Chagrin Valley Little Theatre

A Life in the Theatre by David Mamet

Performance Dates & Tickets

About the Play

A life in the theater need not be an analogue to 'life.' It is life.

Directed by Don Bernardo

Starring: Brian Diehl and John Bruce, with Amy Pelleg

The playwright of "Glengarry Glen Ross", “Speed the Plow” and “American Buffalo” gives us a funny yet poignant comedy about the relationship between two actors: Robert, an older stage veteran in the declining years of his career, and John, a young, promising actor. The pair experience theatre life – onstage and off – while each learning something about “real life.”

In scenes both hilarious and touching, Robert tries to teach John what he thinks John needs to know to make his way as a professional actor. But along the way, we come to understand that Robert also needs to learn – to accept his advancing age and declining abilities with grace, and ultimately “pass the torch” to the younger generations of actors who will follow.

David Mamet has been called “the Andy Warhol of theatre,” and is frequently compared to Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett, Ernest Hemmingway and Luigi Pirandello. He is known for writing about the grittier side of life. He says that human beings do not “communicate our wishes to each other, but we communicate to achieve our wishes from each other.” His play “American Buffalo” helped define, if not start, what is now considered “Chicago-style theatre” – a style that has served as the hallmark of many cutting-edge theatre companies.

This backstage view of life in the theatre was made into a film version starring Jack Lemmon and Matthew Broderick. It was first produced in 1977 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, and revived there in 2006. F. Murray Abraham starred in the show off-Broadway in 1992. A Broadway revival starring Patrick Stewart is planned for late 2010.

“If the truth were as practical as Mamet pretends, then acting would be a much easier business than it is…” -David Hare

“David Mamet is a national treasure…to add joy to the shock of recognition, there is Mamet’s humor, which startles us and makes us laugh more often than we expect…” -Mike Nichols