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6th @ Penn Theatre Presents
 

GLENGARY GLEN ROSS

EXTENDED THROUGH MARCH 25TH
 NO OTHER EXTENSIONS POSSIBLE!

Final Shows
Thurs Mar 22nd - 8:pm / Fri Mar 23rd - 8:pm  / Sat Mar 24th - 8pm
Sun Mar 25th - 2pm & 7pm
(7pm show - all ticket proceeds to cast and crew)

 

By David Mamet

Directed by Jerry Pilato

Dramaturgy by Bryan Bevell

"Mamet’s mastery of rhythm and language scorches the stage, leaving the audience breathless. "

"There are moments in this production so near to overwhelming that I had to turn away. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in considering a shower after the show. But I’m hard-pressed to remember a recent occasion when I was more thoroughly shaken, yet still enlightened, by a piece of theatrical art."  --- Welton Jones

"Your are in for an 80-minute example of excellence in writing and excellence in acting. Be advised that you'll probably need a reservation." --- Hitch

Ash Fulk Haig Koshkarian Jonathan Dunn-Rankin Jonathan Sachs Dale Morris

Only the strong survive in David Mamet’s scorching masterpiece of big-money schemes and high-stakes deals. Set in the ruthless world of real estate, a group of salesmen lie, cheat and connive – all to close the big deal. As the play twists and turns between hilarity and fury, the desperate wheelers and dealers vie for the top prize in a no-holds barred sales contest.

Cast & Production Team
 

Jonathan Dunn-Rankin (Shelly Levene) has performed on a number of local stages – North Coast Rep ("An American Daughter," “The Rainmaker”); Lamb’s Players (“A Divine Comedy,” “1776”); and Diversionary Theatre ("Handsome Men," “Breaking the Code,” “Never the Sinner,” “M Butterfly,” “Thief River”). He has performed in the Actors Alliance Festival as well as staged readings for Carlsbad Playgoers, Diversionary and the Streisand Festival.  Before an 18-year hiatus while working for AFTRA, Jonathan acted at the Old Globe (ten plays, three Atlas Awards) and San Diego Rep at the same time he was a newscaster on KFMB-TV Channel 8.  He was executive director of the Pacific Southwest Chapter of The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (1980-2002), president of Diversionary Theatre (2000-2005), is a proud member of San Diego Actors Alliance, and has been a mainstay of The Scripteasers since 1966.
 


Ash Fulk (John Williamson) Ashley Fulk is very pleased to be a part of 6th @ Penn’s Glenngary Glen Ross, and it is his first appearance on the San Diego Stage. He found his first role at the age of fifteen, when he appeared as Man 1 in Tina Howe’s Museum and has since continued to experiment with all elements of theatre, finding a particular love for improv and, or course, all things Shakespeare. His favorite roles include Sir Toby Belch in Sonoma Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, Sir Thomas Gray (and others) in Sonoma Shakespeare’s Henry V, Biff in DVC’s Death of a Salesman, and Benedick in their production of Much Ado About Nothing. He wishes to thank Jim Kirkwood, his family and friends for their support.
 

Dale Morris (Dave Moss) is a member of the Screen Actors Guild and Actors Equity Association. He is the founder of 6th @ Penn Theatre and San Diego Theatre Scene weekly Newsletter. As an actor, his local appearances include: 6th @ Penn: Middle-aged White Guys, directed by Ralph Elias; The Sum of Us, directed by Douglas Lay; The Housekeeper, directed by by Rhys Greene; …A Young Lady From Rwanda, directed by Claudio Raygoza, Antigone & The Children of Heracles, directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg; A Prayer for My Daughter, directed by Robert May (Patte’ Award – Best Ensemble), Lyceum Theatre: Raisins in the Sun, dir. by Claudio Raygoza; Quentin Crisp Theatre: Fit To Be Tied dir. by Gayle Feldman; NCRT: The Elephant Man, dir. by Sean Murray. An American Daughter, dir. by Rosina Reynolds.  Fritz: Escape From Happiness and Unmerciful Good Fortune, dir. by Karin Williams. Sledgehammer: My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine dir. by Bryan Bevell; Diversionary: Execution of Justice.  Film: The Streetsweeper, American Daughter, Point Blank, Not Once But Twice and ’Til Death Do Us Part. TV: Fashion House, Silk Stalkings, the O. J. Trial Re-Enactment and Angel Street. Other roles: Oliver in Return Engagements (Aubry Award); Harold in Orphans, Jerry in Zoo Story, and Sir Wilfred in Witness for the Prosecution.
 


