West Seattle Junction playhouse ArtsWest opens its next production thius week: Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Topdog/Underdog” by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by Valerie Curtis-Newton. The cast features Yusef Seevers as Booth and ML Roberts as Lincoln. After a sold-out Wednesday night discount preview, the official run is Thursdays through Sundays, February 5-March 1. (Opening night is sold out too!) Here’s how ArtsWest describes its new production:
Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, “Topdog/Underdog” is a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity and is Suzan-Lori Parks’ groundbreaking 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.
ArtsWest and The Hansberry Project have been co-producers since 2014. Founded in 2004, The Hansberry Project is a professional black theatre company dedicated to the artistic exploration of African American life, history and culture. Past co-productions include audience favorites “Clyde’s” by Lynn Nottage (2024) and “Sunset Baby” by Dominique Morriseau (2019). “Topdog/Underdog” marks the fifth collaboration between the two theater companies; each with Valerie Curtis-Newton in the role of director.
“Topdog/Underdog” is about the struggle to reach success in a system that is rigged. This drama packs a punch with as much comedy as it has intensity. A rooming house room the size of a boxing ring becomes a pressure cooker for the two brothers who share a past and are carving their own paths as they strive towards their dreams for the future. Director Valerie Curtis-Newton remarks, “The life of a dog in the fight is a life that breeds paranoia. The under dog is always watching their back and struggling to reach the top. The top dog gets to call the shots, but for how long? “Topdog/Underdog” puts the pain of that cycle under a microscope with the hope that in investigating it, we can learn to break it.”
“Topdog/Underdog” is the third production of ArtsWest’s 2025-2026 Season titled Between Us. The season features 5 bold contemporary plays that explore the invisible threads that bind us — the responsibilities we bear for one another, the debts of care we carry, and the lifelines we extend in moments of crisis. In TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, two brothers wrestle with what they owe one another whether it be a roof over their head, a cut of their paycheck, or a watchful eye while the play asks audiences to contemplate the systems of oppression in America and what we owe our communities to create change.
ArtsWest is at 4711 California SW. Tickets are available online here, by phone at 206-938-0339, and at the box office, Thursday – Saturday 2 pm-7 pm, Sundays 11 am-3 pm.