arts&life

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Matthew David, Shane O’Connor and Lynch R. Travis

American Buffalo

RONELLE GRIER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

JET’s latest offering, by

playwright David Mamet.

A

merican Buffalo, by the pro-
lific Pulitzer Prize-winning (and
Jewish) playwright David Mamet,
is not for the faint of heart.
There is profanity, crude urban lan-
guage, shouting matches and at least one
volatile outburst — things that were not
commonly seen on the American stage
in 1976, when the play made its Chicago
premiere. While we have since come to
expect coarse language and unsavory
characters in films, television shows and
theatrical productions, American Buffalo
still packs an unexpected wallop, making
it well worth the while of theatergoers
who are not afraid of a little bad lan-
guage.
The play, directed by Jewish Ensemble
Theatre Executive Director Chris Bremer,
runs at JET Theatre through Dec. 10. It
centers around three characters: Donny
Dubrow (Lynch R. Travis), the owner of

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November 30 • 2017

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a resale/junk shop in a downtrodden
part of town; Bobby (Shane O’Connor),
a junkie and wannabe apprentice to
Don; and Walter “Teach” Cole (Matthew
David), a small-time neighborhood thug
with delusions of grandeur and dreams
of escaping to a better life.
All three characters have been beaten
down by their circumstances and their
own unfortunate choices, yet they long
for their piece of the American dream —
without regard to the consequences for
themselves or anyone who gets in their
way. After Don decides he accepted too
low a price for a Buffalo nickel a custom-
er discovered in his overrun display case,
the three men plan to steal the nickel
back while the customer is presumably
out of town.
From casing the house to planning the
actual break-in, the would-be criminals
continually get in their own way, stymied
by their own ineptness and competing
egos, especially where Don and Teach
are concerned. It is the characters’ pre-
robbery interactions and misguided
attempts to recover what they have

rationalized as rightfully theirs that com-
prise the real drama in this play.
Mamet is known for his edgy, shotgun-
style dialogue, and these actors are
definitely up to the challenge. This is
especially true for Teach, who swaggers
around the stage in a burgundy satin
shirt, railing against the wrongs that
have been done to him by his so-called
friends and society in general. David por-
trays him as a “legend in his own mind”
with a volatile streak that perpetually
simmers beneath his words.
O’Connor has the shaky demeanor typ-
ical of someone who has been ravaged
by drugs at an early age, and the timidity
of a young man who knows he is out of
his league with Don and Teach. As Don,
Travis seems to be the most level-head-
ed, but his willingness to go along with
Teach’s ill-planned scheme shows that he
is as desperate as his counterparts.
Sound design is by Matt Lira, who is
also the stage manager, with lighting
by Neil Koivu. Costumes are by Mary
Copenhagen, with properties by produc-
tion stage manager Harold Jurkewicz.

The set, by Elspeth Williams, is a sight
to behold. The entire play, which is com-
prised of two acts, takes place inside
Don’s resale/junk shop, and the names of
familiar Hamtramck street names can be
seen through the rain-soaked windows.
The stage is packed with the stuff of yes-
teryear: wooden crates filled with VHS
tapes, an electric menorah with some of
the lights missing, boxes of vinyl record
albums, a juke box and a wood-trimmed
aqua velvet settee.
In an alcove at the back of the shop,
a feather boa hangs from a dartboard,
and the walls are lined with walkers and
an assortment of crutches. There seems
to be no order to the way the merchan-
dise is displayed; indeed, the shop is as
haphazard as the lives of the men who
inhabit it. • .

details

David Mamet’s American Buffalo runs
through Dec. 10 at the JET Theatre at the
West Bloomfield JCC. $44. (248) 788-2900;
jetperforms.com.

