Topdog/Underdog

By Suzan-Lori Parks
Directed by Philip Akin

The 2002 Pulitzer Prize winning play, set in a rundown New York apartment tells the story of two brothers as they explore the competition between them. It is a dog-eat-dog world, and the play dramatizes the contradiction between dreams of a possible life and a present which is as dangerous as it is illusory.

“Philip Akin’s formidable direction and the stellar performances of Kevin Hanchard and Nigel Shawn
Williams (…) have yielded one of the best productions in festival history.”
— Jamie Portman, Ottawa Citizen

Topdog/Underdog, a co-production of Obsidian Theatre and the Shaw Festival earned three Dora Mavor Moore awards: Outstanding Production of a Play, Outstanding Male in a Principal Role Nigel Shawn Williams and Outstanding Direction Philip Akin.