THE TOPDOG DIARIES

Directed by Oren Jacoby
For ITVS, PBS/Stage on Screen

An intimate portrait of playwright Suzan-Lori Parks featuring actors Don Cheadle and Jeffrey Wright and director George C.Wolfe. In this inside look at the creative process, Parks spends two years struggling to produce her 2002 Pulitzer Prize-winning play, Topdog/Underdog. A true American success story, this triumphant Broadway debut takes daring chances to define a distinctive new voice that can shake up American theater and still find a place in the mainstream. From her early mentorship years with the legendary James Baldwin to her recent marriage to a blues musician, this film charts an astonishing story complete with behind-the-scenes footage of rehearsals and close-up coverage of the play.