MAY 29 – JUNE 30, 2024

Topdog/Underdog

MODERN AMERICAN CLASSIC

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By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Jamil Jude
May 29 – June 30, 2024

2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner

2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play

2002 Outer Critics Circle Award Winner

Abandoned by their parents as teenagers, brothers Lincoln and Booth learned to rely on each other. As adults, Lincoln and Booth are locked in a cycle of love and resentment, foretold by the names they were given by their father as jokes and compounded by the challenges of poverty and racism. In her “utterly mesmerizing” (Variety) Pulitzer Prize-winner—named the best American play written in the past 30 years by the New York Times and recent recipient of the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play—celebrated writer Suzan-Lori Parks asks whether we can ever really change the cards we’re dealt as the brothers’ tug-of-war for dominance builds to devastating, life-changing consequences.

CLICK HERE for a digital copy of the program.

Thank you to our sponsors:
The 2023-2024 Season is sponsored by Linda Ravdin and Don Shapero.
Topdog/Underdog is sponsored by Mitch & Heidi Dupler and Dan Kaplan & Kay Richman.

"Hits with the force of a bullet."

-The Washington Post

"Suzan-Lori Parks’s Pulitzer-winning play may never have been more gut-busting comedic nor more gut-punching tragic."

-DC Theater Arts

"Confident...nimble and entrancing...harvest[s] every note of humor and pathos from Parks's immortal script."

-The Washington Post

"Perfect pacing, lyrical delivery, and impressive emotional range...theatrical excellence at its best."

-Maryland Theatre Guide

"[A] raw and affecting masterpiece"

-Broadway World

"Seriously entertaining."

-DC Theater Arts

"Lives on the edge of a knife while questioning every aspect of society, history, and the individual."

-Maryland Theatre Guide

"Boddie and Dogbe are an extraordinary team as Lincoln and Booth. They are skillful, charismatic, and brutally honest."

-Broadway World

Topdog/Underdog runs approximately 2 hours and 20 minutes with one intermission.

Masks are required at the following performances: Jun 18, 22 (matinee). Learn more.

Content Advisory: This production contains a simulated gunshot, adult language, depictions of violence, sexual references, and mature themes. If you would like more detailed information, or have any additional questions, please contact the box office at: boxoffice@roundhousetheatre.org.

EVENTS & DISCUSSIONS: View pre-show and post-show discussions here.

Audio-Described Performance: Jun 8 (matinee)
Open-Captioned Performance: Jun 22 (matinee) and Jun 29 (matinee)

Black Out Night: Jun 19. Learn more.

Learn more about accessibility at Round House here.

Learn more about our special discounts here and our Free Play program for students here.

Cast

Ro Boddie

Lincoln

Ro Boddie (Lincoln) is a Resident Artist at Round House Theatre, where he previously appeared in The Mountaintop, August Wilson's Radio Golf, The Tempest, and A Boy and His Soul. Select DC credits include Tempestuous Elements at Arena Stage and Pipeline at Studio Theatre. Off-Broadway credits include Socrates at the Public Theater and Seize the King at Classical Theatre of Harlem. Select regional credits include Windfall at Bay Street Theater; A Play is a Poem at Mark Taper Forum; Blueprints to Freedom at La Jolla Playhouse; and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at Baltimore Center Stage. Television credits include Godfather of Harlem, Run the World, The Good Wife, Elementary, and Person of Interest. Ro is an alum of University of the North Carolina School of the Arts. Instagram: roboddieart

Yao Dogbe

Booth

Yao Dogbe (Booth) is happy to be making his return to Round House Theatre. Previous Round House credits include Nollywood Dreams and Ohio State Murders. Off-Broadway credits include The Doctor at Park Avenue Armory and Nollywood Dreams at MCC Theater. Tour credits include Othello and Love's Labour's Lost with Montana Shakespeare in the Parks and Prince Caspian: The Chronicles of Narnia and A Christmas Carol with Hampstead Stage Company. Regional credits include Richard III, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, and Macbeth at Chicago Shakespeare Theater; Fly at Capital Repertory Theatre; Intimate Apparel at Northlight Theatre; Routes at Remy Bumppo Theatre Company; King Lear at Shakespeare Theatre Company; and Cymbeline at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Yao is a first-generation Ghanaian-American actor and an activist for African cultural and dialectical authenticity, on stage and film, for the African diaspora. Other credits include an Autozone commercial, Everett D. Mitchell documentary, and the Homebound web series. Education: MFA Acting, University of Houston; BFA Fine Arts/Graphic Design, Norfolk State University. Instagram: yaonation

Monuaze Mason

Lincoln/Booth Understudy

Monuaze Mason (Lincoln and Booth Understudy) is an actor from San Diego, California. This is Monuaze’s first time working with Round House Theatre and he’s thrilled to be on board! Previous DC-area credits include the role of Laertes in Hamlet at Folger Theatre (2023) and the role of Troy Maxon in Fences at Olney Theatre Center (2022). In addition, he’s a model in Los Angeles in which he worked for Playboy, Ray-Ban, and Faculty Polish, among others.

Creative Team

Production Photos

<p>Yao Dogbe (Booth) and Ro Boddie (Lincoln) in <em>Topdog/Underdog. </em>Photo by Margot Schulman Photography. </p> — Yao Dogbe (Booth) and Ro Boddie (Lincoln) in *Topdog/Underdog.* Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.

<p>Ro Boddie (Lincoln) and Yao Dogbe (Booth) in <em>Topdog/Underdog. </em>Photo by Margot Schulman Photography. </p> — Ro Boddie (Lincoln) and Yao Dogbe (Booth) in *Topdog/Underdog.* Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.

<p>Yao Dogbe (Booth) in <em>Topdog/Underdog. </em>Photo by Margot Schulman Photography. </p> — Yao Dogbe (Booth) in *Topdog/Underdog.* Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.

<p>Ro Boddie (Lincoln) in <em>Topdog/Underdog. </em>Photo by Margot Schulman Photography. </p> — Ro Boddie (Lincoln) in *Topdog/Underdog.* Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.

<p>Ro Boddie (Lincoln) and Yao Dogbe in <em>Topdog/Underdog. </em>Photo by Margot Schulman Photography. </p> — Ro Boddie (Lincoln) and Yao Dogbe in *Topdog/Underdog.* Photo by Margot Schulman Photography.

View Online Program