topdog/underdog
a play by Suzan Lori Parks
Topdog/Underdog is “a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity [and] is Suzan-Lori Parks’ riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future” -- Ben Brantley
The design of this production reimagines the play being set in a South Los Angeles motel room. Symbolic of the brothers’ inescapable realities, the motel room serves as a physical manifestation of generational trauma: poverty, abandonment, addiciton, and houselessness.
The design of this production reimagines the play being set in a South Los Angeles motel room. Symbolic of the brothers’ inescapable realities, the motel room serves as a physical manifestation of generational trauma: poverty, abandonment, addiciton, and houselessness.
project information
location: lct 3, claire tow theater; new york, new york
date: 2021
type: scenic design, unproduced
credits
project team: jacob t. middleton
location: lct 3, claire tow theater; new york, new york
date: 2021
type: scenic design, unproduced
credits
project team: jacob t. middleton
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/3e04e38ee56c903ea82595ce2ca65423d2f10e56561dff2406fa79c0db8443c7/model-photo.jpg)
1/2” scale model
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/5fec3b0a41a10c14c3fc7a79252fc8a62b7d4e75e3bf7364959584938aa2d967/drafting7.jpg)
environmental research; the scenic design draws inspiration from south los angeles motel rooms, specifically in the vermont square neighborhood and along s figueroa street
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/1c0879bbe802020a328794fdbfc04c59fd2d3d3ab5cbc8741c69e5e70d3919af/drafting2.jpg)
ground plan
![](https://freight.cargo.site/t/original/i/c0697f00c59a96900fdcc5b8dfbdda10ec08e511993ccfc9deabcbc4a9d0e626/drafting4.jpg)
front elevation