Haig Koshkarian (George Aaronow)  is thrilled to be in this play in this theater. This is just his third time on a San Diego stage. He recently played Ace in a staged reading of Pho Donut by George Soete at 6th at Penn and before that played Jim in George Soete’s Welcome to Group at the 2006 AASD Actors’ Festival at the Lyceum Theater. In the more distant past, he played major roles at the Grinnell College Theater in Grinnell Iowa, including Kilroy in Camino Real, Old Man in The Chairs, Gentleman Caller in Glass Menagerie, and H.C. Curry in The Rainmaker. Thank you to teachers Lisa Berger, Francis Gercke, and Lloyd Hartman.

 


Jonathan Sachs (Ricky Roma) is pleased to be making another appearance at 6th @ Penn.  Most recently he was seen on this stage in Plutonium Theatre's production of Hemingway's Rose.  He has also been active with ion theatre (Grapes Of Wrath, All in the Timing, and The Chairs) and Lynx Performance (The Exonerated).  This is Jonathan's dream show and dream role and it is a great show to go out on.  He has officially announced his hiatus from theatre for at least the next year, and it has been an honor to grace the stages of San Diego and entertain all of you.  Julie... I Love You !!!!!!!!!!!

 


Joey Georges (James Lingk) is currently the tallest member of the Accounting Department at San Diego Magazine.  He arrived  in San Diego almost two years ago from Texas where he had been featured in a wide variety of stage roles including Dr. Finger in Cannibal Cheerleaders on Crack, Mr. Snow in Cinderella Waltz, Higgins in Pygmalion, Tom in Dinner with Friends and Lt. Kendrick in A Few Good Men. He also spent time with the well-unknown improvisational troupe Bologna Sans Wits. His roles in the San Diego area include Manolo in the female version of The Odd Couple at Onstage Playhouse for which he received an Aubrey award. He is, of course, ecstatic to be performing for the first time at 6th @ Penn, his favorite local theatre.
 


B.J. Peterson (Baylen) is honored to step into the role of Baylen in this production of Glengarry Glenn Ross at 6th@Penn. As a recent alum of UCSD’s undergraduate theatre program, he has had the privilege of acting in numerous student productions, the most recent being Neil Labute’s The Distance From Here. Other productions at UCSD include The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged, and La Jolla Playhouse’s La Dispute. His Bay Area shows include Arms and the Man, A Hatful of Rain, Dancing at Lughnasa, Rosencranz & Guildenstern are Dead, Arcadia, and The Unexpected Guest (for which he earned a Shelley Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor). He would like to extend his gratitude to everyone who has supported him along the way, with special thanks to his dad, Jim Kirkwood, Jim Winker, and Beth McBrian.
 


 

Jerry Pilato (Director) Jerry Pilato comes to us from San Antonio, Texas where he was Artistic Director for The Actors Theatre of San Antonio from February 1982 to 2004. To his credit he has directed and or produced close to two hundred comedies, dramas and musicals since 1979. His educational back ground is from San Antonio College and the University Of The Incarnate Word (minus a degree) in San Antonio. Locally he has directed THE FOREIGNER at The Sunshine Brooks Theatre in Oceanside, FOUR DOGS AND A BONE, THE REINDEER MONOLOGUES at 6th@Penn Theatre in San Diego and PLAZA SUITE at The Broadway Theatre in Vista. He has been awarded Best Director awards from the Alamo Theatre Arts Council, (http://www.satheatre.com/atac.htm) in San Antonio, Texas for CHICAGO, and WHEN PIGS FLY (Musical), I HATE HAMLET and FIRST NIGHT (comedy), AMERICAN BUFFALO, IF WE ARE WOMEN, and TAKING SIDES (drama). As producer he has received many Best Production awards. He graduated from Toul American High School in France while his father was doing a tour of duty with the air force. Presently he is a Subscriptions Supervisor at Broadway San Diego and works part-time as Assistant Ticket Supervisor for Vis-Tix with the Park Services Department for the City Of Vista.

