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Chapter 7 - Reconstitution

Suzan-Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 November 2011

Soyica Diggs Colbert
Soyica Diggs Colbert
Affiliation:
Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
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Summary

Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog opens with Booth, one of the two characters, delivering the following lines while practicing his three-card monte routine:

Watch me close watch me close now: who-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-thuh-red-card? I-see-thuh-red-card. Thuh-red-card-is-thuh-winner. Pick-thuh-red-card-you-pick-uh-winner. Pick-uh-black-card-you-pick-uh-loser. Theres-thuh-loser, yeah, theres-thuh-black-card,theres-thuh-other-loser-and-theres-thuh-red-card, thuh-winner.

(Rest)

Watch me close watch me close now: 3-Card-throws-thuh-cards-lightning-fast. 3-Card-that's-me-and-Ima-last. Watch-me-throw-cause-here-I-go. One-good- pickll-get-you-in, 2-good-picks-and-you-gone-win. See-thuh-red-card-see-thuh-red-card-who-see-thuh-red-card?

Type
Chapter
Information
The African American Theatrical Body
Reception, Performance, and the Stage
 , pp. 231 - 260
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

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  • Reconstitution
  • Soyica Diggs Colbert, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: The African American Theatrical Body
  • Online publication: 05 November 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139027243.008
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  • Reconstitution
  • Soyica Diggs Colbert, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: The African American Theatrical Body
  • Online publication: 05 November 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139027243.008
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Reconstitution
  • Soyica Diggs Colbert, Dartmouth College, New Hampshire
  • Book: The African American Theatrical Body
  • Online publication: 05 November 2011
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139027243.008
Available formats
×