Advertisement
Topdog Underdog: Understanding the Dynamics of Competition and How to Leverage Them
The classic narrative of the "topdog underdog" resonates deeply within us. It's the David versus Goliath story, the unexpected triumph over seemingly insurmountable odds. But this dynamic goes far beyond simple storytelling; it's a powerful force shaping competition in every field, from business and sports to personal relationships and even the political landscape. This comprehensive guide dives into the complexities of the topdog underdog dynamic, exploring how both positions function, their strategic advantages and disadvantages, and ultimately, how you can harness this understanding to achieve your goals.
Understanding the Topdog Position
The "topdog" represents the established power, the dominant player in the game. They often enjoy several key advantages:
High Brand Recognition & Market Share: Topdogs benefit from widespread brand awareness and a significant portion of the market. This translates into higher revenue streams and greater financial stability.
Established Infrastructure & Resources: Years of success often mean substantial resources at their disposal – robust infrastructure, experienced teams, and extensive networks.
First-Mover Advantage: They were the first to market, setting the standards and often defining the industry's norms.
Economies of Scale: Their size allows them to benefit from economies of scale, producing goods and services at lower costs per unit.
However, being a topdog is not without its challenges:
Target for Disruption: Their success makes them a prime target for innovative upstarts looking to challenge their dominance.
Bureaucracy & Inefficiency: Large organizations can suffer from internal bureaucracy and inefficiencies that stifle innovation and adaptability.
Complacency & Risk Aversion: Success can breed complacency, leading to a reluctance to embrace change and adapt to evolving market conditions.
High Maintenance Costs: Maintaining their position requires continuous investment and effort to fend off competition.
Decoding the Underdog Strategy
The "underdog," in contrast, represents the challenger, the disruptive force. While lacking the resources of the topdog, they possess several crucial strengths:
Agility & Adaptability: Underdogs are often smaller, more nimble, and able to adapt quickly to market changes.
Innovation & Differentiation: They often thrive by offering innovative products or services that differentiate them from the established players.
Hunger & Drive: The desire to succeed is often more intense in underdogs, fueling their determination and persistence.
Guerrilla Marketing Tactics: With limited resources, underdogs must be creative and strategic in their marketing efforts.
The pitfalls of being an underdog are equally significant:
Limited Resources: Funding, manpower, and established infrastructure are often scarce.
Lack of Brand Awareness: Building brand recognition and establishing market trust requires significant effort.
Higher Risk Tolerance: The need for rapid growth often requires taking greater risks.
Susceptibility to Mistakes: A single misstep can be more devastating for an underdog than for an established player.
Leveraging the Topdog-Underdog Dynamic for Success
Regardless of your current position, understanding the topdog-underdog dynamic is crucial for strategic success.
For Topdogs: Continuous innovation, adaptation to market trends, and a focus on customer experience are essential to maintain dominance. Proactive identification and neutralization of emerging threats is crucial.
For Underdogs: Focus on a niche market, differentiate your offering with unique value, build strong relationships with early adopters, and leverage digital marketing to reach a wider audience efficiently.
Case Studies: Real-World Examples
Numerous examples illustrate the topdog-underdog dynamic. Consider the rise of Netflix challenging traditional cable television providers or the disruptive impact of smaller, agile tech companies challenging established giants. Analyzing these case studies can provide valuable insights into the strategies and tactics employed by both topdogs and underdogs.
Conclusion
The topdog-underdog dynamic is an inherent part of competition. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of each position and employing the appropriate strategies, both topdogs and underdogs can achieve success. It's not simply about size or resources, but about adapting to the ever-changing landscape and embracing the opportunities presented by this compelling narrative.
FAQs
1. Can a topdog ever become an underdog? Yes, complacency and failure to adapt can transform a topdog into a vulnerable entity, opening the door for new challengers.
2. Is it always better to be an underdog? Not necessarily. While underdogs enjoy certain advantages, the limitations in resources can hinder growth and long-term sustainability.
3. How can a topdog effectively combat an emerging underdog threat? Proactive monitoring of the competitive landscape, innovation to stay ahead of the curve, and strategic acquisitions can all be effective strategies.
4. What are some key marketing strategies for underdogs? Leveraging social media, influencer marketing, and content marketing to build brand awareness and reach potential customers on a limited budget are vital.
