Topdog/Underdog Will Provide Free Tickets to Public School Students

Broadway's 20th anniversary revival of Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog has launched a new Student Seats program that will send public school student groups to performances for free.

Developed in partnership with The NYC Department of Education Arts Office and Broadway Advocacy Coalition, the initiative is funded by a lead grant from the Ford Foundation with sponsorship from Goldman Sachs and City National Bank and additional support from the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.

Helmed by Tony winner Kenny Leon, Topdog/Underdog stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (in his Broadway debut) and Tony nominee Corey Hawkins (Six Degrees of Separation, Romeo & Juliet) in the story of sibling rivalry and brotherly love centering on two brothers named Lincoln and Booth by their father as a joke. The revival opened October 20 at the Golden Theatre. Read reviews here.

The work made its world premiere Off-Broadway at The Public Theater in 2001 in a production directed by George C. Wolfe and starring Don Cheadle and Jeffrey Wright. It transferred to Broadway the following year with Wright reprising his Off-Broadway performance opposite rap artist Mos Def. The production received two 2002 Tony nominations, including Best Play, and won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, making Parks the first Black woman to win the honor.

The creative team for the current Broadway run includes scenic designer Arnulfo Maldonado, costume designer Dede Ayite, lighting designer Allen Lee Hughes, and sound designer Justin Ellington. Casting is by Calleri Jensen Davis, and Kamra Jacobs is the production stage manager. The production is produced by David Stone, LaChanze, Rashad V. Chambers, Marc Platt, Debra Martin Chase, and the Shubert Organization.