New Releases by David Mamet

In Hotline by Elaine May, a neurotic woman with enough urban angst to fill a neighborhood calls a suicide crisis hotline late one night.

THE STORY: A young boy, John, comes downstairs to tell about his upcoming trip with his dad to the family friend, Dell. Mother, Donnie, is in the kitchen making tea. Soon the three are discussing the excitement of the trip, why John can''t sleep, an

"The Shawl" is about a small-time mystic out to bilk a bereaved woman of her inheritance. In "Prairie du Chien" a railroad car is the setting for a violent story of obsessive jealousy, murder and suicide punctuated by the camaraderie of a friendly card game exploding into a moment of menace.

A masterclass on the art of directing from the Pulitzer Prize-winning (and Oscar and Tony-nominated) writer of Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed the Plow, The Verdict, and Wag the Dog Calling on his unique perspective as playwright, screenwriter, and director of his own critically acclaimed movies like House of Games, State and Main, and Things Change, David Mamet illuminates how a film comes to be. He looks at every aspect of directing—from script to cutting room—to show the many tasks directors undertake in reaching their prime objective: presenting a story that will be understood by the audience and has the power to be both surprising and inevitable at the same time. Based on a series of classes Mamet taught at Columbia University''s film school, On Directing Film will be indispensible not only to students but to anyone interested in an overview of the craft of filmmaking. "Passion, clarity, commitment, intelligence—just what one would expect from Mamet." —Sidney Lumet, Academy Award-nominated director of 12 Angry Men, Dog Day Afternoon, Network, and The Verdict

Bobby Gold is a smooth-talking Jewish homicide detective. He is annoyed when he becoems involved in a routine investigation into the murder of an elderly Jewish woman in a black ghetto. He is more interested in a high-profile murder case that he nd his partner are on the verge of breaking. But the old woman''s murder draws him into a world of anti-Semitism and Jewish terrorism, where his loyalties are blurred, and he is forced to confront his own attitudes about being Jewish.

Olga, Masha and Irina are left stranded in a provincial backwater after the death of their father, an army general. While tension mounts between the sisters and Natalya, their sister-in-law, the women focus their dreams on returning to Moscow, a city remembered through the eyes of childhood as a place where happiness is possible. | Adaptation of: Tri sestry.

A wasted weekend is a 1987 episode of Hill Street Blues focusing on four cops and their ill-fated hunting trip.

Charlie Fox has a terrific vehicle for a hot male movie star, and he has brought it to his friend Bobby Gould, head of production for a major film company. Both see the script as a ticket to the really big table where the power is. The star wants to do it; all they have to do is pitch it to their boss in the morning. Meanwhile, Bobby bets Charlie that he can seduce the secretary temp. As a ruse, he has given her a novel "by some Eastern sissy writer" that he is supposed to read before saying "thanks but no thanks." She is determined that the novel, not the trite vehicle, should be the company''s next project. When she does sleep with Bobby, he finds the experience is so transmogrifying that Charlie must plead with Bobby not to pitch the sissy film. - Publisher''s note.

So, what happens in Uncle Vanya? Not much; just life, played out over four acts. There are rich people, and there are people who work for the rich people, whom the rich people don''t really care about. There is a gun fired in anger and desperation, but there aren''t any bodies to carry off stage. There are men making fools of themselves over women. There are those who accept their fates and wait for their rewards in heaven, and there are others who don''t care one way or another. Chekhov''s play moves so languidly that, without a vibrant cast, an understanding director, and a lively translation, it stands the chance of passing under the radar of the average audience. The reworking of the script aims at accessibility, replacing the "outdated colloquialisms" and "brittle prose" of earlier translations.

"Essays in direct line from Stanislavsky, Chekhov, Shaw, and Brecht" —Mike Nichols A collection of essays from Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet adressing many issues in contemporary American theater Temporarily putting aside his role as playwright, director, and screen-writer, David Mamet digs deep and delivers thirty outrageously diverse vignettes. On subjects ranging from the vanishing American pool hall, family vacations, and the art of being a bitch, to the role of today''s actor, his celebrated contemporaries and predecessors, and his undying commitment to the theater, David Mamet''s concise style, lean dialogue, and gut-wrenching honesty give us a unique view of the world as he sees it.

Lakeboat is a comic play about a grad student who takes a summer job on a Great Lakes freighter and sees life through the eyes of his low-brow crew members.

House of Games is a psychological thriller in which a young woman psychiatrist falls prey to an elaborate and ingenious con game by one of her patients who entraps her in a series of criminal escapades. Ties in with movie to be released in September. 8 pages of black-and-white photographs.

From the Pulitzer Prize- winning author of Glengarry Glen Ross, here is a collection of thirty-two one-act plays and short dramatic pieces that David Mamet himself considers to be some of the best writing he has ever done.

These seven imaginative short theatre pieces by one of America''s most inventive and highly regarded playwrights range widely in content, mood and style. The plays offer a stimulating challenge in terms of selecting, arranging, and mounting the diverse com

The Water Engine is a story of a poor young factory worker who invents an engine that runs on water. Big business tries to force him to sell the rights. Mr. Happiness is a companion piece where a host of a radio show attempts to help his listeners in their personal problems.

Two neighborhood punks and the owner of a junk shop plot to burglarize a coin collector''s apartment. They fail because of inertia, ineptitude and mutual distrust, but remain bound together by their helpless frustration. 2 acts, 3 men, 1 interior.