Two brothers named Lincoln and Booth are about to fill one of the smallest, most intense stages in San Diego with a con game, a stolen inheritance and decades of buried resentment. The Old Globe's production of Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning tragicomedy Topdog/Underdog begins performances on September 25 at the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre in Balboa Park.
The 2001 play has drawn some of the highest praise available in American theater. According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, The New York Times described Topdog/Underdog as a Pulitzer Prize-winning play about race, history and American identity, and ranked it No. 1 among its 25 best American plays since 1993.
Topdog/Underdog centers on the intimate, combustible relationship between two Black brothers. Lincoln, played by Alano Miller, gave up an illegal three-card monte scam to work at an arcade, where he dresses as Abraham Lincoln in a stovepipe hat and whiteface makeup. His younger brother Booth, played by Elijah Jones, wants Lincoln to teach him the con so the two can get rich together. The play explores rivalry, resentment, poverty, racism and family identity, according to the Union-Tribune.
A Pulitzer Milestone and a Broadway Pedigree
When Suzan-Lori Parks won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Topdog/Underdog, she became the first African American woman to receive the award in that category, according to The Pulitzer Prizes. She had previously made the Pulitzer shortlist in 1999 for her play In the Blood. Parks was also awarded a MacArthur Foundation Genius Fellowship in 2001, the same year Topdog/Underdog debuted, per the National Women's History Museum.
The play originally premiered off-Broadway at The Public Theater in July 2001, starring Don Cheadle and Jeffrey Wright, before transferring to Broadway, according to Concord Theatricals. A 20th-anniversary Broadway revival followed in 2022, per Concord Theatricals.
Broadnax was named artistic director of the Arkansas Repertory Theatre in February 2025, according to the Little Rock Soirée, which reports Broadnax is a native of Little Rock.
Two Actors, Shared Roots
Miller and Jones bring distinct résumés and training to the production. Miller is also known for screen work, including playing Cato in the WGN period drama Underground from 2016 to 2017 and dual twin brothers Aaron and Roman Zazo on The CW's Jane the Virgin, according to Rotten Tomatoes, which also notes Miller appeared in the 2016 film Loving.
Jones brings stage experience to the role. Miller said Parks creates safety nets in her work that protect actors.
An Arena Stage Built for Intimacy
The venue itself shapes how this particular story will land. The Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre at Balboa Park's Conrad Prebys Theatre Center is an intimate, 250-seat arena stage in the round, where no audience member sits more than 12 feet from the performance area, according to Fisher Dachs Associates. For a two-character drama built on close-quarters rivalry, that proximity leaves nowhere for the brothers — or the audience — to hide.
Tickets, Dates and Showtimes
Previews for the Old Globe's Topdog/Underdog run September 25 through September 30, with the production officially opening October 1 and continuing through October 18, per the Union-Tribune's report. Performances are scheduled for 7 p.m. Tuesdays through Fridays, 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays at the Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre, 1363 Old Globe Way in Balboa Park.
The run adds to the Old Globe's season.