5. Can the topdog-underdog dynamic be applied outside of business? Absolutely. This dynamic plays out in various aspects of life, from personal relationships to political campaigns, highlighting the enduring power of this competitive framework.
| topdog underdog: Topdog/underdog Suzan-Lori Parks, 2002 THE STORY: A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks' latest riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foret |
| topdog underdog: Topdog/Underdog (TCG Edition) Suzan-Lori Parks, 2001-06-01 Winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for Drama A darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity is Suzan-Lori Parks latest riff on the way we are defined by history. The play tells the story of Lincoln and Booth, two brothers whose names were given to them as a joke, foretelling a lifetime of sibling rivalry and resentment. Haunted by the past, the brothers are forced to confront the shattering reality of their future. Suzan-Lori Parks is the author of numerous plays, including In the Blood and Venus. She is currently head of the A.S.K. Theater Projects Writing for Performance Program at the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia. |
| topdog underdog: Top Dog/underdog Suzan-Lori Parks, 2001 |
| topdog underdog: DVD Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice John Sommers-Flanagan, Rita Sommers-Flanagan, 2004-04-26 Learn the various counseling theories through authentic examples led by actual practitioners working with real clients This comprehensive two-DVD set promotes student learning by illustrating each of the counseling theories covered in the textbook Counseling and Psychotherapy Theories in Context and Practice, Second Edition by John and Rita Sommers-Flanagan. However, the DVDs can be used in conjunction with this text or as a stand-alone teaching tool in any course covering psychotherapy theories and techniques. Unique in its presentation of real clinicians from a variety of work settings—including school and college counselors—working with actual clients, the DVDs: Feature practitioners and clients who represent ethnic, gender, age, and religious diversity Model how to develop a positive therapeutic relationship from any theoretical perspective Help students not only understand the differences between theories, but also the difference between theory and technique Offer commentary by the authors on how the counselor in the session made decisions from a theoretical perspective as well as why a particular counseling theory was appropriate for the client’s situation Exploring Psychoanalytic, Adlerian, Existential, Person-Centered, Gestalt, Behavioral, Cognitive-Behavioral, Reality, Feminist, Solution-Focused, and Family Systems theories, these two DVDs shed light on these theories in real practice with clients. |
| topdog underdog: The Book of Grace Suzan-Lori Parks, 2016-03-01 [Suzan-Lori Parks'] dislocating stage devices, stark but poetic language and fiercely idiosyncratic images transform her work into something haunting and marvelous.—Time An original whose fierce intelligence and fearless approach to craft subvert theatrical convention and produce a mature and inimitable art that is as exciting as it is fresh.—August Wilson Named one of the 100 Innovators for the Next New Wave by Time magazine, Suzan-Lori Parks is a truly original voice of the American theater. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and a MacArthur Genius Award, Parks is renowned for her groundbreaking language, theatricality, and an aesthetic that continues to evolve in unexpected ways. Her first full-length play since her award-winning Topdog/Underdog, The Book of Grace is a scorching three-person drama in which a young man returns home to south Texas to confront his father, unearthing deep-seated passions and ambition. The play premiered in spring 2010 at the Public Theater, where Parks is in the midst of a three-year residency as the first recipient of the theater's master writer chair. Suzan-Lori Parks is a playwright, screenwriter, songwriter, and novelist. Her plays include Topdog/Underdog (winner of the 2002 Pulitzer Prize), In the Blood (a 2000 Pulitzer Prize finalist), Venus (OBIE Award winner) and Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom (OBIE Award, Best New American Play). |
| topdog underdog: The America Play and Other Works Suzan-Lori Parks, 2013-10-15 Parks has burst through every known convention to invent a new theatrical language, like a jive Samuel Beckett, while exploding American cultural myths and stereotypes along the way.... She's passionate and jokey and some kind of genius.--Vogue A collection of plays and essays by one of America's premier playwrights. Includes the essays Possession, from Elements of Style, and An Equation for Black People Onstage, and the plays Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom, Betting on Dust Commander, Pickling, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Devotees in the Garden of Love, and The America Play. |
| topdog underdog: The America Play Suzan-Lori Parks, 1995 THE STORY: Once upon a time there was a theme park called the Great Hole of History. It was a popular spot for honeymooners who, in search of post-nuptial excitement, would visit this hole and watch the daily historical parades. One of these visi |
