BY SUZAN-LORI PARKS DIRECTED BY BILLY PORTER

EXPLOSIVE PULITZER PRIZE WINNER TOPDOG/ UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE TABLE OF CONTENTS

Standards 3

Guidelines for Attending the Theatre 4

Artists 5

Themes for Writing & Discussion 7

Mastery Assessment 11

For Further Exploration 12

Suggested Activities 15

© Huntington Theatre Company Boston, MA 02115

March 2017

No portion of this curriculum guide may be reproduced without written permission from the Huntington Theatre Company’s Department of Education & Community Programs

Inquiries should be directed to: Donna Glick | Director of Education [email protected]

This curriculum guide was prepared for the Huntington Theatre Company by: Marisa Jones | Education Associate Alexandra Smith | Manager of Curriculum & Instruction COMMON CORE STANDARDS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS STANDARDS: Student Matinee performances and pre-show workshops provide unique opportunities for experiential learning and support various combinations of the Common Core Standards for English Language Arts. They may also support standards in other subject areas such as Social Studies and History, depending on the individual play’s subject matter. Activities are also included in this Curriculum Guide and in our pre-show workshops that support several of the Massachusetts state standards in Theatre. Other arts areas may also be addressed depending on the individual play’s subject matter.

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 1 Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 6 • Grades 9-10: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to sup- • Grades 9-10: Analyze a particular point of view or cultural expe- port analysis of what the text says explicitly as as inferences rience reflected in a work of literature from outside the United drawn from the text. States, drawing on a wide reading of world literature. • Grades 11-12: Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support • Grades 11-12: Analyze a case in which grasping point of view analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences from required distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what from the text, including where the text leaves matters uncertain. is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 2 Reading Literature: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas 7 • Grades 9-10: Determine a theme or central idea of a text and • Grades 11-12: Analyze multiple interpretations of a story, drama, analyze in detail its development over the course of the text, or poem (e.g. recorded or live production of a play or recorded including how it emerges and is shaped and refined by specific novel or poetry), evaluating how each version interprets the details; provide an objective summary of the text. source text (Include at least one play by Shakespeare and one • Grades 11-12: Determine two or more themes or central ideas of play by an American dramatist). a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide and objective summary of the text.

Reading Literature: Key Ideas and Details 3 • Grades 9-10: Analyze how complex characters (e.g. those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the themes. • Grades 11-12: Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regard- ing how to develop related elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the charac- ters are introduced and developed).

Reading Literature: Craft and Structure 5 • Grades 9-10: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure a text, order events within it (e.g., parallel plots), and manipulate time (e.g., pacing, flashbacks), create such effects as mystery, tension, or surprise. • Grades 11-12: Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 3 MASSACHUSETTS STANDARDS IN THEATRE ACTING TECHNICAL THEATRE • 1.14: Create complex and believable characters through the • 4.13: Conduct research to inform the design of sets, costumes, integration of physical, vocal, and emotional choices (Grades 9-12). sound, and lighting for a dramatic production (Grades 9-12). • 1.15: Demonstrate an understanding of a dramatic work by CONNECTIONS developing a character analysis (Grades 9-12). • Strand 6: Purposes and Meanings in the Arts — Students will Demonstrate increased ability to work effectively alone and • 1.17: describe the purposes for which works of dance, music, theatre, collaboratively with a partner or in an ensemble (Grades 9-12). visual arts, and architecture were and are created, and, when appropriate, interpret their meanings (Grades PreK-12). READING AND WRITING SCRIPTS • Strand 10: Interdisciplinary Connections — Students will apply • 2.11: Read plays from a variety of genres and styles; compare and their knowledge of the arts to the study of English language arts, contrast the structure of plays to the structures of other forms of foreign languages, health, history and social science, mathematics, literature (Grades 9-12). and science and technology/engineering (Grades PreK-12).

AUDIENCE ETIQUETTE Attending live theatre is a unique experience with many valuable educational and social benefits. To ensure that all audience members are able to enjoy the performance, please take a few minutes to discuss the following audience etiquette topics with your students before you come to the Huntington Theatre Company. • How is attending the theatre similar to and different from going to the movies? What behaviors are and are not appropriate when seeing a play? Why? • Remind students that because the performance is live, the audience’s behavior and reactions will affect the actors’ performances. No two audiences are exactly the same, and therefore no two performances are exactly the same — this is part of what makes theatre so special! Students’ behavior should reflect the level of performance they wish to see. • Theatre should be an enjoyable experience for the audience. It is absolutely all right to applaud when appropriate and laugh at the funny moments. Talking and calling out during the performance, however, are not allowed. Why might this be? Be sure to mention that not only would the people seated around them be able to hear their conversation, but the actors on stage could hear them, too. Theatres are constructed to carry sound efficiently! • Any noise or light can be a distraction, so please remind students to make sure their cell phones are turned off (or better yet, left at home or at school!). Texting, photography, and video recording are prohibited. Food, gum, and drinks should not be brought into the theatre. • Students should sit with their group as seated by the Front of House staff and should not leave their seats once the performance has begun.

