Steppenwolf Theatre Company Presents a Blistering Production of Topdog/Underdog

Steppenwolf opens its 51st season with a blistering and captivating production of Suzan Lori-Parks’s Topdog/Underdog. This play has long been on my theater bucket list, and it’s absolutely what I think of when I think of a “Steppenwolf play”: A gritty family drama about brothers undergoing hard times, grappling with racial injustice and the fallacy of the American Dream.  With direction by Kenny Leon, Steppenwolf Co-Artistic Director Glen Davis and Ensemble Member Namir Smallwood are dazzlingly suited to take on the roles of Lincoln and Booth. While they tell us their names are a joke by their parents, it’s also revealing of their sibling dynamic and their fates. Though American society at large may view them as insignificant and non-contributors to capitalism, Lincoln and Booth nonetheless feel pressured to constantly one up each other �' though they may have few means to do so.

_Originally reported by [BroadwayWorld](https://www.broadwayworld.com/chicago/article/Review-TOPDOGUNDERDOG-at-Steppenwolf-Theatre-Company-20260928)._