INSIDE:

This Summer At
The Stratford Festival , . 72

On The Bookshelf:
'1185 Park Avenue'

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A Memorial Day Tribute
To Jews In The Military .. 8O

The House
Of David

Acclaimed playwright/author/filmmaker
David Mamet addresses Judaism,
his fitmily, his writing career and
his new movie, "The Winslow Boy."

PHILIP BERK

MO S COLI rleSy 0

Special to the Jewish News

David Mamet, behind the camera.

D

avid Mamet is considered one of
America's finest playwrights. He has
probed the uncomfortable truths of
American life in works such as
American Buffalo and Sexual Perversity in
Chicago, and won a Pulitzer Prize for Glengarry
Glen Ross.
Mamet, 51, and his sister, Lynn, grew up
in a Jewish — and admittedly dysfunctional
— household in Chicago. His parents
divorced when he was 11, and Mamet would
revisit those painful themes of struggle and
abandonment later in his writings. When
asked about the brutal language and excessive
use of obscenity in his work, he once said:
"In my family, in the days prior to television,
we liked to wile away the evenings by making
ourselves miserable, solely based on our abili-
ty to speak the language viciously."
Originally setting out to become an actor,
Mamet attended Goddard College in Vermont,
and spent a year studying under famed theatrical
coach Sanford Meisner. After finishing school,
he went on to perform several small roles in
regional productions before turning his attention
to focus solely on writing and teaching.
Along with his theatrical career, he also
worked in Hollywood, immersing himself in
Filmmaking as a movie director and screen-
writer. His directorial projects include last
year's critically acclaimed The Spanish
Prisoner, the provocative Oleanna, House of
Games, and his latest release, The Winslow
Boy. Among his scripts are The Verdict — for
which he was nominated for an Academy
Award — The Untouchables and Wag the Dog,
which he co-wrote.
Although consciously Jewish, Mamet has

HOUSE OF DAVID

on page 68

5/28
1999

Detroit Jewish News

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