4 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE ARTISTS PLAYWRIGHT worldwide, creating the largest grassroots collaboration in SUZAN-LORI PARKS theatre history. In 2015, Parks began another innovated work, the interactive theatre and art installation called Watch Me Work Suzan-Lori Parks was born at The Public Theater in . The installations, which in Fort Knox, Kentucky in 1963 to Francis McMillan ran through December 2016, were open and free to the public and Donald Parks. Her father and offered audiences an insider’s view into the artistic process Donald was an army officer that Parks used for all of her creative work. The audience was while Parks and her two invited to come and watch her write, as well as take space to brothers were growing up, do writing of their own in the lobby of The Public Theater. The which frequently caused the family to relocate. Much of their time entire performance ran 75 minutes with the last fifteen minutes was spent in Germany, as well as many states in the US, including of the performance dedicated to a question and answer period Kentucky, Texas, California, North Carolina, Maryland, and Vermont. with Parks. Audience members were encouraged to ask about Parks began writing stories at the age of five, and although her process as well as tweet any questions they may have her passions shifted to science as she got older, she ultimately throughout the performance. Suzan-Lori Parks teaches at returned to her first love of writing. New York University and is the Master Writer Chair at The Public Theater in New York City. After high school, Parks attended Mount Holyoke College, in South Hadley, Massachusetts, where she received a Bachelor of QUESTIONS: Arts degree in English and German Literature. During her time at Mount Holyoke, Parks took a workshop class taught by the 1. Research other plays by Suzan-Lori Parks. Compare and contrast acclaimed writer and social activist James Baldwin. It was during them with Topdog/Underdog, in terms of themes, characters, this class, Parks believes, she found her calling as a playwright. subject matter, and writing style. With encouragement from Baldwin, Parks set out to increase her 2. Research the writing and activism of James Baldwin, who understanding of acting and stage work, attending the Drama taught Parks when she was a student at Mount Holyoke College. Studio in London after graduating from Mount Holyoke. James Why was Baldwin a fitting mentor for Parks? Baldwin has described Parks as “an astonishing and beautiful creature who may become one of the most valuable artists of 3. Watch one or more installments of Parks’s Watch Me Work our time.” series at The Public Theater. Describe what you see. Who else appears in the installation in addition to Parks herself? What Parks wrote and produced her first play, The Sinner’s Place, questions does Parks answer? If you were to attend a Watch in 1984. From that point on Parks never regretted her choice Me Work session, what would you work on and what questions to be a writer. Her plays Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third might you ask? Kingdom (1990) and Venus (1996) earned her two Obie Awards. Topdog/Underdog made her the first African American woman Link: http://howlround.com/suzan-lori-parks-livestreams-watch- to win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama (2002). Her daring approach me-work-wed-aug-6 to the subjects of race and history have prompted critical 4. In an essay entitled “The Possession of Suzan-Lori Parks,” comparisons to the playwright August Wilson. Similar to Wilson’s Shawn-Marie Garrett dissects the various ways Parks’ plays have 20th Century Cycle, her plays center primarily on the African made an impact on the American theatre and how her work has American experience, but her unorthodox writing style has made positioned her as a leading African American voice in arts and her work unique and groundbreaking. Parks has also written for culture. Garrett states: the screen and published a novel in 2003 titled Getting Mother’s Body. Parks wrote her first screenplay Girl 6 in 1996 with director “Parks has dramatized some of the most painful Spike Lee. In 2005, she co-adapted Zora Neale Hurston’s novel aspects of the black experience: Middle Passage, Their Eyes Were Watching God into a made-for-television movie slavery, urban poverty, institutionalized discrimination, for Oprah Winfrey’s production company, Harpo. She recently racist ethnographies. Yet even as her plays summon adapted The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess which won the 2012 up the brutality of the past, they do so in a manner Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical. Her latest work, Father that is paradoxically, both horrific and comic — Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 &3), was also nominated irresistibly or disrespectfully so, depending on your for a Pulitzer. point of view.”

One of Parks’ more unique projects was 365 Days/365 Plays, in How can a work of art be both horrific and comic? Both which she challenged herself to write one play a day for an entire irresistible and disrespectful? Do you agree with these year. The plays were then produced in over 700 theatres characterizations of Parks’ plays?

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 5 DIRECTOR 1991, has been granted many opportunities to return to the stage. BILLY PORTER: As recently as 2013, Porter won a Tony Award for Best Actor in a MASTER OF THE ARTS, Musical for his role as Lola in Kinky Boots, as well as the Drama NOVICE OF NONE Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical and Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. He was also Billy Porter’s professional life featured in the Broadway production of Shuffle Along, Or The is not easily categorized or Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed in summarized, as his talents 2016, directed by George C. Wolfe. and abilities stretch beyond any one artistic field or But his career on the stage would be rerouted repeatedly, even discipline. From musical recordings to playwriting, his extensive after being cast in three Broadway musicals (Miss Saigon, Five resume makes him unique among his peers. Guys Named Moe, and Grease) early in his career, and his fate was not sealed. Porter, initially unsatisfied by his relative Broadway Porter directed George C. Wolfe’s The Colored Museum as part success, pursued a singing career, releasing the album “Untitled” of the Huntington Theatre Company’s 2014-2015 season and has in 1997, only to discover the many challenges of breaking into pointed to the positive impact Wolfe had on him both personally the pop music industry. Porter then decided it was time to pursue and as an artist. Years earlier, as Porter was preparing to audition yet another artistic endeavor and headed off to the University for college (he would ultimately attend Carnegie Melon University of California, Los Angeles, to attend its screenwriting program. in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), a teacher suggested he look at He has written screenplays, songs, and plays for the theatre and Wolfe’s The Colored Museum for material. Porter recalls, “It was has never given up his pursuit of art that deals with issues that intelligent and new, and at the same time, it was a comment speak to him personally. on all of the things my friends and I would talk about in terms of being black in America and being black in general. The most Porter has wrestled personally with issues of race and identity, striking piece was ‘The Gospel According to Miss Roj.’ I was 15 or religion and sexuality and has felt the pain of love coming to 16, coming out, and she was an empowered and defiant gay cross- an end — all moments and struggles informing his work as an dresser. There was no apology for her, and that changed my life.” artist. But he has also enjoyed opportunities for lighter moments, appearing as a guest judge on the television show “So You After a decade and a half of traveling back and forth between Think You Can Dance” and a performer at the 2011 Miss America New York City and Los Angeles for acting work, Porter was pushed Pageant. He has appeared on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and “Law by difficult circumstances to ask for help from Wolfe. Porter had & Order,” and is a Grammy Award winner. Porter is unapologetic accepted the role of the man-eating plant in a Broadway-bound about his unusual career path or the many twists and turns of his revival of Little Shop of Horrors, but the show’s director and personal journey. “If you’re true to who you are, you do resonate, much of the cast was let go, including Porter who found himself you do matter. Now, I’m in a very different place in my life. I had suddenly unemployed. He reached out to Wolfe, who offered him to mourn the loss of the life I thought I wanted in order to get a chance to work at The Public Theater in New York City; Wolfe the better life.” was not only the artistic director there but was also in the midst of directing the world premiere production of Topdog/Underdog. QUESTIONS: As a tremendous mentor and advocate of Porter’s work, Wolfe remarked, “You’re far too hostile and smart to be an actor, for the 1. Billy Porter is a multi-talented artist. Can you think of any other rest of your life to be in a room where people are telling you what artists/entertainers who pursue multiple career paths? Do you to do.” Porter was given the opportunity to write and perfect his think that crossing over from recording artist to film actor or craft while also working with other talents in the theatre industry, talk show host to screenwriter is a necessity of adapting to including the Huntington’s current artistic director, Peter DuBois. competitive industries or a benefit of success? Or both? One of the many fruits of his time at The Public Theater was a 2. Continue your research of Billy Porter and his life and work. one-man cabaret act, At the Corner of Broadway + Soul, which he When do you think he got his “big break”? Was it a role on performed there and at Lincoln Center. Broadway? Acceptance to a program? Or something else? What qualifies as a “successful” career? Porter is also intimately connected to Suzan-Lori Parks’ masterpiece, Topdog/Underdog. He returned to Pittsburgh, the 3. Compare and contrast Billy Porter’s creative work with that city of his birth, youth, and early education, in 2004 to star in of Suzan-Lori Parks, both in terms of common themes and the City Theatre’s production of the play alongside Ray Anthony subject matter, as well as the genres and creative forms in Thomas. While returning to where it all began, he was also cast which they work. in Jesus Christ Superstar and Dreamgirls at the Pittsburgh Civic 4. Do you think pursuing multiple interests is superior to pursuing Light Opera. He started his career in and, spanning just one? How might focusing on one discipline increase or limit more than 25 years since his graduation from Carnegie Melon in your chances for success?

