American Buffalo
By
David Mamet
(David Mamet Bio)
At
Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre
(Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Website)
1650 N. Halsted St.
Chicago, Illinois 60614
312.335.1650

December 3, 2009 – February 7, 2010

Martha Lavey: Artistic Director
David Hawkanson: Executive Director

Director: Amy Morton
Scenic Design: Kevin Depinet
Costume Design: Nan Cibula-Jenkins
Lighting Design: Pat Collins
Original Music and Sound Design: Rob Milburn, Michael Bodeen
Fight Choreographer: Rick Sordelet
Dialect Coach: Cecilie O’Reilly
Stage Manager: Malcolm Ewen
Assistant Stage Manager: Christine D. Freeburg
Communications Director: David Rosenberg

Featuring:
Patrick Andrews
Francis Guinan
Tracy Letts

Susan Weinrebe
December 12, 2009

Set in a little junk shop brimming with discarded household flotsam, three would-be thieves plan to grab the brass ring, or, in this case, the Buffalo nickel and other coins that will give them a big score. Like several other stories by David Mamet (House of Games, The Spanish Prisoner) the plot of American Buffalo twists over on itself, as the dishonest machinations and the crooks themselves come undone.

As ever in Steppenwolf productions, the set design is wonderfully contrived, here by Kevin Depinet. The basement jumble, a literal and figurative descent to a place of discarded aluminum trays, dented cooking pots, old tools, and unwanted golf clubs, presents itself as a fourth character in the story. This last stopping place of household detritus is the den in which the ne’er do well bottom floaters, Don the owner, Bob a marginal young man Don is trying to help, and Teach, the guy with a constant plan to make a score, incubate their plot. The odor of musty desperation hangs in the dust motes of the subterranean light in the store, lacking only a cat or five to complete the picture. Purposefully set in Chicago, by Mamet, a child of the city, the scene could, nonetheless, be Anywhere, USA.

Bouncing terse Mametian dialog off each other, Francis Guinan and Tracy Letts are slick and slicker as Don and Teach. Guinan, a chameleon at transforming himself, is boxed in by his character’s life and the confines of his shop. Wanting to do well and maybe even some good for his damaged helper Bob, he worries over the rag of the scheme he and Teach are planning. He is like some broody hen frantic for the thing to hatch out.

Dressed to knock ‘em dead in fashionable ‘70’s regalia, Letts as Teach epitomizes the sort of oily guy who’s ever ready to prey on someone weaker. He lives to promote the flavor-of-the-day-get- rich-quick scheme, especially if there’s no work on his part involved. If you ever wondered where jersey Quiana shirts and cinnamon-colored leather jackets went, they found their way into his wardrobe. Letts, in his open-to-there shirt and bitty pony tail, has the juicy fun of slinging himself and the noisiest junk in the shop around in a tantrum of wills with his buddy.

Recently seen in Cabaret as the Master of Ceremonies, Patrick Andrews puts back all the stops from the sly bombast of that role. Riveting as the damaged boy Bob, he shows how to give more by doing less and doing that quietly and slowly. His slow speech and dog-like desire to please are the perfect foil for the fast-talking patter and manipulation of the other two actors. Andrews is an actor Chicago will hopefully be seeing much more frequently in a challenging breadth of roles.

American Buffalo is a piece of its time, Chicago place and emblematic bluster: “The only way to teach these people is to kill them.” Sometimes it’s pretty swell to visit an old friend again.

Francis Guinan and Tracy Letts
in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s
"American Buffalo" by David Mamet
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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Francis Guinan, Patrick Andrews,
Tracy Letts in Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s
"American Buffalo" by David Mamet
Courtesy of Michael Brosilow

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For more information, contact Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower at zlokower@bestweb.net