George and Carr Star in TOPDOG/UNDERDOG for Amun Ra fundraiser

Former NFL great Eddie George and Amun Ra Theatre founder and artistic director Jeff Obafemi carr -star in a special one-night-only production of Suzan Lori Parks' Topdog/Underdog at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center's James K. Polk Theatre On Friday, May 21. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m., with the show followed by a special fundraising gala afterward.

Since the sold out reading of Topdog/Underdog in Amun Ra's 2009 Step Into The Future Season, Nashville has awaited the full production of the play

Topdog/Underdog, a Pulitzer Prize-winning play written by Suzan-Lori Parks is a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity. The play tells the story of Lincoln (carr), a retired master of the three-card street hustle, and Booth (George), a master thief - two brothers who share a lifetime of hard times, played out and explored in a one-room apartment that is their field of unrealized dreams. Haunted by a past of abandonment and struggles, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future.

George and carr have collaborated for several years now, dating back to a benefit organized by the two when Hurricane Katrina struck New Orleans. The two men organized a benefit that sent supplies to the region and re-located a family of 21 people to Nashville. Two productions of James WelDon Johnson's God's Trombones funded ART's summer Youth Performing ARTs Academy, and the one-two personality punch of carr and George helped construct Amun Ra's current performance facility on Clifton Avenue in North Nashville over a three-day weekend in October, 2008. 

carr, who only weeks ago returned from Port-Au-Prince, Haiti, where he helped erect temporary shelter for the Gradec Orphanage, believes the duo can do it again, this time tackling one of the most provocative works of contemporary drama.

Proceeds from the show and the after-event will benefit Art To Africa 2010, an initiative of the theatre to send youth from its Performing ARTs Academy to Ghana, West Africa this summer to help build a performance space and launch an arts program at the House of Champions Orphanage.

"It's no secret that I like to think big," says carr . "Luckily, I can dream out loud with people like Eddie George, who has a ton of well-deserved fans all over the world, but particularly in Nashville, where he is truly a legend. I think what is really going to trip everyone out with this play, however, is that you'll see no trace of 'Eddie George the Football Player.' He has totally submersed himself in the character of Booth, and I guarantee his performance will leave you talking for years to come. He is becoming a truly fine actor within his own right."

 "My experience in acting has been growing over the past few years," George explains. "Going through the process has given me confidence that I can go 'all in' and pull off the challenging role of Booth. In the beginning of my acting journey, it was about finding myself and seeing what talents I have, then learning the process. Having been through it, working with at least two great acting coaches and working on myself outside of what I was taught, I feel I'm prepared to take a giant step. I've learned, through it all, that it's the actor's job to tell the truth of the story and be honest with it. I'm looking forward to exploring Booth in that space, where and how it's going to be presented."

An added bonus for the evening will be an event called A Royal Allure, to be held following the performance. Originally scheduled for the Tennessee Ballroom at Nashville's historic Opryland Hotel, the event will be moved due to the catastrophic May flooding that has led to the hotel's temporary closing.

The event, which kicks off at 9 p.m., will feature a jazz band, Silent Auction, dash bar and an evening of old school dancing kicked off by a live guest performance by the Grammy-award nominated and American Music Award recipient female R&B group SWV (Sisters With Voices), of which George's wife, Tamara "Taj" Johnson-George, is a member. 

George will join forces with the entertainment after the play by displaying his growing skills and reputation as a d.j.; he will be joined by Kenny Smoov, WQQK's most popular radio personality.

Tickets, ranging from $22.50 to $100, are now on sale and may be purchased at www.tpac.org/shows or at the TPAC Box Office (Downtown or at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in The Mall at Green Hills).

Eddie George and Jeff Obafemi carr in Amun Ra Theatre's Topdog/Underdog

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