6 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE THEMES FOR WRITING & DISCUSSION

Broadway production of Topdog/Underdog (2002), starring Jeffrey Wright as Lincoln and Mos Def as Booth

SIBLING RIVALRY: TOPDOG VS. THE UNDERDOG harder to improve his situation, albeit often through immoral and unethical means. He is dating a woman named Grace and says he A reader or theatregoer need not look any further than the title hopes to marry her, having shoplifted a fake diamond to make the of this play to recognize that it centers around the fight for status proposal, and is eagerly “fixing up” his place by putting milk crates between the two main characters, who happen to be brothers, together to form a bookshelf. And he wants his brother and his both sorting out their places in the world. The fight for topdog in “disguise” to be gone when Grace appears, as he their cramped boarding house room includes the tension caused feels this “reflects” negatively on him. For the most part, Lincoln by Booth’s desire for a more grandiose existence and Lincoln’s is supportive of Booth’s efforts in love and career, going so far as desire for an honest wage and a simple life. Booth desperately to offer a hook-up for Booth with the old card-throwing crew. He wants Lincoln to pull them out of poverty, not by working at what shakes off many of Booth’s comments that are intended to make Booth perceives as a degrading arcade character, but by joining him envious, even while saying “I don’t want to get you jealous, him in his card-hustling plans. But Lincoln, having suffered through though.” While Booth gladly takes Lincoln’s consistent paycheck, the murder of his friend during a 3-card monte game gone wrong, he is quick to lose his temper and often threatens to kick him out; has sworn off the con. Booth has trouble seeing Lincoln as a helper and not a competitor.

While the rivalry between the brothers has persisted throughout Perhaps because Lincoln is the older brother, who regularly their lives, Booth admits to Lincoln that being abandoned by attended school and is capable of holding down a job, he manages both his mother and father during his teen years “was ok cause Booth with an even temperament and careful advice. He brushes you were there.” The brothers also received an “inheritance” off his brother’s demands while ignoring his angry and insulting from their parents. According to Booth, “when mom split she speeches; that is, until Booth callously recalls his seduction of gives me 5 hundred-dollar bills rolled up and tied up tight in one Lincoln’s ex-wife, Cookie. As a result of this painful revelation, of her nylon stockings. She tells me to put in a safe place… and Lincoln decides to teach his little brother a lesson and challenges not tell nobody… not even you.” A similar discussion happens him to a game of 3-card monte with Booth’s inheritance, between Lincoln and his father who also gave him $500. “Hide this everything he has in the world, on the line. Booth, so incensed somewhere… don’t tell no one you got it, especially that Booth.” by the losses of the day, threatens, “Only so long I can stand that Perhaps each parent chose a favorite son and distributed the little brother shit. Can only take it so long. Im telling you.” Lincoln money accordingly, or as Lincoln imagines, they ran off together; hustles Booth and secures definitively that he is and always has “maybe they got 2 new kids. 2 boys. Different than us, though. been the topdog. The only circumstance in which Lincoln is not the Better.” In his mind the rivalry extends beyond Booth to siblings “winner” is when he chooses not to play. unknown who were ultimately loved more. QUESTIONS: Booth lashes out at Lincoln’s complacency. “[Mom] was packing 1. In her preface to Topdog/Underdog, Suzan-Lori Parks wrote up… She told me to look out for you. I told her I was the little that it “is a play about family wounds and healing.” Would you brother. She just said it again. That I should look out for you. agree with this statement? Do Lincoln and Booth mend their Yeah. So who gonna look out for me. Not like you care.” At “wounds”? How do they resolve their relationship conflicts? the beginning of the play it appears that Booth is trying much What healing happens in the play?

