On December 8 and 9 at the Griswold Theater, Denzel Chmiel and Khamari Hamblin starred the two-man show, Topdog Underdog, by Suzan-Lori Parks. The actors played brothers Lincoln (Chmiel) and Booth (Hamblin). The program notes describe the play as, “A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks’ latest riff on the way we are defined by history.”
The two brothers Lincoln and Booth are haunted by their past. Their parents left them and their life has never not been difficult. The play shows them facing the reality of their past, which is filled with pain, resentment, and rivalry. The names of the brothers echo the past and were given to them as a joke by their father as a way to shadow a lifetime of sibling rivalry. If you remember your history, you will know that Abraham Lincoln was shot and killed by John Wilkes Booth. This event is shadowed and teased throughout the play.
The story is captivating and heartbreaking. Chmiel portrays Lincoln, the older brother who is trying to walk the clean line at a job dressing up as President Lincoln for tourists, who pretend to shoot him. Lincoln was a skilled dealer with the card game hustle called 3-card Monte; Lincoln lost his friend because of the scam they pull on the wrong person, so he gets a job in an attraction, dressing up as the sixteenth US president. He is stuck in the historical moment of Lincoln’s assassination, and the customers play the killer, John Wilkes Booth.
Actor Denzel Chmiel reflected on his character, saying, “I would agree that there are similarities with our characters. I’ve found a sort of love and respect for Lincoln as I learned more about him. As the actor, I found similarities within the personality of the character and myself in order to embody him. Both the character and myself are resilient; we can take so much before we explode. But also, we try to bring a light to our situations. ”
Meanwhile, younger brother Booth (Hamblin) is trying to learn how to hustle cards like his big brother used to. Booth also has a romantic storyline that takes many turns. Booth is struggling with his past and his anger.
Actor Khamari Hamblin spoke about his character, saying, “There is a parallel between me and Booth. We both have serious anger issues that make us very vocal. We both are very vocal about how we feel, but I am not afraid to admit that I have done wrong. I can accept terrible things that happen, and I know that I have therapeutic resources, like going to Dexter (Health Services) to reduce this emotional mindset that Booth had in the play.”
I spoke with the two actors about their experience with the play and how they came to the decision to pick this show. Chmiel said, “We spent a good three to four weeks reading different plays with our Professor Frank [Borrelli] until we chose one that stuck out to us.”
Hamblin reflected on the decision saying, “The reason I chose Topdog Underdog was because it had a different vibe/content than me and my scene partner Denzel C. were used to. We are actors, so we keep our passion and discipline strong, and we brought the characters Lincoln and Booth (aka 3-Cards) to life.”
After two great performances, Hamblin spoke about the experience, saying, “This is a rhythmic dark play, and it was hard to do with two people who have not done this type of work. We received rights extremely late to do this, and there were a lot of outside issues that we couldn’t control that really did a number with everybody that has been involved with production. We had our one crewmate, Derik Lopez, who helped as much as he could, and our director, Frank Borrelli, who warned us that this play would be exceedingly difficult. But we got through it. With every breath that we took and every emotion, we had to heighten ten times based on these characters.”
