David Mamet's RACE Kicks Off The 2018 2nd Stages Series At Dragon Theatre

Award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and director David Mamet tackles America's most controversial topic in a provocative tale of sex, guilt, and bold accusations. Two lawyers find themselves defending a wealthy white executive charged with raping a black woman. When a female legal assistant gets involved in the case, the opinions that boil beneath explode to the surface. When David Mamet (Pulitzer Prize winning author of Glengarry Glenn Ross), turns the spotlight on what we think but can't say, dangerous truths are revealed, and no punches are pulled.

Race by David Mamet is the first show of Dragon Productions Theatre Company's 2018 2nd Stages series. The 2nd Stages Series is Dragon's mentoring track. Local artists apply with a passion project and a desire to learn how to become a theatrical producer. Once selected, Dragon grants the producer seed money and leverages the Dragon staff to mentor the producer through the entire process of producing a play from the initial vision and budget to striking the set and getting the final laundry receipts booked. Fully half of Dragon's plays are now 2nd Stages productions.

The 2018 season is The Season of Everything. Theatre teaches compassion and empathy and by combining theatre with science we aim to show in 2018 that as humans, we are all connected, that science and art are intertwined, and that our words and actions make ripples both in the present and in the future. This season also marks the final season of founding Artistic Director Meredith Hagedorn and is a nice button to the end of an astonishing career in the theatre on the Peninsula.

Of the play Race, director Kimberly Ridgeway says, "Race is provocative. Race is uncomfortable. Race is prominent. However, this play is more than about race. Each of the individual characters plays a key part in the makeup of society and in the themes throughout this production: sexism, morality, sexual misconduct, classism, prejudices, America's justice system, and... race."

She goes on to say that "as members of society, our backgrounds, beliefs and biases make up our perceptions. Our perceptions are our reality. However, as members of the audience, I hope you enter with an open mind and leave with a broad sense of "I don't know." Continue the dialogue. Talk about sexism; talk about morals; talk about sexual misconduct; talk about classism, talk about prejudice; talk about the injustice system in this country. Keep the dialogue going. This play is more than about race."

When asked why he chose Race as his 2nd Stage project, producer Pat Caulfield says that "my goal is to produce and act in as many David Mamet plays as possible. I had met award-winning actor Dorian Lockett, (who plays the role of Henry Brown), on the set of a TV pilot in 2015. I told myself If I could put together the play Race, I would enlist Dorian's help. As fate would have it, he played the Henry Brown role in 2016 in Santa Rosa. When I asked Dorian to join us for Race at Dragon, he agreed. Through Dorian, I met our multi-talented director Kimberly Ridgeway. Additionally, I want to be involved in plays that invite discussion for the patrons at intermission, and while driving home after a performance. The fact that the last couple of years of racial tensions reminds me of the evening news in the 1960s, Race was the natural choice to pitch for the 2nd Stages Series."

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: David Mamet was born in Chicago in 1947. The son of Jewish immigrants who left Europe and arrived in the south side of Chicago where Mamet was raised with his sister, Lynn. His parent divorced, and Mamet moved with his mother to a suburb of Chicago where he grew up with his mother, stepfather, and sister. HI sister, Lynn, has described their childhood homelife as generally difficult and credits it for fueling some of the rage that Is depicted in a number of his early plays. Mr. Mamet attended Goddard College in Vermont where he received a bachelor's degree in English literature in 1969. He eventually landed a teaching job at Marlboro College in Vermont where he produced his first play, Lakeboat, a story based on his service in the merchant marines. He returned to Chicago in the 1970s and founded the St. Nicholas Theatre Company with William H. Macy. At the St. Nicholas Theatre Company Mamet wrote The Duck Variations, Sexual Perversity in Chicago, and American Buffalo, which was Mamet's debut Broadway play in 1977. American Buffalo won the 1977 New York Drama Critic's Circle prize for Best American Play. This notice won Mamet a teaching position at Yale University. In 1984 he mounted a Broadway version of Glengarry Glen Ross, which starred Joe Mantegna, and the play won Mamet the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Race ran on Broadway in 2009 with James Spader, David Alan Grier, Kerry Washington, and Richard Thomas. Mr. Mamet also has a number of notable film and television credits to his name as he's written and directed the films The Spanish Prisoner, State and Main, Heist, and Redbelt. He wrote the screenplays for The Untouchables, The Postman Always Rings Twice, Ronin, The Verdict (starring Paul Newman and Charlotte Rampling), and Wag the Dog (Starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert DeNiro). The latter two films were nominated for screenplay Oscars.

Featuring the talents of: Pat Caulfield (Jack Lawson), Martin Gagen (Charles Strickland), Hannah Mary Keller (Susan), and Dorian Lockett (Henry Brown)

Designers & Production Team: Kimberly Ridgeway (Director), Karl Haller (Technical Director), Hector Zavala (Scenic Designer), Jon Gourdine (Lighting Designer), Pat Caulfield & Kimberly Ridgeway (Costume Designer), Lana Palmer (Sound Designer), Lance Huntley (Photographer)

WHEN: March 16 - April 8, 2018

Thursdays - Saturdays, 8pm, Sundays, 2pm. Doors open 30 minutes before the show.

Pay what you will preview on Thurs, March 15 at 8p

Opening night performance on Fri., March 16 at 8p

There will be NO post show discussions for Race at the express request of the playwright.

This show is rated R for adult themes and adult language. The run time is approximately an hour and 40 minutes with one 15-minute intermission.

WHERE: The Dragon Theatre in downtown Redwood City?

2120 Broadway Street at the intersection of Broadway and Theatre Way

HOW MUCH: $35 for general admission seats; $27 for student/senior tickets.

$15 rush tickets on Thursdays and Fridays starting 2nd week. Limited availability and cash only at the door.

Pay what you will preview on Thursday, March 15th - no reservation necessary, just walk up and pay cash at the door. Doors open at 7:30p; show starts at 8p.

$175 for the VIP box (seats 4 people and includes champagne and chocolates.)

CONTACTING THE BOX OFFICE: Leave a voicemail at 650-493-2006 x 2 and your call will be returned within 2 business days. If you'd rather email, contact Nancy at tickets@dragonproductions.net. The Dragon Box Office is not staffed 7 days a week so there might be a delay in response. Buying tickets online at http://www.dragonproductions.net is the very best way to reserve a ticket in advance, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

TIX & MORE INFO: http://dragonproductions.net/

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