Topdog/Underdog

By Suzan-Lori Parks, Directed by Kadeem Ali Harris Directed by Kadeem Ali Harris

May 30th - June 15th

Written in 2001, Topdog/Underdog is a Pulitzer Prize-winning dark comedy about brothers Lincoln & Booth begrudgingly living together. In 2002 the New York Times wrote, “‘Topdog’ is of rouce a variation of sorts on the story of Cain and Abel…”” Their father named them as a dark joke. The play explores themes of family, rivalry, race, and destiny through the complex relationship between these brothers. A historic production with two female actors playing Lincoln & Booth.

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DIRECTOR Kadeem Ali Harris (he/him/his) 

returns to Lanes Coven after playing Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 2024, and Macduff in Macbeth in 2022. Kadeem is an actor/director/producer from the Bronx, New York. BROADWAY: Thoughts of a Colored Man. REGIONAL THEATER: Suzan-Lori Parks’ new play Sally and Tom at the Guthrie; American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Cal Shakes, and Ensemble Theatre Cincinnati. He has produced the 2016 Bay Area Artist Festival with the premiere of Obie Award winner Aleshea Harris’ play CRACK. RUMBLE. FLY. Kadeem is a committed teaching artist who has taught in New York City, Cincinnati, and the Bay Area and is the recipient of the Bratt Family Diversity Scholarship and the Litfin Scholarship. TV/FILM: You can see him recur as ‘Brandon’ in the hit Amazon Prime series “Harlem,” starring Megan Good and Season 3 of City on a Hill. MFA, American Conservatory Theater; BFA Tisch School of the Arts for Drama.

LINCOLN, Akilah A. Walker (she/her/hers)

Elated to be making my Lanes Coven debut <3 REGIONAL: Black Cypress Bayou (Geffen Playhouse), The Bluest Eye (A Noise Within Theatre Co.), Marty & The Hands that Could (WACO Theatre Co.) School Girls; Or The African Mean Girls Play (Berkeley Repertory Theatre), Detroit '67 (Aurora Theatre Co.),  A Midsummer Night's Dream (Classical Theatre of Harlem). TV/FILM: Currently recurring on Bel-Air (Peacock), upcoming Guest star P-Valley (Starz), The Family Business (BET+). Award-winning writer/director of the short films  'Ivar Tunnel: Shook Ones' which debuted on the REVOLT network, and 'Pedacito de Carne' sponsored by Netflix, and co-founder of Good Mother Films, a production company specializing in personal stories that center women. Fordham University BA, Theatre, American Conservatory Theatre MFA, Acting. @Akthewayy on Instagram, X and TikTok

BOOTH, Adrianna Mitchell (she/her/hers)

an Atlanta native and NYC-based actor, director, and producer. With Lanes Coven: A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Macbeth. BROADWAY: “Opal” in the Tony-nominated Pulitzer Prize Winning play Fat Ham, after originating the role at The Public Theater. OFF-BROADWAY: What to Send Up When It Goes Down (Playwrights Horizons), runboyrun (New York Theatre Workshop). REGIONAL: (select) Noises Off (Two River Theater); Romeo & Juliet (as “Juliet”) and Taming of the Shrew (Chautauqua Theater Company); Measure for Measure (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); Hamlet (American Conservatory Theater). TV/FILM: Mitchell recurred on a season of Snowfall (FX) and booked a series regular on the pilot Harlem’s Kitchen, opposite Delroy Lindo and Sheryl Lee Ralph (ABC). Select guest roles: Grey’s Anatomy and Queens (ABC); Bull, The Good Fight, and Evil (CBS); The Blacklist and Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector(NBC); and Little America (Apple TV+). Spelman College (BA; Phi Beta Kappa); American Conservatory Theater (M.F.A.); British American Drama Academy.

Presented Indoors in the Chapel

Understanding Topdog/Underdog

New York Times wrote, in 2002 when the original production at The Public Theatre transferred to Broadway,

“In a sense, the whole play is about life as a series of theatrical postures: some voluntary, some reflexive and some imposed by centuries of history …men who will never be able to entirely trust anyone, including each other. Implicit in their relationship is the idea that to live is to con.” CLICK HERE TO READ ARTICLE