TOP DIRECTOR FOR TOPDOG/UNDERDOG

Q & A with TOPDOG/UNDERDOG Director Valerie Curtis-Newton

Suzan-Lori Parks, the playwright behind Topdog/Underdog, was the first woman of African descent to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. When she received the honor in 2002, Parks was widely recognized as “a pioneer of historically conscious and linguistically complex theater.”

By the time of her Pulitzer win, Parks had already earned numerous awards and distinctions. Her body of work included screenplays for the films Anemone Me (1990) and Spike Lee’s Girl 6 (1996). She also wrote several acclaimed plays, including The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Devotees in the Garden of Love, The America Play, and Venus. Venus is a fictionalized account inspired by the true story of Sarah Baartman, a Khoisan woman also known as the “Hottentot Venus.”

Seattle-based director Valerie Curtis-Newton has been selected to direct Topdog/Underdog—the Pulitzer Prize–winning play written in 1999 and first premiering off Broadway in 2001 —for ArtsWest’s mid-season production, which premieres on February 5th. Curtis-Newton took some time out from rehearsals to share some thoughts with us on the challenges, the joys, and the importance of delivering Black theatre excellence to Seattle audiences.

You've kept a "Dream" list of the plays you'd like to direct. Has directing this piece been on any of your "want to do" lists before?

To be honest, I hadn't really thought that I would get the chance to direct this piece, because it is most often directed by Black men. And I feel that Susan Lori's style is always provocative and exciting. So in that way, it's sort of on a "want to do" list. I love the intimacy of working with a small cast, and so I thought that it would be fun to direct a two-hander. I always want to do work that is challenging, exciting, and provocative, but I hadn’t really given it much consideration until I was asked to do it, that I would ever be considered to do it.

Playwright Suzan Lori-Parks was the first woman of African descent to win the Pulitzer for dramatic playwriting, and you've directed another one of her plays, FATHER COMES HOME FROM THE WARS Pt. 1 & Pt. 2. What most excites you about directing her plays? What is most challenging about directing her plays?

She has always been a leader in trying to stretch the form of live theater, and there is a kind of jazz element to the plays that interests me. The form is a lot about repetition, repeating patterns, and then breaking them, both imagistically and linguistically. That's always exciting. Finding a way to make sure that the meaning lands in the midst of all that experimentation is, I think, maybe the biggest challenge in her work, and that it feels in some ways like you shouldn't get it, but then you do, and that's a joy. She's very smart, and she sort of demands that of the audience. Artistically, you want to meet the challenges she's offering with unique perspectives and an equal polish. So I think that's probably it - that challenge of form.

I recall seeing the original George C. Wolfe-directed version of this play in 2003 at Seattle Rep. It was a dizzying, fast-paced experience that dealt with race, identity, and sibling rivalry. How does your directing approach these issues 23 years later?

I think that the issues of race, identity, and sibling rivalry have shifted since that production. I think that after George Floyd was murdered, and there was a tremendous interrogation of the situation of Blacks in this country and a greater understanding of what systemic racism really means, the play came into new light as a result of those interrogations. And my work on the play in this day and age is to just let it sing. Let the writing say what it says. Let the circumstances shine clear, and let audiences bring to it the new knowledge that the past 26 years have given them. Let that knowledge inform what the interaction is between the play and its audience.

We want to still let it be as fast-paced as it's always been, allow it to be as funny as it's always been, and allow the turns to happen as sharply as they do. Our audiences will have to deal with the fact that it's telling the hard truth that it's almost impossible to win in this system unless someone decides to change the rules. The hope of the work is that we inspire a desire to make real changes in the system, so there are no more top dogs or underdogs. I think that's the point that the system, that the structure must change, that the people who are at the bottom need to collect some wins. And I think that message is as loud, if not louder, than it was 26 years ago.

It's interesting that the play, written by a biracial Black woman about two young Black brothers, initially directed by a Black man, is now in the hands of a Black woman for this mounting. What part of your personal sensibilities seeps into your directorial expertise for this?

It is interesting that I, as a Black woman, am directing the play. It doesn't happen often because it's seen as the domain of Black men. And I think that it's written by a biracial Black woman, and now I get the chance to direct it, which is wonderful. I think that it fits my sensibilities well. I want the play to feel rich and real, and I want to embrace the flights of fancy and the broad humor of it. I want them to be equal in the telling of the story.