Bryan Bevell (Dramaturg) is an actor and director based in Minneapolis where he lives with his lovely wife and two small children. Before relocating to the Midwest Bryan was a mainstay on San Diego stages, directing and performing for such companies as San Diego Rep, Sledgehammer, Renaissance, Diversionary, North Coast Rep, Mystery Café, Playwright’s Project, and perhaps most notably, The Fritz, where he served for many years as resident artist and artistic director. Some of his local credits include: The Caretaker, Gangster No. 1, The Fever, The America Play, In the Heart of America, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Otherwise Engaged, Third Voice of the Nightjar, Fat Men in Skirts, Free Will & Wanton Lust, and My Marriage to Ernest Borgnine.


Tanya Hahn (Stage Manager) Tanya was a Talk Show Host from 1996 till 2003 in her Life Motivation program “ Californian Bridge ” to Russia with Love from the USA . Tanya had her 15 minutes as fame when she was interviewed on KPBS FM 89,5 for “These days” and had an articles about her radio talk show in SLAMM and North County Times. Tanya created, directed and organized many, many plays and concerts including her recent participation in The Eight: The Reindeer Monologues as the Light and Sound technician. She is thrilled to be invited again to do the Light and Sound for Glengarry Glen Ross.

Vince Sneeden (Set Construction) has designed and built several sets for 6th @ Penn including Iphigenia at Aulis, Middle Aged White Men, The Bacchae, and the upcoming The Oresteia.

Ian Radcliff (Set Construction) Ian has worked on several shows at 6th @ Penn.

Mitchell Simkovski (Light Designer) Mitchell is happy to return to 6th @ Penn for the upteenth time.  Great cast and a great show.

 

Directors Notes: 

When given a chance to direct a play by the master of patter, timing, pacing  and rhythm one immediately wants the casting process to be as perfect as possible.  The actor must be able to not only present written words in a natural believable frame work but at a pace that satisfy’s  even the most die-hard of Mamet’s aficionados.   When these elements converge one only needs to close his or her eyes and listen to what is being said to get total enjoyment out of David Mamet’s earlier plays. The humor is in the movement of the words. The effect the delivery has on ones hearing “palette”, if you will, gives total enjoyment of the playwright’s insight on the specific topic.  And Mamet has many.  

Having directed SEXUAL PERVERSITY IN CHICAGO, AMERICAN BUFFALO, SPEED THE PLOW, OLEANNA  and GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS I have come to appreciate this amazing playwright.  Having watched other productions of these outstanding plays I have seen many concepts that worked, or didn’t.  Any director or producer, knows there is usually only one way, collectively, to present, or stage these works and that is through honesty and believability.  These two idioms do not work apart, but together as one, or the play goes no where.  You will see that at this performance.  

As a unit the whole of the play brings together the ensemble which in turns brings the mystery and the twist to fruition.  You, the viewer should have fun with the words that are presented in this play.  It should bring excitement and often times laughter when all elements come together as one.  Which is the hope of any playwright.  Which is the hope of this director. 

A special thanks to my cast, my stage manager; and my appreciation to  the  producer, Dale Morris, who has given me a great space in which to play, and enjoy directing GLENNGARRY GLEN ROSS.  

Thank you for joining us at this performance.   

Jerry Pilato

 

 

 
 

GLENGARRY GLEN ROSS
by Welton Jones

Burning in hell is simple, complete and even pure compared to the ghastly agonies of the lost souls in David Mamet’s nightmare of stunted mercantile savagery, “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

A splendid production of this landmark American play is now erupting from the tiny 6th @ Penn stage to stain, perhaps permanently, audiences threatening to fill every Thursday-Sunday performance.

The play is an ordeal as fascinating as it is abhorrent, a ritual wade through some sour muck of barbarity which Mamet finds bubbling at the fringes of our blithe and bland existences, captured and bent by his artistry to simultaneously purge and exalt the indomitable human spirit.

There is a cop and a crime involved, but that’s just a hook to hold what Mamet is really after, the sink of malevolent opportunism that so slimes a squad of salesman that they have no room left for the simplest act of kindness or understanding.

The scene is Chicago, the stock is Florida real estate and the rules are as simple as they are fiendish: He who sells the most gets the best “leads,” the prospects most likely to buy more.

The five men are handicapped by various combinations of stupidity, self-doubt, greed, treachery, panic and bad luck, but they share a disgusting venal vitality uncomfortably reminiscent of The American Dream.

Surely this is a grotesque caricature of reality, though Mamet’s legendary skills with naturalistic language exchanges pumps into the piece an uncomfortable pulse of reality. So vivid and unrelenting is the foul language and baroque conversational urgency that a numb helplessness threatens an audience.