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 7 social unrest. , on the other hand, was a stage actor who would break the law, even resorting to murder to accomplish his goals. As a young boarding school student, John Wilkes Booth is believed to have visited a fortune teller who claimed he would have a short but lavish life that would “meet a bad end.” John Wilkes Booth reflected upon this prediction often, especially when he was depressed or times were difficult. Was it his destiny to destroy the symbolic figure he so passionately hated or was he emboldened by the notion that he would not live to be an old man, thus making him more prone to extreme acts? Similarities between the characters Lincoln and Booth and their respective namesakes are clear; Lincoln strives for simplicity by removing the dishonesty from his life, while Booth charges a path to success by whatever means necessary.

It could be argued, however, that the Lincoln of Topdog/ Underdog was never going to escape his fate despite his attempts to run from it, while his brother, Booth, happily accepted it. Lincoln made a conscious decision to turn away from hustling cards after a friend’s death, and he admits “I was throwing cards like throwing cards was made for me... And I never lost. Not once.” He recalls, however, that something inside him was already changing. “Quit while you was still ahead. Something was telling you — But hells no... So I went out there and threw one more time... and Lonny died.” Lincoln maintains a dark suspicion that if he throws cards just one more time, he will 16th President of the , Abraham Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth, suffer the same fate as his friend. As a result of this belief, the actor who assassinated President Lincoln he rejects Booth’s plans to team up in an act of self-preservation. But after suffering the brutality of a racist boss and his general 2. Which brother seems to feel the competition more between the disappointment with the track his life has taken, he chooses to two brothers, Lincoln or Booth? Are sibling rivalries common? risk throwing the cards because he’s not sure he can realistically What is normal or healthy competition among siblings? When go any further. To his great surprise, “they all thought I was does it become destructive or negative during a person’s down and out! They all thought I was NoCount has been formative years? LostCause… But I got [it] back.” He returns to throwing cards 3. What information is provided in the text about Lincoln and with only luck on his side. And outside of Lucky’s, the favorite hangout spot, with Cookie in the audience, Lincoln has an Booth’s parents? Who did their mother seem to favor? Who did “evening to remember.” Lured into believing he is once again their father like better? How might the parents’ behavior have on top, Lincoln challenges Booth with a gamble of the leftover affected the rivalry between these brothers? How do parents inheritance money. Perhaps the brothers should have heeded influence their children’s relationships with each other? the warning given by their mother, not to marry, for she saw in their future the difficulty Cookie and Grace would cause or CHANCE OR FATE? she may have simply lost faith after her own failed marriage. In his infinite wisdom, or perhaps as a self-fulfilling prophecy, Lincoln, however, did not heed any of the warnings from her Lincoln and Booth’s father named his sons after two key and pushed down the voice that kept him on a straight and historical figures, and these brothers would ultimately suffer narrow path for so long. similarly tragic ends as their namesakes. President Lincoln, famous for abolishing slavery and holding the country together QUESTIONS: despite the Civil War, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, 1. Was the naming of Lincoln and Booth simply a joke? How was a Confederate sympathizer, five days after the surrender of the their father to know he would have two sons? Might Lincoln’s Confederate army, led by General Robert E. Lee. President Lincoln naming have had some other significance at the time of his is widely considered one of the greatest American presidents, birth? Using examples from the text, how do you think Booth known as “Honest Abe,” a person who passionately fought for feels about his name? How might Booth’s name have led to equality and morality during a time of great political turmoil and some “bad blood” between the brothers?

8 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 2. Did you predict the play would end as it did? Is there anything Lincoln could have done differently to save his own life and help his brother? Do you think all of the characters in the play were exercising their own free will or were they “hustled”? 3. Do you believe in fate? Or do you believe that life is all about the choices you make? Is it luck, destiny or something else that dictates the path of your existence? Original production of Topdog/Underdog at The Public Theater (2001), starring Don Cheadle as Booth and Jeffrey Wright as Lincoln MASCULINE IDENTITY “They say the clothes make the man,” Lincoln explains in Scene 2 of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog. “All day long I wear that A NOTE ON STYLE getup. But that dont make me who I am.” The Lincoln of Parks’ Suzan-Lori Parks uses experimental conventions in the format play earns his living by pretending to be another man by the same of her writing, some of which appear in the quoted excerpts name — the 16th president of the United States. But this Lincoln is from Topdog/Underdog in this curriculum guide. Parks not a white politician from the mid-19th century. He is a black man describes these conventions as follows: living here and now who, with his brother, coincidentally named • (Rest) – Take a little time, a pause, a breather; make a Booth, is trying to make his way in the world. Both characters want transition. to play the alpha male, but the characters’ identities as brothers and as black men are tightly wrapped up in their relationship to • A Spell – An elongated and heighted (Rest). Denoted by each other and their society. repetition of figures’ names with no dialogue. Has sort of an architectural look: As the younger brother, Booth is often fixated on autonomy Lincoln and being his own man, out of his older brother’s shadow. He is Booth frustrated by his brother’s critique of his 3-card monte hustle, but Lincoln yet still wants to team up and work together, something Lincoln Booth refuses to do. He holds over Lincoln the fact that their mother, This is a place where the figures experience their pure true who abandoned them, actually gave him advance warning and simple state. While no action or stage business is necessary, entrusted him with looking after Lincoln. But over time, Booth directors should fill this moment as they best see fit. has grown resentful of this, too. “She told me to look out for you,” Booth reminds Lincoln in Scene 1. “I told her I was the little brother • Brackets [ ] – in the text indicate optional cuts for production. and the big brother should look out after the little brother. She – around dialogue indicate softly spoken just said it again. That I should look out for you. Yeah. So who • Parentheses ( ) passages (asides; sotto voce). gonna look out for me. Not like you care.” Booth further asserts his dominance in their living space by reminding Lincoln of his financial obligations. The room is technically Booth’s home and Lincoln, Booth: Don’t be calling me Booth no more, K? having been kicked out by his wife, Cookie, is only supposed to be a temporary house guest. Booth reminds Lincoln that his situation Lincoln: You changing yr name? is precarious and that any number of transgressions could be cause Booth: Maybe. for eviction. Lincoln owes Booth in more ways than one. “Yr lucky Lincoln I let you stay,” Booth warns his brother. “Every Friday you come home with yr paycheck. Today is Thursday and I tell you brother, its Booth a long way from Friday to Friday. All kinds of things can happen. All Lincoln: What to? kinds of bad feelings can surface and erupt while yr little brother waits for you to bring in yr share” (Scene 1). Booth: I’m not ready to reveal it yet. Lincoln: You already decided on something. Lincoln is on more solid footing with his brother at the beginning of Scene 2 by bringing home a wad of cash, never a small feat when Booth: Maybe. he is being paid less than the white man who was his predecessor Lincoln: You gonna call yrself something african? That as an Abraham Lincoln impersonator. Lincoln is not the only one be cool. Only pick something thats easy to spell doing an impersonation of sorts. Booth claims that he will take on and pronounce, man, cause you know, some a new name, thus reinventing his identity, but Lincoln undercuts his of them african names, I mean, ok, Im down brother’s boasts: with the power to the people thing, but, no