| topdog underdog: Father Comes Home From the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3) Suzan-Lori Parks, 2015-06-01 By turns philosophical and playful, lyrical and earthy, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2 & 3), swoops, leaps, dives and soars, reimagining a turbulent point in American history through a cockeyed contemporary lens . . . The finest work yet from this gifted writer.—The New York Times Thrilling. . . . A masterpiece . . . A story that engages the deepest possible issues in the most gripping possible ways.—New York Offered his freedom if he joins his master in the ranks of the Confederacy, Hero, a slave, must choose whether to leave the woman and people he loves for what may be another empty promise. As his decision brings him face to face with a nation at war with itself, the ones Hero left behind debate whether to escape or wait for his return, only to discover that for Hero, freedom may have come at a great spiritual cost. A devastatingly beautiful dramatic work, Father Comes Home from the Wars (Parts 1, 2, & 3) is the opening trilogy of a projected nine-play cycle that will ultimately take us into the present. Suzan-Lori Parks became the first African American woman to receive the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play Topdog/Underdog in 2002. Her other plays include The Book of Grace, In the Blood, Venus, The Death of the Last Black Man in the Whole Entire World, Fucking A, Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom and The America Play. In 2007 her 365 Days/365 Plays was produced at more than seven hundred theaters worldwide. Parks is a MacArthur Fellow and the Master Writer Chair at the Public Theater. |
| topdog underdog: Underdog to Top Dog Shelvy Haywood Keglar, 2017-04 |
| topdog underdog: Top Dog Andy Bounds, Richard Ruttle, 2015-03-30 Get the results you want and come out as the Top Dog in every conversation Fancy being the ‘Top Dog’ in all your dealings? Fed up of feeling like the underdog? So many of us regularly ‘lose’ in conversations before we’ve even opened our mouths. Often without realising it, we don’t see ourselves as a peer of the other person. And we transmit this in what we do and say (“I’ll fit round you. I know you’re really busy.”) The other person picks up on this. And, without doing a thing, they’re suddenly in charge! Top Dog will teach you how to lead in all your interactions, so you can get more of what you want, more often. Together, Andy Bounds and Richard Ruttle are experts at helping people achieve more from their conversations with others. Their techniques work in every type of interaction—conversations, socialising, dating, interviews, sales, marketing, and networking. Basically, anytime you want to impress and persuade others. Top Dog: • Details the skill set needed to gain competitive advantage from the outset • Provides instructive and thought-provoking content, relevant to both beginners, and seasoned professionals • Contains insights from working with some of the world’s largest companies • Addresses how to achieve more from interactions in business and social arenas |
| topdog underdog: Labyrinth of Hybridities Marc Maufort, 2010 Taking its cue from Eugene O'Neill's questioning of «faithful realism», voiced by Edmund Tyrone in Long Day's Journey into Night, this book examines the distant legacy of the Irish American playwright in contemporary multiethnic drama in the U.S. It explores the labyrinth of formal devices through which African American, Latina/o, First Nations, and Asian American dramatists have unconsciously reinterpreted O'Neill's questioning of mimesis. In their works, hybridizations of stage realism function as aesthetic celebrations of the spiritual potentialities of cultural in-betweenness. This volume provides detailed analyses of over forty plays authored by such key artists as August Wilson, Suzan-Lori Parks, José Rivera, Cherríe Moraga, Hanay Geiogamah, Diane Glancy, David Henry Hwang, and Chay Yew, to give only a few prominent examples. All in all, Labyrinth of Hybridities invites its readers to reassess the cross-cultural patterns characterizing the history of twentieth century American drama. |
| topdog underdog: Suzan-Lori Parks Deborah R. Geis, 2008 The latest addition to the Michigan Modern Dramatists series offers an indispensable guide to Parks's dramatic works, taking a close look at her major plays and placing them in context. Deborah R. Geis traces the evolution of Parks's art from her earliest experimental pieces to the hugely popular Topdog/Underdog to her wide-ranging forays into fiction, music, and film.--pub. desc. |
| topdog underdog: The Underdog Edge Amy Showalter, 2011-08-01 A prominent consultant reveals secrets to help you influence and persuade others—even when you aren’t in a position of power. We all have occasions in which we want or need to persuade someone of greater clout, prestige, or authority to see things our way. There are books that show how to effect change from a leadership position or how to work with peers within your own organization—but what can you do when you need to exert “upward influence” with decision makers who can help you achieve your goals? In this book, a popular speaker and successful consultant with expertise in grassroots efforts shows which tactics are most successful when you’re the underdog. She also shares real-world stories of everyday people who have achieved persuasion success in politics and business with someone up the food chain, the peer-reviewed science behind their success—as well as insights from those whose minds they changed. |
| topdog underdog: 365 Days/365 Plays Suzan-Lori Parks, 2006 On November 13, 2002, the author decided to write a play every day for a year. She began that same day. The result, completed exactly one year later, is this collection of 365 plays. |
| topdog underdog: The Crisis , 2002-03 The Crisis, founded by W.E.B. Du Bois as the official publication of the NAACP, is a journal of civil rights, history, politics, and culture and seeks to educate and challenge its readers about issues that continue to plague African Americans and other communities of color. For nearly 100 years, The Crisis has been the magazine of opinion and thought leaders, decision makers, peacemakers and justice seekers. It has chronicled, informed, educated, entertained and, in many instances, set the economic, political and social agenda for our nation and its multi-ethnic citizens. |
