‘American Buffalo’ Opens at Barebones (Fri., 11/17/23)

AMERICAN BUFFALO (drama) by David Mamet. barebones productions. November 17 – December 10. 

Are you ready for a David Mamet revival? The onetime Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright is still alive and working, but he’s a changed man lately, drawing fire for his bizarre sociopolitical remarks and for plays that haven’t clicked. The thing to remember is that peak Mamet is really good. And out of his many past hits on stage and screen—such as Glengarry Glen Ross, which took the the 1984 Pulitzer for Drama, and House of Games, the spellbinding film in which a con man meets a psychiatrist—there are Mametophiles who say American Buffalo is their favorite. This early (1975) play, like some later Mamets, features small-time hustlers who try to get ahead by getting over on people. Three guys plan to steal a coin collection that includes a rare and valuable buffalo nickel. When the scheme doesn’t unfold smoothly, the question is: Who’s really getting buffaloed? Barebones productions presents American Buffalo in the barebones black box. 8 p.m. 1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock. (M.V.) 

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