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 9 even more so is having the goods to back it up. Having a working home telephone, for example, is something to boast about and tells other people, women in particular, just what kind of man you are. According to Booth, it shows that “1) you got a home, that is, you aint no smooth talking smooth dressing homeless joe; 2) that you in possession of a telephone and a working telephone number which is to say that you got thuh cash and thuh wherewithal to acquire for yr self the worlds most revolutionary communication apparatus and you together enough to pay yr bills” (Scene 2). Booth is eager to point to his own success, boasting in Scene 3 that his attractive former girlfriend, Grace, wants him back, drawing a sharp contrast with Cookie’s rejection of Lincoln. He questions Lincoln about his sexual experiences with both Cookie and his “other women on the side,” comparing them to his own conquests, even claiming that after kicking Lincoln out, Cookie “came crawling to me cause she needed a man” (Scene 3).

But Lincoln knows that flash can only distract for so long. There will come a point where Booth can no longer get by “laying up in here scheming and dreaming to cover up thuh fact that [he] dont got not skills,” Lincoln points out (Scene 6). Bravado is not worth much without the abilities to back it up. Lincoln and Booth are distinctly different men. “You think we’re really brothers,” Lincoln wonders in Scene 6. “I know we brothers, but is we really brothers, you know, blood brothers or not, you and me, whatduhyathink?”

QUESTIONS: Self Portrait with Cropped by Frida Kahlo (oil on canvas, 1940) currently on display at MoMA in the exhibition Constructing Gender 1. At the end of Scene 1, Lincoln tells Booth that their father once told him that he named them as he did because it was his idea of ones gonna hire you if they cant say yr name. a joke. What might Lincoln and Booth’s father have found ironic And some of them fellas who got they african or amusing about the names he gave to his sons? names, no one can say they names and they 2. Lincoln is listed in the published text of Topdog/Underdog as cant say they names neither. I mean, you dont “the topdog” and Booth as “the underdog,” but playwright want yr new handle to obstruct yr employment Suzan-Lori Parks has stated that these status markers change possibilities. (Scene 1) throughout the play. Why might she have chosen to denote them Booth finally reveals his new name, 3-Card, which is inspired by the as such? When and why are there shifts in who is the topdog and 3-card monte hustle he works hard to execute but that his brother who is the underdog? performs smoothly with a seemingly natural ease. Lincoln tries to 3. In Scene 2, the brothers have the following exchange: critique Booth’s work, but his brother grows defensive, insisting Lincoln: It’s a living. on asserting his new identity and skill. “My new names 3-Card,” he insists. “3-Card, got it? You wanted to know it so now you know it. Booth: But you aint living. 3-card monte by 3-Card. Call me 3-Card from here on out” (Scene Lincoln: Im alive aint I? 1). Lincoln gets it. He knows well how important a man’s name is in shaping how he exists and interacts with the world. If Booth is What is the difference between living and being alive? Is Booth going to be a 3-card monte hustler, then maybe actually being right that Lincoln is not really living? 3-Card will help. Lincoln’s own experience has taught him that the 4. In a 2002 New York Times feature about The Public Theater’s costume he wears to work each day “dont make me into no Lincoln. production of Topdog/Underdog, journalist Joshua Wolf Shenk I was Lincoln on my own before any of that” (Scene 2). asked Suzan-Lori Parks whether, as an African American Booth believes, however, that clothes and image can make the woman, she feels excluded from the American mythology that man. “You look sharp too, man,” he comments when his brother has formed around Abraham Lincoln, a white man frequently tries on a recently shop-lifted suit. “You look like the real you” credited with black people’s freedom. She responded: “No. I’ve (Scene 2). From his perspective, looking the part is important, but gotten two plays out of it.” What does Parks mean by this?

10 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE MASTERY ASSESSMENT SCENE ONE 1. What is Booth doing as the play opens? 2. Which cards are described as the “winner” and “loser” cards? 3. What “disguise” is Lincoln wearing that Booth dislikes? Why is Lincoln’s job ironic? 4. What is the relationship between Booth and Lincoln? Who is older? 5. What gift is Booth planning to give his girlfriend? What is her name? 6. How did Lincoln acquire an extra $20? What did he decide to do with it? Why is Booth disappointed by this decision? 7. What design plans does Booth have for his home?