Jerry Pilato’s directorial triumph with this 6th @ Penn production is his success in allowing just enough caricature in his actors’ portrayals to achieve something like a Brechtian detachment. The abominations are real but the play is only a play.

By sustaining this fragile balance, Pilato’s excellent cast allows the audience a healthy antidote of laughter and wonder, even as the poisonous outrages spread. It’s not necessary to strain after heightened realism. Mamet’s points are made quite well enough and any scars left probably represent stretches ultimately healthy.

Ash Fulk plays a shameless fink office manager with dull malice, Joey Georges is a sad and feckless customer and an actor billed as “B.J.” is acceptable as a Chicago robbery detective. But it’s the salesmen, scrabbling after the monthly bonus for top gross sales (and the best leads) who dominate.

Jonathan Sachs plays the top dog with a cool grace and quick, devious wit well suiting the character most comfortable in this world. Jonathan Dunn-Rankin, as the hopeless has-been who must keep clawing at the only survival net he knows, is pitifully loathsome; Dale Morris is a frightening rattletrap of misdirected hustle as a desperate runner-up; and Haig Koshkarian shuffles dimly as a wretch too nice, too stupid or both for this nightmare universe.

There are moments in this production so near to overwhelming that I had to turn away. I’m sure I wasn’t alone in considering a shower after the show.

But I’m hard-pressed to remember a recent occasion when I was more thoroughly shaken, yet still enlightened, by a piece of theatrical art.
 

DOWNLOAD PROGRAM HERE

 
 
Glengarry Glen Ross - 6th@Penn Theatre 
By Robert Hitchcock

Rarely is the power of the word executed with such exacting precision as in 6th@Penn’s production of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross. Each of the actors, under the deft hand of director Jerry Pilato, develops the uniqueness of his character both in Mamet’s words and his own physicality.

The setting for this 1984 Pulitzer Prize and Tony winning play is Chicago in the early 80s. Act One takes place in a Chinese restaurant. In the first scene we meet Shelly Levene (Jonathan Dunn-Rankin), a burned-out salesman in the mold of Willie Loman, and Williamson (Ash Fulk), his real estate office manager. Levene is in the process of being fired. Dunn-Rankin’s portrayal of this loser is a true work of art. Williamson, acting on behalf of the owners, is simply carrying out his duties. Fulk plays his character as a bit officious, yet, like the salesmen he supervises, larcenous.

The following scene has overly aggressive Dave Moss (Dale Morris) brow-beating George Aaronow (Haig Koshkarian), a low performing salesman. Morris’s character lacks any morals; he’s even willing to resort to theft to get ahead. He is just about as politically incorrect as possible. He typifies the stereotypical used car or Florida real estate salesman of the 20s, the 30s, the 50s, and 80s. Aaronow is not only a bad salesman, he is a weak human being not suited for a high pressure sales career. One has to feel sorry for him.

In the final scene of Act One we see hot-shot slimeball sales leader Ricky Roma (Jonathan Sachs) ooze his way over to timid potential buyer, James Lingk (Joey Georges). Roma could literally sell refrigerators to Eskimos. He is so smooth that oil, not sweat, seeps from his pores. Poor Lingk is an easy pawn. Roma’s eye is only on the sale, which will assure him salesman of the month and new Caddie. What else could he possibly want?

The second act opens with a ransacked sales office, the file of sales leads missing. Set Designer Dale Morris with Graphic Designers Paul Savage and Michael Thomas Tower created a typical boiler-room operation with file folder-strewn desks and impressive land-development drawings on the walls. The office manager’s office is private with windows to observe the salesmen.

Detective Baylen (B. J. Peterson), who is investigating the crime, is in the process of interviewing each of the salesmen. The motley, desperate sales crew is squabbling, meek buyer Lingk returns, and Williams tries to keep some semblance of order.

The theatre cliché is that direction is 95 percent casting. Director Pilato has cast perfectly, Mamet’s hand provided the words and speech patterns, and the actors honed each of their characters to total believability.

These real estate boiler rooms were very hot in the 50s, selling property mostly in Florida swamp land and Arizona deserts. In Detroit, in 1953, my parents took a $1,000 gamble. When they retired to Florida, it was to an established community. They died about 25 years ago and their $1,000 was worth a few pennies on the dollar. Today, over 50 years later, the value has dramatically increased with the construction of roads and canals. While not the cons of the 20s, no ethical salesperson would be involved in these shady practices. But then there are always folks that will sell valueless dreams to the unsuspecting and that is Mamet’s point.

