Milwaukee Chamber Theatre presents the Pulitzer Prize Winning Play, TOPDOG/UNDERDOG

Dimonte Henning and Anthony Fleming III in Milwaukee Chamber Theatre's production of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, through May 11th in downtown Milwaukee. Photo by Michael Brosilow.

By Mary Boyle

American playwright, screenwriter, and novelist Suzan-Lori Parks was the first African American to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002 for her play TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, which also won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play in 2023.  A prolific creator, Parks also unveiled three world premieres in 2023: Sally & Tom (Steinberg New Play Award finalist) at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis,  Plays for the Plague Year (winner of The Drama Desk Award for Best Music in a Play) at Joe’s Pub in New York City, and a musical adaptation of the 1972 film The Harder They Come (winner: Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical) at the Public Theatre, as well as being named among “Time Magazine’s 100.”  A MacArthur “Genius” Fellow and an inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame, to say Parks is “one to watch” is a bit of an understatement, but I can say with certainty that her Pulitzer Prize winning play is absolutely one to watch.  Luckily, you can take that opportunity courtesy of Milwaukee Chamber Theatre through May 11th.

Directed by Gavin Dillon Lawrence (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), Topdog/Underdog is a picture of sibling rivalry set in the backdrop of generations of trauma that is all too often the Black American experience.  Two brothers, Lincoln and Booth (their father’s idea of a funny joke) find themselves reunited under one roof again when Lincoln’s wife throws him out and he is in need of a place to stay – not that Booth’s place is much of a place, but a run down room with no running water and a shared bathroom down the hall is still better than the street, even if his bed is an old recliner.  Getting by mainly by theft, Booth hopes to regain the favor of his girlfriend and figures the best way to do this is to follow in his big brother’s footsteps by learning three card monte.  The trouble is, Lincoln swore off cards after one of his guys got shot and, ironically, he’s doing his best at making an honest living playing honest Abe, himself, at a local arcade.

Milwaukee’s own Dimonte Henning (Romeo & Juliet) was born to play Booth, the competitive younger brother whose internal war between love, envy, and jealousy towards his older brother turns him from thoughtfulness to barely contained rage in the blink of an eye. Chicago’s Anthony Fleming III is calm and cool as Lincoln, the older and wiser brother who is doing his best to avoid getting pulled back into his old ways but, try as they might, unhealed wounds keep surfacing, pulling the brothers back down any ladders they attempt to climb.

I would be lying if I said this play was a walk in the park.  While there are plenty of moments of grim humor, the shockingly visceral reality of Booth and Lincoln’s world is brought forth in their realistic language and actions, played expertly by Henning and Fleming III – a world that, to a white girl who grew up in the suburbs, seems too horrible to believe, but is too glaringly real to be faked.  If little boys like Lincoln and Booth lived this life, the least I can do is spend a fraction of mine bearing witness to it and trying to understand how two people who grew up in the same country as me could have such a terribly different experience of it.  What our country needs so desperately right now is empathy and compassion; this play is one way to help us get there.

“I see a future where we realize that the obstacles we must work hardest to overcome are self-limiting perceptions and the belief that one of us must win at the expense of another,” said Lafayette Crump, the Commissioner of City Development in Milwaukee.  “Rivalry needn’t drive us.  Collective achievement and liberation can take its place.”

A powerful way to end Milwaukee Chamber Theatre’s 50th Season, Topdog/Underdog is the epitome of MCT’s commitment to “local focus, artist development, and bold storytelling through powerful writing.”  This is not feel-good theatre, but hard truth-telling theatre, made to make us feel, think, and take action in our own lives and in our own communities.  
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Artistic Director Brent Hazelton wrote, “Artists are the ‘what if’ engine of a community, continually asking if the way we are living today is the way we wish to live tomorrow (and if not, what we intend to do about it). When those artists are rooted in the communities they serve, the questions become even more urgent.  The answers, more personal.  The art, a powerful space in which to vision a future and reflect on a past.”
 
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG runs through May 11, 2025, in the Studio Theatre at the Broadway Theatre Center, located at located at 158 N. Broadway in Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward. Tickets may be purchased in person at the box office, online at www.MilwaukeeChamberTheatre.com, or by calling (414) 291-7800 (Monday - Saturday, 12-6 p.m. and 2 hours before BTC showtimes).  
 
Special Events:

• Saturday, 5/2 — SipStudio: An Insider Experience, with behind the scenes sneak peeks and drinks provided by Thelma Carol Wine Merchants — 5:30-7:30pm, between the matinee (4pm) and evening (8pm) shows, free and open to all Saturday, 11/16 ticketholders.
• Thursday, 5/8, 7:30pm — Thursday Talkback, a post-show discussion with the artists
• Friday, 5/9, 7:30pm — ASL Interpreted Performance

 
About Milwaukee Chamber Theatre
Founded in 1975, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre (MCT) produces intimate and accessible theatrical works that engage and challenge the audience, while employing and nurturing principally local theatre artists.