8. Why is Lincoln living with Booth? 3-card monte being played on the street 9. What is Lincoln’s fortune from the cookie? 10. What is the new nickname Booth would like to be called? SCENE FIVE 11. What happened to their mother and their father? Why did their 1. Lincoln comes home with bad news. What is it and how father choose the names he did for his sons? does Booth react? SCENE TWO 2. What is Booth’s plan for the evening? Why are things not 1. What did Booth steal for Lincoln? Does Lincoln notice the working out the way he imagined? gift right away? Why did Booth feel it was important to have 3. What trick did the brothers play on their father when they were these things? young? 2.  What do Lincoln and Booth refer to as “medicine”? 4. What did Lincoln choose to do with his “severance”? 3. When Lincoln and Booth’s father abandoned them, 5. What relationship advice did Lincoln and Booth’s mother what did Lincoln do to their father’s clothes? give them? 4. Why does Lincoln think Grace would like his tie best? 6. While they wait for Grace, how do the brothers entertain 5. Why does Booth think they need a phone? themselves? 6. According to Booth, what is the real reason Lincoln makes 7. What are the two parts to “throwing thuh cards”? less money than the person who had the job before him? 8. Grace has still not arrived at 8AM. What does Lincoln want Booth 7. Why is Lincoln worried about his employment? to do? Why does Booth refuse? SCENE THREE SCENE SIX 1. Did Booth enjoy his night out with Grace? How serious is 1. What success did Lincoln have while he was out? their relationship? 2. How does Booth describe his evening? What is the reason Grace 2.  How does Lincoln try to help Booth with his card playing? was late the previous night? 3. Does Lincoln know who is sneaking up on him while he is 3. What new job does Lincoln tell Booth he got? working? 4. How does Booth memorialize Lincoln’s old job? 4. Why does Booth think Lincoln is better than a wax dummy? 5. What disturbing story does Booth share about Cookie? 5. What does Booth suggest Lincoln do if he gets fired from 6. What wager do Booth and Lincoln make? his job at the arcade? 7. Why does Booth think he received an inheritance from his mother? SCENE FOUR 8. Who loses the game? Does Booth understand what happened? 1. When Lincoln wakes up, what does he discover has 9. What does Booth finally admit he has done to Grace? happened to his costume? 10. What does Lincoln try to give back to Booth? What is 2.  What nickname did Lincoln give his friend Lonny? Booth’s reaction? 3. Why did Lincoln give up hustling cards? 11. How do the characters’ names (Lincoln and Booth) foreshadow 4. Is Lincoln good at 3-card monte? the play’s tragic end?

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 11 FOR FURTHER EXPLORATION THE AMERICA PLAY In her preface to the 2002 edition of Topdog/Underdog, playwright Suzan-Lori Parks reflected on the inspiration for the play and its connection to The America Play, one of her earlier works. Both plays feature Lincoln and Booth figures, a thematic focus on the ways in which social history and personal history are intertwined, and theatrical impersonation of the same dramatic moment in American history in the form of black men being “shot” over and over again. One play helped inspire the other and their moments of synergy contain distinct differences that create a conversation about race, identity, and legacy of the most painful time in United States history.

“In [The America Play’s] first act,” Parks explained, “we watch a black man who has fashioned a career for himself: he sits in an arcade impersonating Abraham Lincoln and letting people come joe and play at shooting him dead – like John Wilkes Booth shot our mazza 16th president in 1865 during a performance at Ford’s Theatre.” Parks dubbed this character the “Foundling Father as Abraham Travis Delgado as The Foundling Father in Oracle Theater’s presentation of Lincoln.” He is a grave digger who bears a strong resemblance The America Play (2015) to the former president. “He was tall and thinly built just like the Great Man,” the Foundling Father says, describing himself. replay this scene. In his respect and admiration for President “His legs were the longer part just like the Great Man’s legs. His Lincoln, the Foundling Father memorizes and recites some of that hands and feet were large as the Great Man’s were large.” To add “Great Man’s” words, hoping to one day also “be of interest to to his impersonation, the Foundling Father carries around a box posterity. As in the Great Man’s footsteps.” containing several beard options that he can wear to complete his As Parks considered this character, “another black Lincoln costume when he dresses as Lincoln and allows people to shoot at impersonator, unrelated to the first guy, came to mind: a new him in an arcade. Over and over again, he recreates the moment character for a new play. This time I would just focus on his home when Booth shot the president, who was in the throes life. This new Lincoln impersonator’s real name would be Lincoln. of laughter: He would be a former 3-card monte hustler. He would live with his (A Man, as John Wilkes Booth, enters. He takes a gun brother, a man named Booth.” Unlike the Foundling Father of The and “stands in position”: at the left side of the Foundling America Play, the Lincoln of Topdog/Underdog bears no physical Father, as Abraham Lincoln, pointing the gun at the resemblance to the former president, but applies a similar layer of Foundling Father’s head) whiteface makeup to the frock coat, top hat, and beard that are so evocative of Abraham Lincoln. Meanwhile, the Booth of this world A Man: Ready. is not a role taken on by anyone willing to pay to do so. He is a real The Foundling Father: Haw Haw Haw Haw man who is connected to Lincoln by the closest bonds of blood. (Rest) When Lincoln grows concerned that he may lose his job, Booth even attempts to coach his brother to add more excitement to his HAW HAW HAW HAW performance, suggesting that Lincoln scream, curse, and even roll (Booth shoots. Lincoln “slumps in his chair.” Booth jumps) around on the floor when he gets “shot.” Lincoln, however, thinks A Man (Theatrically): “Thus to the tyrants!” the embellishments may be a bit much. “People are funny about they Lincoln shit,” he explains in Scene 3. “They like it to unfold the (Rest) way they folded it up. Neatly like a book. Not raggedy and bloody Hhhh. (Exits) and screaming.” The Foundling Father: Most of them to that, thuh “Thus QUESTIONS: to the tyrants!”—what they say the killer said. “Thus to the tyrants!” The killer was also heard to say “The South 1. The America Play is set in what Suzan-Lori Parks describes as “a is avenged!” Sometimes they yell that. great hole. In the middle of nowhere. The hole is an exact replica of The Great Hole of History.” Parks lists Topdog/Underdog’s Moments later, it all plays out again, with subtle variations. “Thank place as “here” and its time as “now,” but its setting is specifically you,” A Man says to the Foundling Father. “Till next week,” the “a seedling furnished rooming house room,” usually inhabited by Foundling Father responds. The Foundling Father is happy to Booth but where Lincoln is also temporarily staying. Compare

