We invite Black and African American community members to join us for Legacy Night on April 30 at 7:00 pm, a special performance of TOPDOG/UNDERDOG by Suzan-Lori Parks dedicated to and celebrating the Black community. Join us beginning at 5:00pm for a special pre-show reception!
This event is produced in partnership with our Community Partners: America's Black Holocaust Museum, CopyWrite Magazine, Milwaukee Public Schools Department of Black and Latino Male Achievement, and Running Rebels. We are grateful for the leadership of our host committee: Lexi S Brunson, Editor-in-Chief and Owner of CopyWrite Magazine; Lafayette Crump, City of Milwaukee Commissioner of City Development; Morgan Phelps, founder and CEO of Colorful Connections and member of MCT's Board of Trustees; and Justin Roby, Milwaukee Public Schools teacher and member of MCT's Board of Trustees.
What is Legacy Night?
The intention behind this event is to purposefully create an environment in which a Black audience can experience and discuss this play created and performed by Black artists, in a space that celebrates the Black Community and centers their perspectives. With TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2002. She remains among America's most important and influential living playwrights, and we are proud to center this event around a performance of her seminal play.
Legacy Night is inspired by a similar event created in 2019 by actor and playwright Jeremy O. Harris, where for the first time ever, every seat in Broadway’s Golden Theatre was occupied by Black audience members.
MCT's first Legacy Night took place in March 2024 in conjunction with our production of THE MOUNTAINTOP by Katori Hall. We call this special performance Legacy Night not only because legacy was one of the major themes within THE MOUNTAINTOP (and remains an important theme in this season's TOPDOG/UNDERDOG), but also to honor and celebrate our Black and African American community and the legacy we hope to create together in Milwaukee.
What if I'm not Black or African American?
We encourage our non-Black audience members to join us in honoring this initiative by choosing to experience the play at another performance. Tickets are available for purchase throughout the run of the show here.
We thank you in advance for supporting these artists and MCT as we facilitate an opportunity for a community to come together to enjoy this special event.
Ticket Options
Legacy Night Tickets are $30 (plus sales tax and box office fees).
Purchase Online: You can purchase tickets online by clicking the button below and using the code LEGACY. You will need to enter the code in the "Promo Code" box at the top right corner of the Broadway Theatre Center ticketing page and click submit before you try to select the date. The Legacy Night performance will not show up until you have submitted code LEGACY. Want a demo? Click here.
Purchase By Phone: You can also purchase tickets over the phone through the box office at 414-291-7800 (M-F, 12-6 pm). Just mention code LEGACY to specify that you want to attend the Legacy Night performance on Wednesday, April 30.
About the Play:
Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play
Are you chasing a dream or just caught in a long con?
In this Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece by “the most consistently inventive, and venturesome, American dramatist working today” (The New York Times), brothers Lincoln and Booth struggle for the upper hand as they grapple with unresolved inheritances and how to play the cards they’ve been dealt. At once a rollicking portrait of sibling rivalry, a probing exploration of the complexity of family, and a resonant allegory of American identity, this can’t miss production will have you howling with laughter one moment and on the edge of your seat the next.
“…an utterly mesmerizing evening of theater…” – Variety
“The issues are gripping, the characters are dynamite…a must-see play.” – Backstage
Run time: approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes with one intermission
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG features local Milwaukee favorite Dimonte Henning, director of smash hits THE MOUNTAINTOP and CLYDE'S, who was last seen performing at MCT in last spring's THE NOT-SO-ACCIDENTAL CONVICTION OF ELEVEN MILWAUKEE "ANARCHISTS." Dimonte is joined by visiting artist Anthony Fleming III, a prolific Chicago-based actor you may know from his role in the Starz series Power Book IV: Force. Gavin Dillon Lawrence, a core company member at American Players Theatre, joins the team as director.
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG is being performed in the Broadway Theatre Center's Studio Theatre.
