Keep Your Pantheon (and School)

Two Unrelated Plays

Best known for his precision-blade language and hot-button subject matter, David Mamet shows off a lighter side with his equally dexterous screwball comedy Keep Your Pantheon. Featuring an over-the-hill acting guru who lusts after both his toga-clad protégé Philius and a spot in the Sicilian Cork Festival, Mamet’s play returns to the roots of comedy, paying homage to the Roman playwright Plautus, whose works also inspired Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors and the musical A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. This volume also contains School: a crackling curtain-raiser in which two teachers shoot back-and-forth on topics ranging from pedophilia to recycling.

Keep Your Pantheon received its world premiere at Center Theater Group in Los Angeles, while the two comic plays received their New York City premiere as a double bill at Atlantic Theater Company. David Mamet’s newest play, The Anarchist, is slated for a Broadway premiere in fall 2012, starring Patti Lupone and Laurie Metcalf.