| topdog underdog: The Sublime Object of Ideology Slavoj Žižek, 1989 In this provocative and original work, Slavoj _i_ek takes a look at the question of human agency in a postmodern world. From the sinking of the Titanic to Hitchcock’s Rear Window, from the operas of Wagner to science fiction, from Alien to the Jewish Joke, the author’s acute analyses explore the ideological fantasies of wholeness and exclusion which make up human society. _i_ek takes issue with analysts of the postmodern condition from Habermas to Sloterdijk, showing that the idea of a ‘post-ideological’ world ignores the fact that ‘even if we do not take things seriously, we are still doing them’. Rejecting postmodernism’s unified world of surfaces, he traces a line of thought from Hegel to Althusser and Lacan, in which the human subject is split, divided by a deep antagonism which determines social reality and through which ideology operates. Linking key psychoanalytical and philosophical concepts to social phenomena such as totalitarianism and racism, the book explores the political significance of these fantasies of control. In so doing, The Sublime Object of Ideology represents a powerful contribution to a psychoanalytical theory of ideology, as well as offering persuasive interpretations of a number of contemporary cultural formations. |
| topdog underdog: Marketing Transformation: Marketing Practice in an Ever Changing World Patricia Rossi, Nina Krey, 2017-11-16 This proceedings volume examines transformation in marketing to better understand current and future standing of the marketing field. From whether there is a need for transformation in our field; what methodological transformations are necessary; historical looks at how the field has transformed and continues to transform; how learning institutes are transforming and how marketing theory, practice, consumption practices and people are transforming as the world continues to change. It is by understanding these changes and transformations that marketers have a better knowledge of the discipline. Featuring the full proceedings from the 2017 Academy of Marketing Science (AMS) World Marketing Congress (WMC) held in Christchurch, New Zealand, this book contains research from scholars and practitioners from around the globe analyzing the need and drivers of transformation in marketing. Founded in 1971, the Academy of Marketing Science is an international organization dedicated to promoting timely explorations of phenomena related to the science of marketing in theory, research, and practice. Among its services to members and the community at large, the Academy offers conferences, congresses, and symposia that attract delegates from around the world. Presentations from these events are published in this Proceedings series, which offers a comprehensive archive of volumes reflecting the evolution of the field. Volumes deliver cutting-edge research and insights, complementing the Academy’s flagship journals, the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science (JAMS) and AMS Review. Volumes are edited by leading scholars and practitioners across a wide range of subject areas in marketing science. |
| topdog underdog: The Dramatic Writer's Companion Will Dunne, 2009-08-01 Moss Hart once said that you never really learn how to write a play; you only learn how to write this play. Crafted with that adage in mind, The Dramatic Writer’s Companion is designed to help writers explore their own ideas in order to develop the script in front of them. No ordinary guide to plotting, this handbook starts with the principle that character is key. “The character is not something added to the scene or to the story,” writes author Will Dunne. “Rather, the character is the scene. The character is the story.” Having spent decades working with dramatists to refine and expand their existing plays and screenplays, Dunne effortlessly blends condensed dramatic theory with specific action steps—over sixty workshop-tested exercises that can be adapted to virtually any individual writing process and dramatic script. Dunne’s in-depth method is both instinctual and intellectual, allowing writers to discover new actions for their characters and new directions for their stories. Dunne’s own experience is a crucial element of this guide. His plays have been selected by the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center for three U.S. National Playwrights Conferences and have earned numerous honors, including a Charles MacArthur Fellowship, four Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Awards, and two Drama-Logue Playwriting Awards. Thousands of individuals have already benefited from his workshops, and The Dramatic Writer’s Companion promises to bring his remarkable creative method to an even wider audience. |
| topdog underdog: In the Blood Suzan-Lori Parks, 2000 THE STORY: In this modern day riff on The Scarlet Letter , Hester La Negrita, a homeless mother of five, lives with her kids on the tough streets of the inner city. Her eldest child is teaching her how to read and write, but the letter A is |
| topdog underdog: Suzan-Lori Parks Kevin J. Wetmore Jr, Alycia Smith-Howard, 2007-11-15 The first major study of this unique voice in contemporary drama. Suzan-Lori Parks confirmed herself as one of the most exciting and successful playwrights of her generation when winning the 2002 Pulitzer Prize, making her the only African American woman to win the award. |
