Topdog/Underdog opened off-Broadway at the Public Theater on July 26, 2001, and closed on September 2, 2001. Directed by George C. Wolfe, the play starred Don Cheadle (as Booth) and Jeffrey Wright (as Lincoln).[1][2] The play opened on Broadway at the Ambassador Theatre on April 7, 2002, and closed on August 11, 2002. Cheadle was replaced by Mos Def; directed by George C. Wolfe.[1] The play transferred to London at the Royal Court Theatre in 2003, with the same Broadway cast, and directed by Wolfe.[1]
In September 2012, Topdog/Underdog was produced by the Two River Theater Company in Red Bank, New Jersey.[3]
A 2011 production at the Shaw Festival in Canada starred Kevin Hanchard (as Booth) and Nigel Shawn Williams (as Lincoln).[4] This production had a second run at The Theatre Centre in Toronto later in the same year through Obsidian Theatre Company.[5] Hanchard and Williams were both nominated for Outstanding Performance by a Male in a Principal Role – Play at the 2012 Dora Mavor Moore Awards; Williams won the award.[6] Director Philip Akin also won the Dora for Outstanding Direction of a Play/Musical.
In 2022, the play was revived on Broadway 20 years after its initial debut, directed by Kenny Leon and starring Corey Hawkins (as Lincoln) and Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (as Booth).[7][8] It ran at the Golden Theatre, previewing on September 27, 2022, officially opening on October 20, 2022, and closing on January 15, 2023. The production won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. [9]
