San Jose Stage Company Opens Season 30 With David Mamet's RACE, 10/3-28
By: Kelsey Denette
San Jose Stage Company opens its 30th season with Race by Pulitzer Prize-winning writer David Mamet. This crime mystery tackles America's most controversial topic in a provocative tale of sex, guilt and bold accusations. Race opens at The Stage October 3, and runs through October 28.
Race is the central theme, but the issues are more than skin deep as the red-hot debate delves into questions of sex, gender equality and social class. This black-and-white courtroom drama never reaches the courtroom, and while not so black-and-white, it is a comic debate where the laughs may arrive well after the joke.
The significance of opening Season 30 with David Mamet's Race not only exemplifies The company's artistic mission but also represents The Stage's roots in the early 1980s. The collective of artists who founded this company were premiering the work of new American Playwrights. The Stage has produced Mamet's American Buffalo (1985), Speed-the-Plow (1993), andGlengarry Glen Ross (1988 and 2008).
Tony Kelly returns to direct Race for The Stage, where he helmed the productions of Oliver Mayer's Blade to the Heat, Octavio Solis' Gibraltar, Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts and David Mamet's adaptation of Anton Chekov's Uncle Vanya.
"The politics of Race weigh heavily on its characters, making them speak and act with sharp, barbed edges. Race is perhaps not about race, or sex, or power, or justice, but the sheer impossibility of humans living together without suspicion, mistrust, and shame," states Director Tony Kelly. "That's a truth both comic and dark, and it makes this particular play cut deeper, more often, than almost anything this legendary contemporary playwright has written."
Performances are on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 PM, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM. Race runs through October 28, 2012.
Tickets range from $20 - $45 and are available at www.thestage.org or by calling the box office at 408.283.7142. Visa and MasterCard are accepted, and discounts are available for groups, students and seniors. The theatre is handicapped accessible.
The Stage is located at 490 South First Street at William Street in downtown San Jose's South First (SoFA) area.
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