| topdog underdog: Gestalt Therapy Practice Gro Skottun, Åshild Krüger, 2021-09-06 This essential new book gives the reader an introduction to the fundamental concepts of gestalt therapy in a stimulating and accessible style. It supports the study and practice of gestalt therapy for clinicians of all backgrounds, reflecting a practice-based pedagogy that emphasises experiential learning. The content in this book builds on the curriculum taught at the Norwegian Gestalt Institute University College (NGI). The material is divided into four main sections. In the first section, the theoretical basis for gestalt therapy is presented with references to gestalt psychology, field theory, phenomenology, and existential philosophy. In the later parts, central theoretical terms and practical models are discussed, such as the paradoxical theory of change, creative adjustment, self, contact, contact forms, awareness, polarities, and process models. Clinical examples illustrate the therapy form’s emphasis on the relational meeting between therapist and client. Detailed description of gestalt therapy theory from the time of the gestalt psychologists to today, with abundant examples from clinical practice, distinguishes this book from other texts. It will be of great value to therapists, coaches, and students of gestalt therapy. |
| topdog underdog: Venus Suzan-Lori Parks, 2012-12-15 Suzan-Lori Parks continues her examination of black people in history and stage through the life of the so-called Hottentot Venus, an African woman displayed semi-nude throughout Europe due to her extraordinary physiognomy; in particular, her enormous buttocks. She was befriended, bought and bedded by a doctor who advanced his scientific career through his anatomical measurements of her after her premature death. |
| topdog underdog: Skills in Gestalt Counselling & Psychotherapy Phil Joyce, Charlotte Sills, 2009-11-18 Skills in Gestalt Counselling & Psychotherapy, Second Edition is a practical introduction to the application of the Gestalt approach at each stage of the therapeutic process. Taking the reader through these stages, the book focuses on skills which arise out of Gestalt theory as well as those invoked by the therapeutic relationship. As well as offering guidance on practice issues affecting counsellors such as assessment and treatment considerations, using a variety of Gestalt techniques, and developing client awareness, this fully updated edition has been expanded to represent new developments in the psychotherapy field. New material includes: - the implications of neuroscience and psychotherapy outcome research for the therapeutic relationship - new chapters exploring action research, disturbed and disturbing clients, and Gestalt supervision and coaching - short-term work in primary care and the NHS. This is an ideal text for use on counselling and counselling skills courses, especially those training in Gestalt, and recommended reading for anyone who uses Gestalt skills in their work. |
| topdog underdog: Suzan-Lori Parks Philip C. Kolin, 2014-01-10 The first African American woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for drama, Suzan-Lori Parks has received international recognition for her provocative and influential works. Her plays capture the nightmares of African Americans endangered by a white establishment determined to erase their history and eradicate their dreams. A dozen essays address Parks's plays, screenplays and novel. Additionally, this book includes two original interviews (one with Parks and another with her long-time director Liz Diamond) and a production chronology of her plays. |
| topdog underdog: Fairview Jackie Sibblies Drury, 2019-07-23 Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama “Dazzling and ruthless…One of the most exquisitely and systematically arranged ambushes of an unsuspecting audience in years…A glorious, scary reminder of the unmatched power of live theater to rattle, roil and shake us wide awake.” —Ben Brantley, New York Times Grandma’s birthday approaches. Beverly is organizing the perfect dinner, but everything seems doomed from the start: the silverware is all wrong, the carrots need chopping and the radio is on the fritz. What at first appears to be a family comedy takes a sharp, sly turn into a startling examination of deep-seated paradigms about race in America. |
| topdog underdog: Imperceptible Mutabilities in the Third Kingdom Suzan-Lori Parks, 1995 Length: 4 parts. |
| topdog underdog: Getting Mother's Body Suzan-Lori Parks, 2004-04-13 Pulitzer Prize winner Suzan-Lori Parks’s wildly original debut novel, Getting Mother’s Body, follows pregnant, unmarried Billy Beede and her down-and-out family in 1960s Texas as they search for the storied jewels buried—or were they?—with Billy’s fast-running, six-years-dead mother, Willa Mae. Getting Mother’s Body is a true spiritual successor to the work of writers such as Zora Neale Hurston and Alice Walker—but when it comes to bringing hard-luck characters to ingenious, uproarious life, Suzan-Lori Parks shares the stage with no one. |
| topdog underdog: Flyboy 2 Greg Tate, 2016-08-04 Since launching his career at the Village Voice in the early 1980s Greg Tate has been one of the premiere critical voices on contemporary Black music, art, literature, film, and politics. Flyboy 2 provides a panoramic view of the past thirty years of Tate's influential work. Whether interviewing Miles Davis or Ice Cube, reviewing an Azealia Banks mixtape or Suzan-Lori Parks's Topdog/Underdog, discussing visual artist Kara Walker or writer Clarence Major, or analyzing the ties between Afro-futurism, Black feminism, and social movements, Tate's resounding critical insights illustrate how race, gender, and class become manifest in American popular culture. Above all, Tate demonstrates through his signature mix of vernacular poetics and cultural theory and criticism why visionary Black artists, intellectuals, aesthetics, philosophies, and politics matter to twenty-first-century America. |
