Top Dog/Under Dog and Beyond: Live performances at the Lyric Theatre

Top Dog / Under Dog - (P)
1 Room
2 Brothers
3 Card Monte
And a twist you won’t soon forget!
Featuring Michael Anthony Williams and Eddie McClain - Directed by Craig Wallace Rated R for language and adult subject matter.

I saw this play Saturday evening and was very impressed. Williams and McClain did a marvelous job portraying two brothers, Booth and Lincoln, fighting the past and fearing the future. This is a bleak play about a black man, a former 3 card monte huckster portraying Abraham Lincoln in an arcade. He is on the skids, living in a run down room with his brother. Their father had had a sense of humor in naming them Lincoln and Booth and the arcade people had more humor in having a black man do a white face Lincoln being assassinated. Lincoln (Williams) is trying to move his younger brother Booth (McClain) away from a life of hustle and cons but Booth is determined to be king of the 3 card monte, going so far as to nick name himself 3 card.

This is a rough play with rough language and situations. Gritty might be a better term. It showed to a very small audience last weekend and I would hope more people would come see it on the 24th and 25th of September. Williams and McClain gave a performance worthy of a full house and it would be good for a larger audience to come and appreciate them.

I hear so often that Blacksburg is a Sahara of the Bozart and there is nothing to do. Blacksburg is alive with music at many local locations, live theatre on and off campus, art galleries abound downtown - hey, all it takes is for a person to invest a little footpower and you are there. This Saturday we have James Gregory, the funniest man in America at the Lyric. On thursday, September 22, we have the bluegrass band Steep Canyon Rangers with opening act the Honeycutters. September 24 and 25 we again bring you Top Dog/Under Dog. Sunday, October 23, we have singer/storyteller Charlotte Blake Alston, whose African oral tradition promotes an understanding of our common human experiences. November 23 brings Barter Theatre with Civil War Voices. Don’t sit at home and complain there is nothing to do - get out and experience downtown Blacksburg.

The Lyric Theatre: The Heart of DOwntown Blacksburg