Mamet's NOVEMBER Comes To The A.C.T. Stage 10/23-11/15

American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) continues its ongoing relationship with Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet with the West Coast premiere of his hilarious presidential farce November, directed by the acclaimed Ron Lagomarsino (The Gamester and The Imaginary Invalid at A.C.T.). Mamet's fiendishly funny, over-the-top new comedy comes to A.C.T. fresh from its smash-hit success on Broadway. November offers no mercy in its satirical stab at American politics. Meet President Charles Smith, the most corrupt, inept buffoon ever to sit in the Oval Office. It's the final days of his bid for a second term, but the country is a mess and his poll numbers are "lower than Gandhi's cholesterol." Toss in a lesbian speechwriter longing to marry her sweetheart on national television, a cynical chief of staff, Thanksgiving turkeys awaiting pardon, and enough shady backroom scheming to make even a Glengarry GLen Ross con man blush, and you've got a new Mamet masterpiece. Hailed by critics as "a hilarious, timely, decidedly un-Mamet-like laughfest" (Hollywood Reporter) and "extremely funny" (The New York Times), November plays at A.C.T. October 23-November 15, 2009. Opening night is Wednesday, October 28, 2009, at 8 p.m. Tickets-starting at $10-are available by calling A.C.T. Ticket Services at 415.749.2228 or at http://www.act-sf.org>.

November is Mamet's return to the humorous and absurd side of American politics, following his 1997 movie Wag the Dog, about a president who faked a war to cover up a sex scandal. Despite his harsh and zany treatment of the president's corruption and the realities of the American political process, Mamet speaks to the underlying unifying thread within November: "It's not a cynical play. I might flatter myself by calling it a populist play, because there's one polemic going on between the president, who's unutterably corrupt, and his speechwriter, who's in his view unutterably naïve. At one point she says to him, ‘People say we're a country divided, but we're not a country divided; what we are is a democracy.' And I think that is the meeting ground of the two positions. That the only country that's not divided is totalitarian."

"Only Mamet could write such a scathing political satire about the pardoning of a turkey," jokes director Ron Lagomarsino. "What I love about November is that no one escapes unscathed. The president is depicted as venal, cunning, and corrupt, but don't be fooled. Only the U.S. Constitution comes out smelling like an American Beauty rose-surviving the onslaught of special interest groups and elected officials from both sides of the aisle that are attempting to bend and flex it to suit their own selfish needs." The timeliness of November's vision continues to grow since its premiere in 2007, with the recent corruption and personal scandals that have rocked both sides of the aisle, from impeached Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich to the ongoing saga of South Carolina governor Mark Sanford.

Celebrated local designer Erik Flatmo is creating a theatrical replica of the Oval Office, one of America's most recognizable symbols, on the A.C.T. stage. As is the tradition with each president, the Oval Office for Charles Smith will be personalized for the character and preferences of Mamet's outrageous creation.

The cast of A.C.T.'s production of November features Andrew Polk as the hysterically tyrannical and helplessly out-of-favor president. Polk received outstanding notices for his appearance in A.C.T.'s last outing with Mamet, Speed-the-Plow. He appears alongside members of A.C.T.'s core acting company, including Anthony Fusco as chief of staff Archer Brown, René Augesen as speechwriter Clarice Bernstein, Steven Anthony Jones as Native American chief Dwight Grackle, and A.C.T.'s newest addition to the core acting company, Manoel Felciano, as the representative of the National Association of Turkey and Turkey Products Manufacturers. Along with Flatmo, the creative team for the show includes costume designer Alex Jaeger, lighting designer Alexander V. Nichols, and sound designer Cliff Caruthers.
A.C.T.'s production of November is made possible by producers Dianne and Ron Hoge, Phil and Gloria Horsley, and Gene and Abby Schnair and associate producers Steve and Gayle Brugler and Ms. Betty Hoener. A.C.T. would also like to acknowledge company sponsors Priscilla and Keith Geeslin, Burt and Deedee McMurtry, Kathleen Scutchfield, Jeff and Laurie Ubben, and Susan Van Wagner.

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.