wilson's Seven Guitars at Chicago's Goodman Theatre, which Time magazine named one of the “Top 10 Best Theatre Events” of the year.
Dallas was the lead writer of Standing in the Shadows of Motown, a documentary about Motown's legendary house band The Funk Brothers, which won several awards including Best NonFiction Film from the New York Film Critics Circle and three Grammy awards. In 1983, Dallas established the School of Theatre Arts at Philadelphia's University of the Arts.
Performances of Topdog/Underdog are scheduled at:
- 7:30 p.m., Monday, April 2;
- 7:30 p.m., Tuesday, April 3;
- 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 4;
- 7:30 p.m., Thursday, April 5;
- 10:15 p.m., Thursday, April 5;
- 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 6;
- 2 p.m., Saturday, April 7; and
- 7:30 p.m., Saturday, April 7.
Single tickets range from $8-$18. For more information, visit [www.pttp.udel.edu/season_show9.html].
For more information about other PTTP productions and to order tickets, visit [www.pttp.udel.edu/season.html], call (302) 831-2204, e-mail [pttp-boxoffice@udel.edu] or stop by the Hartshorn Hall box office.