12 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE THE PULITZER PRIZE Suzan-Lori Parks was the first African tutorial called “Stand Up 3 Card Monte!”) But the con has its roots American woman to receive the in Great Britain where it was originally called “Find the Lady,” Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002 referring to the objective of the game which is to locate the Queen. for her play Topdog/Underdog. (DID The game is straightforward and requires at least a dealer/tosser YOU KNOW? Lin-Manuel Miranda received the Pulitzer for in 2016.) Pulitzers are and a punter, who is a person unknown to the dealer. The dealer awarded for excellence in journalism, literature, and musical has three cards, with one card identified as the “winner.” The cards composition, distinguished by a total of 21 categories. are shown to the punter and then thrown face-down together. The Winners receive a cash prize of $10,000 and a certificate. dealer rearranges the cards or uses other sleights of hand to hide Joseph Pulitzer, an American citizen born in Hungary, was the winner and confuse the punter. The punter then places a bet a successful newspaper publisher who upon his death in on which card is the winner. A dealer may also use “shills” or other 1911 gifted $2 million to Columbia University in the hopes accomplices to help with the scam, and depending on the number of establishing a school of journalism and an award to of local law enforcement officers in the area, may use a “lookout” recognize outstanding members of the field. Today, five to help with a quick getaway if necessary. A “muscle man” may be judges are selected to serve on each jury panel (with the used to intimidate any unhappy punters who threaten to go to the exception of the Public Service award which has seven), authorities and a “poper” seeks out a gullible punter to begin with. and winners are selected by majority rule. Parks was also If a punter guesses right, the dealer may refuse his bet and accept nominated for two of her other plays: In the Blood (2000) one from the shill who has purposely wagered incorrectly. and Father Comes Home from the Wars (2015). QUESTIONS: QUESTIONS: 1. Who do you think is the better 3-card monte dealer, Lincoln or 1. Do you think Pulitzer’s desire to educate and recognize Booth? Who do you think would be the better punter? talented journalists helped to elevate standards in print 2. Why is it important to have a “team” in place to make this con and news media? work? Why do you think Booth was so insistent that Lincoln help 2. Why do you think awards grew beyond this one field? him hustle cards? 3. Why might a jury decide that no entry is worthy of a 3. Do you think becoming a 3-card monte dealer would be exciting? Pulitzer Prize in a given award season? If the punters know the con and still want to play, is it still a hustle? Why might some people enjoy the challenge of a 3-card monte game? and contrast these settings, both in terms of Parks’ descriptions 4. Now try it for yourself! Can you hide the queen or other winning but also how scenic designers have interpreted and portrayed card? Can you guess where the card is? What strategies can you these places. employ to be both a successful dealer and punter? 2. In The America Play, the Foundling Father recounts how most people who step into the role of Booth say one of the phrases THE LINCOLN the real Booth is said to have shouted after assassinating the On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln and First Lady Mary president. How does this illustrate the point offered by Lincoln in Todd Lincoln, along with guests Major Henry Rathbone and his Topdog/Underdog that people “like [historical events] to unfold fiancée , settled into their box at Ford’s Theatre in the way they folded it up. Neatly like a book”? Washington, DC, to watch Our American Cousin, a play by English 3. Suzan-Lori Parks was working on , her retelling of playwright Tom Taylor. The foursome arrived at the theatre late ’s 1850 novel when the and received a standing ovation from the packed house of 1700 characters who would become Lincoln and Booth in Topdog/ when the play was paused for a rendition of “Hail to the Chief.” Underdog came to her mind. Similarly, she also created Meanwhile, celebrated stage actor John Wilkes Booth waited characters whose journey is the focus of another play, In the for his cue. Although Booth was not an actor in this particular Blood, during this time. How do artists determine whether a new production, he was quite familiar with it and knew that a line was idea should be incorporated into their current work or become approaching that would cause the audience to erupt with laughter. an entirely separate creative project? How do you know when an At that moment, he would enter the box and shoot the president. idea is a good one worth continuing to work on, even if it does Booth was a frequent performer at Ford’s Theatre; President not fit into what you thought you were going to create? Lincoln had seen him in many productions, was known to be a fan of Booth’s work, and invited him more than once to visit the White 3-CARD MONTE: TRICK OR TRADE? House. Booth declined the president’s invitations. A Confederate Recently, 3-card monte has regained popularity through the acts sympathizer born in Maryland, Booth opposed the abolition of of magicians who view the card game as more of “trick” than a slavery and blamed President Lincoln for pushing the country to game of strategy (illusionist David Blaine, in fact, offers a YouTube war. As Southern defeat loomed, Union General Ulysses S. Grant