| topdog underdog: Therapy with Dreams and Nightmares Delia Cushway, Robyn Sewell, 2012-12-10 ′Delia Cushway′s wealth of experience makes this new edition an essential read for all aspiring counsellors, psychologists and psychotherapists as well as for more experienced practitioners seeking to enhance their practice′ - Prof Sue Wheeler, Director of Doctoral Programme, Institute of Lifelong Learning ′I found the book fascinating, illuminating not only my client′s material but also my own night-life. The book′s strength lies in integrating perspectives from many different psychotherapeutic disciplines, from psychoanalytic to cognitive′ - Diana Sanders, Counselling Psychologist and Cognitive Psychotherapist This practical book shows how dreamwork can be a fruitful therapeutic tool for all therapists and practitioners in the helping professions. Emphasising that dreams are a powerful means of accessing an individual′s emotions, creativity and wisdom, Delia Cushway has updated the first edition to include: - Skills for working with trauma and survivors of sexual abuse - Cross-cultural, spiritual and religious approaches to dreamwork - Up-to-date research and theory on using Cognitive, Objectivist and Constructivist models and methods - The importance of reflective practice - Scientific functions and meanings of dreams and their role in information processing and memory consolidation. Steeped in practical hints and tips, vivid case examples and methods of interpreting dream language, this highly accessible guide is an invaluable resource for therapists. Delia Cushway is Emeritus Professor of Clinical Psychology at Coventry University and a practising Registered Clinical Psychologist. Robyn Sewell is a Chartered Psychologist and Group Psychotherapist, now fully retired. |
| topdog underdog: 100 Plays for the First Hundred Days Suzan-Lori Parks, 2018-06-26 In reaction to the extraordinary events of the first hundred days of the presidency of Donald J. Trump, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Suzan-Lori Parks has created a unique and personal response to one of the most tumultuous times in our recent history—a play diary for each day of the presidency, to capture and explore the events as they unfolded. Known for her distinctive lyrical dialogue and powerful sociopolitical themes, Parks’s 100 Plays for the First Hundred Days is the powerful and provocative everyman’s guide to the Trumpian universe of uncertainty, confusion, and chaos. |
| topdog underdog: Playwrights in Rehearsal Susan Letzler Cole, 2013-10-23 Playwrights in Rehearsal is an inside look at the writer's role in the creative process of bringing his or her words to life on stage. Susan Letzler Cole, granted rare access to some of the major playwrights of our time, recounts her participation in rehearsal with Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Tony Kushner and Suzan-Lori Parks, and others. |
| topdog underdog: Doing Honest Work in College Charles Lipson, 2013-04-01 Since its publication in 2004, Doing Honest Work in College has become an integral part of academic integrity and first-year experience programs across the country. This helpful guide explains the principles of academic integrity in a clear, straightforward way and shows students how to apply them in all academic situations—from paper writing and independent research to study groups and lab work. Teachers can use this book to open a discussion with their students about these difficult issues. Students will find a trusted resource for citation help whether they are studying comparative literature or computer science. Every major reference style is represented. Most important of all, many universities that adopt this book report a reduction in cheating and plagiarism on campus. For this second edition, Charles Lipson has updated hundreds of examples and included many new media sources. There is now a full chapter on how to take good notes and use them properly in papers and assignments. The extensive list of citation styles incorporates guidelines from the American Anthropological Association. The result is the definitive resource on academic integrity that students can use every day. “Georgetown’s entering class will discover that we actually have given them what we expect will be a very useful book, Doing Honest Work in College. It will be one of the first things students see on their residence hall desks when they move in, and we hope they will realize how important the topic is.”—James J. O’Donnell, Provost, Georgetown University “A useful book to keep on your reference shelf.”—Bonita L. Wilcox, English Leadership Quarterly |
| topdog underdog: Integration and Growth Prof. Dr. Ceylan Das, 2014-12-19 The Gestalt approach is both a life philosophy and a therapy school. The Gestalt approach, with its humanistic point of view, gives the opportunity to the person to be aware of himself or herself and those around him or her to integrate both within himself or herself and with the world without judging or accusing, without feeling ashamed, scared, or worried, and to exist as fully grown in the way he or she really is. This book is written with two important goals in mind. One of the aims of the book is to introduce the Gestalt therapy approach and, while introducing it, to help the readers to be aware of their needs, wishes, the styles of contact they use in their relations, their unfinished businesses, their impasses, and their resistance to change. The second purpose of the book is to help those therapists in therapy training by presenting the theory and methods of the Gestalt approach with examples, and thus contribute to the raising of their therapeutic knowledge and skill levels. |
