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
1/2” scale model
environmental research; the scenic design draws inspiration from south los angeles motel rooms, specifically in the vermont square neighborhood and along s figueroa street
ground plan
front elevation
