Glenn Davis knows the men at the center of Topdog/Underdog.
He grew up with men like them.
“I grew up in Chatham. That’s where I’m from,” Davis told Chicago Southsider. “I still have family there. I still go there pretty often.”
Now, the Chatham native and Artistic Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company is stepping onto the Steppenwolf stage as Lincoln in Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning Topdog/Underdog.
Davis stars opposite fellow Steppenwolf ensemble member Namir Smallwood, who plays Booth, in the two-person drama directed by Tony Award winner Kenny Leon. The production runs September 17 through November 1 at Steppenwolf’s Downstairs Theater.
For Davis, the story of Lincoln and Booth hits close to home.
“I recognize pieces of many men that I know, Black and White,” Davis said. “My people in my family, uncles, grandparents, fathers, sons.”
“I recognize parts of myself in both these guys,” he added. “It’s close to home in so many ways.”
And Davis believes South Side audiences will recognize them, too.
“I think South Siders will know them very well and be entertained by them, will love them, will care for them, will cry for them, will laugh with them, will be affected and moved by what they see onstage in this relationship, these two brothers,” Davis said.
Two brothers chasing the American Dream
At the center of Topdog/Underdog are brothers Lincoln and Booth, two Black men trying to get by.
Lincoln makes money portraying Abraham Lincoln, reenacting the president’s assassination for paying customers. Booth, meanwhile, spends his time trying to master the three-card monte hustle his older brother left behind.
The brothers live together, joke, compete and wrestle with a lifetime of history between them.
But underneath their struggle to make ends meet is a much bigger story.
“It is a brilliantly crafted play about the American Dream, about brothers chasing the American Dream, and the circumstances which are hindering them from that dream,” Davis said. “It’s an American story.”
Davis describes the play as poetic, hard-hitting, deeply moving and funny.
“It’s all the things you want a play to be,” he said.
The more Davis talks about the production, the more excited he gets about audiences finally experiencing it.
“It’s rare that you get something this beautifully drawn and crafted that is going to just really serve audiences in such a visceral way,” he said.
For Davis, playing Lincoln fulfills an ambition that dates back to his early years as an actor.
“This is one of those roles that, as a young actor, I saw a production of and I said, ‘I want to do that one day,’” Davis recalled. “I want to be able to try my hand at one of the great roles in American theater.”
Even then, Davis knew the role wouldn’t be easy.
“I thought even back then it might be the hardest thing I ever had to do,” he said. “And it has proven to be just that—in the best way, the most challenging thing I’ve had to do as an actor. And I’ve loved every second of it.”
Davis said having the right actor opposite him and the right director were essential to taking on the challenge.
He found both in Smallwood and Leon.
Davis called Smallwood “a brilliant actor” who challenges and pushes him every day.
Leon brings his own history with the play. He directed the acclaimed Broadway revival of Topdog/Underdog, which won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
Davis said Leon knows the play “from top to bottom.”
With Leon directing, Smallwood across from him and Parks’ words at the center of it all, the opportunity was hard to turn down.
“It was supremely attractive,” Davis said. “I couldn’t say no.”
More than two decades have passed since Topdog/Underdog first appeared on Broadway.
Parks became the first Black woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama when the play won the award in 2002.
But for Davis, the questions Parks raises about opportunity, identity, and the American Dream haven’t grown old.
“Because it’s about America,” Davis said when asked why the story remains relevant. “Because it’s about the sons of America, and what does America owe its children? What does the promise of being born here really entail?”
Davis sees the work as timeless, placing it alongside American classics such as A Raisin in the Sun and Death of a Salesman.
More importantly, the people Parks created more than two decades ago still feel recognizable.
“Wherever you are, you know these men,” Davis said. “You’ve witnessed them. You’ve seen them. You’ve experienced them.”
How to see Topdog/Underdog
Topdog/Underdog runs September 17 through November 1, 2026, at Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Downstairs Theater, 1650 N. Halsted St. You can purchase tickets here.
The production stars Glenn Davis as Lincoln and Namir Smallwood as Booth and is directed by Kenny Leon.
Accessible performances include open-captioned performances on October 8 and October 17, an ASL-interpreted performance on October 16 and an audio-described performance with a touch tour on October 25.