And I love being in the room with these two guys. Yusef Seevers and ML Roberts. They are awesome men, and we're having a great time. We're sharing insights about our experiences as Black people in the world. It's a rich environment for our exchange, and it's also a time that we can foster the kind of relationship that allows each of us to be vulnerable in the space. To do and say what needs to be done and said to convey the story with all the power we can muster. So I'm excited to be in the room with them, making this thing for this audience, and I hope I'm giving them what they need to reach all the depths the play requires. If I'm doing that, then I'm feeling really good about my work. 

ML Roberts and Yusef Seevers start as Lincoln + Booth in Topdog/Underdog, directed by Valerie Curtis Newton. Photo Credit John McLellan.

This play hits a lot like hip-hop or maybe hip-hop Shakespeare. The two cast members both bring Shakespeare experience into their roles as Lincoln and Booth. What kind of stage fire can audiences expect from these dynamic performers?

All of the best plays require a kind of virtuosity from the actors, and these two have it, no question. It's been a joy to unpack this story with them, to watch them play off each other, and to be innovative and adventurous. And you know, my favorite word for an artist is brave, and they are both very, very brave. So I think that the audience can expect a muscular attack, great heart, and virtuosity in handling of the language. And ultimately, the fire of connection. They are in sync with each other, and it goes back and forth like a great athletic match. So I think that the audience is coming to see these performers do their work and are going to be enthralled, thrilled, shocked, heartbroken, crushed, enthusiastic, and pleased.

Your last 4 directing gigs with ArtsWest have been plays by Black women. Is there any significance in that, and how did this relationship with ArtsWest develop?

I've done Sunset Baby by Dominique Morisseau, Lady Days at Emerson's Bar and Grill by Lanie Robertson, and The Mountaintop by Katori Hall. And last summer, I did Clyde's by Lynn Nottage. You ask if there's any significance in that, and I would say, actually, that's more a question for Matt Wright (ArtsWest Artistic Producing Director), because these are the plays that he's offered me and been interested in having me direct. I've been really excited by them because all of these writers are very, very engaged in telling the story of our people. They're very, very engaged in presenting the fullness of our humanity. And they're very engaged in critiquing and doing a little bit of an exposé on the challenges that we face and also the joy that we find in each other and within our community. So I think that as long as he keeps asking me to make those kinds of plays, I will keep directing at ArtsWest. 

Why do YOU want people to come see this play?

I would like people to see this play because it requires all of us to bring our A game. And we're doing that - everyone from the actors, the designers, the craftspeople, the marketing people, and I are doing our best to bring it. And as a Black artist, I don't ever want a Seattle audience to miss the chance to see Black artists displaying Black excellence. And so I hope people will come. I hope that they will see something provocative, engaging, and I hope that it will encourage them to see more theatre - especially more work by Black writers and Black performers. 

In your director's remarks, you speak to the positions and pains of the top dog and the underdog in society.  How does this play help guide us through breaking destructive cycles?

The Topdog has the power. They always win. Everything goes their way. The Underdog can never win. Constant losses and disappointments take a toll over time. The play posits that being trapped as the underdog is untenable. It is dehumanizing and turns us into the worst examples of our nature. There is no winning in the current system. So the system must be changed. It will not change on its own. But to effect change means there is an even greater need for faith, hope, and action. A moment of hope to imagine that things can be different. The faith that if you take action, if we all take action, things can and will change. If the brothers could have moved through the generational trauma and found their way to work together to break the cycle, who knows what might have been possible?

The Pulitzer Prize-winning contemporary classic TOPDOG / UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks is an ArtsWest/Hansberry Project co-production running from February 5 – March 1, 2026, at ArtsWest.

Brief play description: 

A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity. It was inevitable that two brothers named Lincoln and Booth, names given to them as a joke, would live lives full of sibling rivalry and resentment. Despite it all, their bond grew deep, but can it withstand the weight of history?   

Show and ticket information here.

Yusef Seevers as Booth, ML Roberts as Lincoln. Photo credit John McLellan.

When considering your ticket purchase, we hope you'll join us for the matinee performance on Sunday, February 22nd! Valerie and I will connect for a post-show conversation about The Hansberry Project, the professional theatre lab we founded twenty years ago to give voice to the African American perspective. See you there!