| topdog underdog: Gestalt Therapy Dave Mann, 2024-06-03 Gestalt Therapy: The Basics provides an accessible and concise overview of the approach and its substantial theory. Experiential exercises, clinical vignettes and examples from everyday practice are included to enrich understanding of gestalt’s theory and its clinical application. This book explores: the history of gestalt therapy, gestalt maps, philosophical beliefs, creative experimentation and ethical considerations. Useful chapter summaries are featured throughout to aid comprehension. This book is essential reading for gestalt trainees, as well as counsellors and psychotherapists wanting to learn more about the gestalt approach. |
| topdog underdog: Gestalt Counselling in Action Petruska Clarkson, 2004-09-18 Gestalt Counseling in Action is a bestselling text which has sold over 30,000 copies. Now in it's Third Edition, the book continues to be a popular text for training in counselling and psychotherapy and with practitioners who are new to the gestalt approach. Fully revised and updated, Gestalt Counselling in Action, Third Edition includes a new chapter which explores recent developments in the field and looks to the future for the gestalt approach. |
| topdog underdog: Fritz Martin Shepard, 2014-06-10 Fritz Perls described himself as a “mediocre psychoanalyst” who became “the possible creator of a ‘new’ method of treatment”—Gestalt Therapy. His wife described him as half prophet, half bum. Dave Rybeck, reviewing FRITZ in Psychology Today, said that “Martin Shepard has done an excellent job of getting into, on top of, and under the Fritz Perls mystique. He spent two years learning all he could about Perls’s life and has produced a masterful yet loving portrait that goes far beyond biography. FRITZ offers a Fritz Perls to whom few, if any, were privy. This holistic view of Fritz, his early falterings, his neurotic rootlessness, his prima donna pettiness, his chronic self-doubts and, above all, his driving destiny to become a great master in the world of psychotherapy, reveals a human, lovable person. It leaves me feeling glad that Fritz did his thing. And that Martin Shepard did his, too.” |
| topdog underdog: Work: The Labors of Language, Culture, and History in North America J. Jesse Ramírez, Sixta Quassdorf, 2021-11-08 Like all fundamental categories, work becomes ever more complex as we examine it more closely. The terms work, labor, job, employment, occupation, profession, vocation, task, toil, effort, pursuit, and calling form a dense web of overlapping and contrasting meanings. Moreover, the analysis of work must contend with how histories of class struggle, gendered and sexual divisions of labor, racial hierarchies, and citizenship regimes have determined who counts as a worker and qualifies for the rights, protections, and social respect thereof. And yet waged work is only the tip of an enormous iceberg that feminist theorists call socially reproductive labor—the gendered, mostly unpaid, and hidden work of caring for, feeding, nursing, and teaching the next generation of workers. This collection of essays explores the richness of work as a linguistic, cultural, and historical concept and the conjunctures that are changing work and its worlds. |
| topdog underdog: Broadway Yearbook 2001-2002 Steven Suskin, 2003-05-29 Called the theater equivalent of longtime New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael by Matinee Magazine, critic and producer Steven Suskin chronicles the 2001-2002 theater season in his latest installment in the Broadway Yearbook series. Commenting with wit and erudition on each show that opened on Broadway between May 2001 and May 2002, Suskin's vivid descriptions recall Tony winners like Thoroughly Modern Millie and Urinetown and commercial smashes like Mamma Mia! and The Graduate. A great read for theater buffs, the book is also a valuable sourcebook for critics, Broadway historians, and theater professionals, providing an array of statistics on every Broadway production of the season, as well as noteworthy off-Broadway performances. The intelligent and witty Broadway Yearbook, 2001-2002 will engage theater lovers, performers, and critics alike. |
| topdog underdog: Home on the Stage Nicholas Grene, 2014-10-02 As a serious drama set in an ordinary middle-class home, Ibsen's A Doll's House established a new politics of the interior that was to have a lasting impact upon twentieth-century drama. In this innovative study, Nicholas Grene traces the changing forms of the home on the stage through nine of the greatest of modern plays and playwrights. From Chekhov's The Cherry Orchard through to Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire, domestic spaces and personal crises have been employed to express wider social conditions and themes of class, gender and family. In the later twentieth century and beyond, the most radically experimental dramatists created their own challenging theatrical interiors, including Beckett in Endgame, Pinter in The Homecoming and Parks in Topdog/Underdog. Grene analyses the full significance of these versions of domestic spaces to offer fresh insights into the portrayal of the naturalistic environment in modern drama. |
| topdog underdog: As You Like it William Shakespeare, 1810 |
selection from Topdog/Underdog - Deep Center
selection from Topdog/Underdog By Suzan Lori-Parks In this scene, Booth and Lincoln are two unfortunately named brothers, living together in a run-down modern-day apartment. This …
Gestalt therapy - Counselling Connection