You’ve probably met each of the four salesman at some point in your life. You can’t help but feel sorry for Levene, have a moment of sadness for the weak Aaronow, be abhorred by vile Moss, and quite possibly hate Roma. You will wonder how Williamson can keep the office together and will be amazed at Detective Baylen’s coolness under fire. You are in for an 80-minute example of excellence in writing and excellence in acting. Be advised that you’ll probably need a reservation.

Glengarry Glen Ross is playing at 6th@Penn Theatre, 3704 6th Avenue in Hillcrest. For reservations dial 619 688-9210. The production runs Thursday through Sunday until March 18th.

 
 

THEATER REVIEW
Rich cast of 'Glengarry Glen Ross' clinches the deal at 6th@Penn

By Jennifer Chung
February 12, 2007

No computers. No cell phones. Skinny ties. Wannabe “Masters of the Universe.”

It's early in the 1980s in David Mamet's “Glengarry Glen Ross,” which depicts the dirty-dealing, cutthroat world of real estate sales. Though the play, which premiered in 1983, feels a little dated in the office details, sales tactics and most notably its misogyny, its skewering of American business culture feels as fresh as ever.

6th@Penn Theatre's thrilling production of the play is a rapid-fire, testosterone-fueled buzz that delivers the laughs while exposing the ugly face of capitalism.

Director Jerry Pilato coaxes effective and funny performances from this well-cast ensemble of seven. The actors hack away at the thicket of Mametian sentence fragments and half-formed words with appropriate velocity, rhythm and deadpan humor.

But driving this Pulitzer Prize-winning play are outstanding performances by Jonathan Sachs as the slick top salesman Ricky Roma and Jonathan Dunn-Rankin as the has-been Shelly “the machine” Levene.

Along with two other salesmen in a Chicago real estate office, they are unwilling participants in a cruel contest to sell the most property: The winner gets a new Cadillac, the loser gets fired. A criminal plot is hatched and executed, and an investigation ensues, but it's all backdrop for Mamet's acerbic patter and the itchingly familiar display of greed-driven bad behavior (see Enron, Randy “Duke” Cunningham, Donald Trump's “The Apprentice”). These smarmy salesmen will do anything to get ahead and trounce the competition, including double-dealing, lying, back-stabbing, swindling and stealing.

Sachs' Ricky is one smooth character, alternately disarming and vicious, with a snakelike charm. Ricky's calculated sales pitch – more subtle lifestyle marketing than hard sell – to his unsuspecting prey is mesmerizing and inviting.

Dunn-Rankin is no less riveting as the deliciously pathetic Shelly, with boyish, whimpering voice and squinty eyes hidden behind thick glasses. Shelly, in the midst of a selling dry spell, becomes increasingly desperate to close a deal. Dunn-Rankin nails the character's high anxiety, vacillating between supplication and aggression.

But watch the transformation from spineless whiner to trickster old-timer who's still got game – and can bamboozle with the best of them. In one of the play's best scenes, Shelly and Ricky team up against a hapless client, swiftly passing improvised falsehoods between them like a game of keep-away.

The self-assured way Shelly shovels the jive is “admirable,” Ricky says.

This is a world where values are turned upside down: Honesty is weak, and successful huckstering is laudable. It's a world that we recognize from daily headlines, where winning at all costs is the name of the game.

And even as the characters struggle against the ruthless economic system that exploits them, they feed off it, and from it they derive their sense of self-worth as “real” men.

Dale Morris is startlingly funny as the vitriolic bully Dave Moss, whose mode of selling involves obfuscation and, when that doesn't work, browbeating. Haig Koshkarian plays the ineffectual schlep George Aaronow, who gets sucked into a scheme to ransack the office, and Ash Fulk is the quietly malicious office manager. Joey Georges as a weak-willed customer and B.J. Peterson as a cop fill out the cast.

Mamet's talky play well suits the intimacy of 6th@Penn. The barely there set in the first act suggests a Chinese restaurant, giving way to a rundown, disheveled office setting that spans the theater's small stage in the second.

The claustrophobic tone of personal savagery and desperation in “Glengarry Glen Ross” was made even more palpable during the oversold opening night performance, when an extra row of seats was set up, practically onstage. With performances of this caliber, the Hillcrest theater may be setting up extra chairs every night.