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 13 Currier and Ives hand-colored lithograph print of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln (1865) called for an end to prisoner-of-war exchanges, hoping to starve President Andrew Johnson and Secretary of State William H. the Confederate army of its human resources and bring the war Seward in the belief that this would cripple the Union government. to a final close. This decision enraged Booth, who had already Booth, however, was the only conspirator to succeed in his attended several secret meetings with Confederate agents hiding assignment. Lewis Powell managed to wound but not kill Seward out in Montreal and Boston. In March of 1865, Booth assembled a in his attack, while George Atzerodt backed out and made no group of conspirators and made plans to kidnap Lincoln and hold attempt on Johnson’s life. him as a captive of the Confederate army until the Union agreed to resume the prisoner exchange. This plot was thwarted, however, QUESTIONS: by a simple change in the president’s itinerary. 1. In Suzan-Lori Parks’ play Topdog/Underdog, the characters are On April 11, 1865, with surrender of the Confederate army days named after the president and his assassin. Given these names, away, President Lincoln gave a speech in front of the White House was it inevitable fate that Booth would kill his brother, Lincoln? in which he advocated for black suffrage. For Booth, who was part Why or why not? of the crowd amassed there to listen, the speech was a tipping 2. John Wilkes Booth plotted on multiple occasions to attack point. He vowed that he would end the president’s life. Confederate President Lincoln. How does the Booth of Topdog/Underdog General Robert E. Lee surrendered to Grant the following day. attack his brother? On April 14 while on an errand to Ford’s Theatre, Booth learned that President and Mrs. Lincoln planned to attend that evening’s 3. In Parks’ play, Lincoln is considered “the topdog” and Booth performance of Our American Cousin. Booth and two other men “the underdog.” Do those descriptions also apply to President engaged in a conspiracy to assassinate Lincoln as well as Vice Lincoln and John Wilkes Booth? Why or why not?

14 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES QUOTABLE MOMENTS The following quote appears as an epigraph to Suzan-Lori Parks’ Topdog/Underdog: “I am God in nature; I am a weed by the wall.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Ralph Waldo Emerson was a Transcendentalist philosopher who believed that humans can experience divinity through nature. Why might Parks have selected this particular quote to preface her play? How does this sentiment relate to the characters’ stories?

Choose one of the following quotes from Topdog/Underdog. Write an essay analyzing the quote’s meaning. Consider: • Which character said it? • Does the character mean it literally or is there an unspoken subtext? • What does this statement reveal about the character’s way of looking at the world? • How do the character’s actions support or contradict the quote? • Do other characters seem to agree or disagree? • How does the quote contribute to the forward progression of the scene and of the plot as a whole?

I’m down with the power to the people thing, but, no ones gonna hire you if they can’t say yr name. Today is Thursday and I tell you brother, it’s a long way from Friday to Friday. All kinds of things can happen. All kinds of bad feelings can surface and erupt while yr little brother waits for you to throw in yr share. “Waste not want not.” Scheming and dreaming… with yr moves and my magic, and we get Grace and a girl for you to round out the posse. She just said it again. That I should look out for you. Yeah. So who gonna look out for me. People know the real deal. When people know the real deal it ain’t a hustle. They say clothes make the man. All day long I wear that getup. But that don’t make me who I am. People are funny… They like it to unfold [history] the way they folded

nile it up. Neatly like a book. Not raggedy and bloody and screaming.

hawver Cause you can’t.No matter what you do you can’t get back to being who you was. Best you can do is just pretend to yr old self.

I ain’t laughing at you, bro, Im just laughing… This game is — there is just so much to it. Ima take back my inheritance too. It was mines anyhow. Even when Tyrone Mitchell Henderson as Lincoln and Matthew J. Harris as Booth in the you stole it from me it was still mines cause she gave it to me. Huntington’s production of Topdog/Underdog She didn’t give it to you. And I been saving it all this while.

TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE 15 SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES 5-MINUTE PLAY Divides students into pairs to plan and rehearse a summary of SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER Topdog/Underdog. Each pair must identify 5-6 key moments in the READING AND VIEWING play to recreate. Students may use tableau (frozen image that tells a story), pantomime (storytelling with all movement), or dialogue. Discuss: What similarities and differences were there amongst the performances? What key moments did each pair share? How did each group determine which elements of the story to keep in their performance?

CHARACTER COLLAGE Ask students to choose one character from Topdog/Underdog (characters who are spoken about and not seen are options as well) and create a character collage. Students can use paper, sketches, paint, fabric pieces, photographs, magazine and newspaper clippings and quotes from the play that express the character’s conflicts, relationships and emotions. Encourage students to consider texture and color when making decisions to Playwright and educator James Baldwin, who played an important best represent their chosen character. Have students share their role in inspiring Parks to become a playwright work with the class without naming the character. By picking out the qualities of each collage, ask the class to guess which character WORKS BY SUZAN-LORI PARKS the collage represents. • The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World (1992) CHARACTER SOUNDTRACK • The America Play (1994) Ask students to create a playlist for either Lincoln or Booth. • Venus (1996) Students may choose songs they think the characters would like, songs that remind them of the character or songs that speak to • In the Blood (1999) the character’s role in the play. Ask students to choose one song • Fucking A (2000) from the playlist that they think is a good theme song for their • 365 Days/365 Plays (2006) selected character and explain how it reflects the character’s • Porgy and Bess (2011 — adaptation with personality or circumstances. Deirdre L. Murray) • Father Comes Home from the Wars, Parts 1, 2 & 3 (2014) • Commencement Speech at Mount Holyoke College (2001): www.mtholyoke.edu/media/commencement-speech

VIDEO • Watch Me Work: http://howlround.com/search?search_api_views_ fulltext=watch%20me%20work&f%5B0%5D=field_ post_type%3A355

WORKS BY JAMES BALDWIN • Go Tell It on the Mountain (1953) • The Amen Corner (1954) • Blues for Mister Charlie (1964) • If Beale Could Talk (1974) • The Evidence of Things Not Seen (1985)

16 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE NOTES

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2016-2017 OCT.28STUDENT JAN.19 & NOV.3 MAR.17 MATINEES APR.13 & 30 SUNDAY IN THE PARK WITH GEORGE TIGER STYLE! A DOLL’S HOUSE TOPDOG/UNDERDOG 18 TOPDOG/UNDERDOG CURRICULUM GUIDE THE WHO & THE WHAT