David Mamet’s “Race”

This week’s reading in Broadway’s Best Shows Spotlight on Plays series is David Mamet’s Race.  David Alan Grier, Ed O’Neill, Richard Thomas and Alicia Stith are the performers. Both Grier and Thomas are recreating the roles they played during Race‘s Broadway run in 2009.

In Mamet’s play, Thomas has been accused of raping a Black woman. It is up to his three lawyers to defend their wealthy client.

For this reading, Ed O’Neill takes on the role originally played on Broadway by James Spader. Stith takes on the role originally played by Kerry Washington. Both Spader and Washington made their Broadway debuts in Race.

The play, which runs 1 hour and 40 minutes, played 297 performances on Broadway after 23 previews. Mamet directed Race. Phylicia Rashad directs this reading.

Ben Brantley, writing in the New York Times, gave the play a mixed review. Nonetheless, he did say, “Though the first act of Race is similarly propelled by barbed one-liners, its second act offers reassuring evidence of Mr. Mamet’s scalpel-edged intelligence. And the issues it raises, particularly on the ethnic varieties of shame and the universal nature of guilt, should offer ample nutrition for many a post-theater dinner conversation.”

Race will become available at 8:00 PM EDT/5:00 PM PDT on October 29th and remain available through November 2nd at 8:00 PM EST/5:00 PM EST. Tickets are $5 and available from TodayTix. Proceeds from tickets sales will be donated to The Actors Fund.

Photo: Playwright David Mamet (Courtesy MasterClass.com)