DATEBOOK
"Glengarry Glen Ross"
8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 p.m. Sundays; Through March 18 6th@Penn Theatre, 3704 Sixth Ave., Hillcrest $20-$23; (619) 688-9210; or www.sixthatpenn.com
 
 
 

THE SNAKE PIT
by Pat Launer
SDTheatrescene.com

THE SHOW: Glengarry Glen Ross, the 1984 Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning play by David Mamet, who adapted it into a screenplay for a 1992 all-star film (starring Al Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Alan Arkin, Kevin Spacey and Jonathan Pryce, with an extra role written specifically for Alec Baldwin). The play’s buzz and name recognition generated the best advance sales in the history of 6th @ Penn Theatre, and the most successful, sellout opening weekend ever

THE BACKSTORY: The play and film are notorious for the use of profanity. Someone actually sat down and made a wordcount: the word “fuck” is used a total of 138 times during the 100-minute movie; the word “shit” is used 50 times. The infamous language reportedly led the cast to jokingly refer to the film as “Death of a Fucking Salesman.”

THE STORY: Beware: rabid dogs are on the loose. Mamet unleashes a stage-ful of ruthless, desperate real estate agents, who will engage in any unethical or illegal act (from flattery to lies, coercion to bribery, threats and intimidation to burglary) to ‘close the deal’ – and win a Cadillac in a cutthroat intra-office sales competition. What they’re selling is undesirable land to unwitting and unwilling prospective buyers or “leads” (read: suckers). The title refers to two Florida properties, Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms. This is a society of animal predators who are desperate to make a kill and who will, under pressure, readily prey on one another. Among these men, where the law of the jungle prevails, Mamet  provides an amalgam of bestiality, comedy, pathos, and even, in some warped sense, poetic justice.

THE PLAYERS /THE PRODUCTION: The play is an ensemble piece that requires a crackerjack cast and rat-a-tat timing. To assist with the latter, 6th @ Penn brought in Minneapolis-based Mamet maven Bryan Bevell, former artistic director of the Fritz Theatre. He definitely worked his magic. The halting, staccato, half-sentence, overlapping, musically composed lines tumble over each other in a thoroughly believable, if contentively unsavory pace. Under Jerry Pilato’s direction, the cast  does a great job, with standout performances by Jonathan Sachs as the cold-blooded, high-performing hotshot, Ricky Roma; Dale Morris as the conniving, tough-talking hothead Dave Moss; and as Shelly Levine, the pathetic Willy Loman of the piece (a has-been formerly known as “Levene the Machine”), Jonathan Dunn-Rankin. With few lines and one potent outburst, Haig Koshkarian is just right as fragile/nervous/taciturn George Aaronow. The other roles are credibly played by Joey Georges (as Roma’s ‘mark’), Ash Fulk (as the nasty, put-upon office manager) and B.J. Peterson as the investigating cop, who takes residence in the ‘back office’ after the place is burglarized, apparently an ‘inside job.’ Morris created the set, which changes from a Chinese restaurant (this works for the first scene, but not the second, supposedly on a train) into a perfectly cluttered, chaotic office (after a brief intermission, though the entire evening runs only 80 minutes). This is Mamet at his finest: crude, rude, brutal, and deftly commenting on a bankrupt culture that produces, rewards and nurtures just this type of monster. Satisfy your curiosity, and your ‘fascination for the abomination.’ See Glengarry; it’s lethal fun.

THE LOCATION: 6th @ Penn Theatre, EXTENDED through March 25

 
 
The Reader
Jeff Smith

Willy Loman wouldn't last ten seconds with this crowd. The real estate salesmen in David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross don't die, like Willy, and maybe that's their curse. They exist in a Darwinian pressure-cooker: the goal is selling "highland" property in Florida, and the slimiest, not the fittest, survive -- for a while. These guys are so desensitized that savage, four-letter slurs just bounce off them, as if the words were understated truths they've known all along.

6th@Penn's production has some suspect choices: the weaker characters are just that but should be fighting for something too. Nonetheless, this is one of the theater's best efforts in years. Jonathan Dunn-Rankin's Shelly "the Machine" Levine and Jonathan Sachs's Ricky Roma bookend the piece as the once and current alpha male: Levine desperately crawling back into the light; slick Roma certain of his MVP status. And Dale Morris excels as Dave Moss, a frothing pit bull who chews up and spits out the two-locale set Morris designed.

The salesman's motto is ABC, "always be closing." At one point, Glengarry will sell you a bill of goods, proving -- one of Mamet's key points -- that sales pitches come in all kinds, and don't think you're immune.