Topdog – Underdog A commonly utilised Gestalt technique is that of the topdog-underdog dialogue. This technique is used when the therapist notices two opposing opinions/attitudes …
Visible and Invisible Spaces in Topdog/ Underdog - SJOHSS
Visible and Invisible Spaces in Topdog/ Underdog Xinxin Tie* School of Foreign Languages and Cultures, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210000, China Abstract Topdog/Underdog, …
WordPress.com
Created Date: 1/24/2013 10:33:05 PM
Topdog/Underdog By Suzan-Lori Parks Stage Directions: (Rest)
Selections from Topdog/Underdog By Suzan-Lori Parks Booth You play Honest Abe. You aint going back but you going all the way back. Back to way back then when folks was slaves and …
Between the Imaginary and the Real: Exploring Duality in …
Topdog/Underdog is used as a strategic discursive device. Almost everything is divided into two or double coded. The underlying binary of the “real or true self” and its social “referent” or …
BOOTH - Shea's Performing Arts Center
Topdog/Underdog is a dark comedy revolving around two African-American brothers: Lincoln and Booth. Their father chose their names as a twisted joke shortly before deserting them. The …
The Pursuit of Happiness: The State of the American Dream …
In Suzan-Lori Parks’s The America Play, the black father who resembles Abraham Lincoln. abandons his family so that he can fulfill his dream of success by moving out west. In …
Play, Player, and Played in Suzan-Lori Parks's - JSTOR
Topdog/Underdog The main thing you got to remember is that everything in the world is a husde. So long, Red. —The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965) None of Suzan-Lori Parks's plays is …
Cookie and Grace in Suzan-Lori Parks‟ Topdog/Underdog: A …
2. Suzan Lori-Parks’ Topdog/ Underdog: A Critical Introduction The Pulitzer Prize winning play Topdog/Underdog is centered around two African American brothers Lincoln and Booth who …
Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks - Concordia University
Topdog/Underdog by Suzan-Lori Parks BOOTH: Oh, come on, man, we could make money you and me. Throwing down the cards. 3-Card and Link: look out! We could clean up you and me. …
Racial Identity Transformed: Suzan-Lori Parks’s …
Topdog/Underdog (2002) and Asian American David Henry Hwang’s Yellow Face (2007). Before having a closer look at the works, however, I . 265 will highlight certain socio-economic causes …
TOPDOG/UNDERDOG - Round House Theatre
Topdog/Underdog (written by Suzan-Lori Parks) is . now extended and must close on June 30. Boldly staged with a blend of "humor and tragedy" (DC Theater Arts), this award-winning hit …
Making up (for) the Great Man: Impersonation and …
Topdog/Underdog is Parks’s second stab at inscribing the Lincoln figure into a play. In her first attempt, The America Play (1994), the Lincoln doppelgänger is known as the Founding Father …
Trayvon Martin, Topdog/ Underdog , and the Tragedy Trap
Trayvon Martin, Topdog/ Underdog , and the Tragedy Trap. opdog/ Underdog, and the Tragedy TrapPatricia Stuelke*At the 2016 Grammy Awards, to the bluesy whine of the sax-ophone, …
Topdog Underdog: Understanding the Dynamics of …
Topdog Underdog Topdog Underdog: Understanding the Dynamics of Competition and How to Leverage Them The classic narrative of the "topdog underdog" resonates deeply within us. It's …
The America Play and Topdog/ Underdog - JSTOR
In Topdog/ Underdog, on the other hand, the characters ultimately internalize the roles they play, ensuring that performance remains a means of evading rather than confronting a haunted …
Review - JSTOR
Don Cheadle (Booth) and Jeffrey Wright (Lincoln) in a scene from Suzan-Lori Parks's Topdog/Underdog. Directed by George C. Wolfe at the Public Theater, New York City. Photo: …
Microsoft Word - Topdog-Underdog - Squarespace
Booth: Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you. Fuck you!! Lincoln: Whatever, man. Damn this know is tough. I’m a cut it. I’m not laughing at you bro, I’m just laughing.
Suzan Lori Parks's Topdog /Underdog
Apr 4, 2021 · Topdog/ Underdog is Parks's greatest success as yet. In 2002, Parks received the Pulitzer Prize for drama for Topdog/ Underdog, making her the first African American woman …
Topdog/Underdog - Wikipedia
Topdog/Underdog is a play by American playwright Suzan-Lori Parks which premiered in 2001 off-Broadway in New York City. The next year it opened on Broadway, at the Ambassador …
Topdog|Underdog - Now On Broadway
Suzan-Lori Parks’ TOPDOG/UNDERDOG, a darkly comic fable of brotherly love and family identity, tells the story of two brothers, Lincoln (Hawkins) and Booth (Abdul-Mateen II), names …
Topdog/Underdog Study Guide | Literature Guide - LitCharts
The best study guide to Topdog/Underdog on the planet, from the creators of SparkNotes. Get the summaries, analysis, and quotes you need.
Review: In ‘Topdog/Underdog,’ Staying Alive Is the Ultimate ...
Oct 20, 2022 · Topdog/Underdog. NYT Critic’s Pick. Among the most thrilling and jarring gambits in modern theater, up there with the nattering woman half-buried in sand at the top of Beckett’s …
Topdog/Underdog - Round House Theatre
Jun 30, 2024 · Directed by Jamil Jude. May 29 – June 30, 2024. 2002 Pulitzer Prize Winner. 2023 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. 2002 Outer Critics Circle Award Winner. Abandoned by …
Tickets - Topdog|Underdog
Book Now. Now On Broadway. Click a performance on the calendar or visit Telecharge.com. The first-ever Broadway revival of Suzan-Lori Parks’ Pulitzer Prize-winning drama …
Everything you need to know about 'Topdog/Underdog' on ...
Nov 1, 2022 · Now, the play is back for its 20th anniversary, with performances running through January 15 2023 at the Golden Theatre. Topdog/Underdog stars Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and …
