Synopsis
Two high-priced attorneys have a chance at the case of a lifetime: a world-famous billionaire embroiled in a rape case with racial overtones arrives unexpectedly and asks them to save his name, his reputation, and his life. In the world of a high-profile, paparazzi-fueled media frenzy, the lawyers find themselves maneuvered into a trap that itself may be racially motivated. Pulitzer Prize winning playwright David Mamet tackles America’s most incendiary topic in his latest play of sex, guilt, and in-your-face action.
Everybody lies.
Everybody.
Info
Carolina Actors Studio Theatre presents the Regional Professional Premiere of Race. Leave the kids and your inhibitions at home as CAST brings our darkest secret thoughts roaring to life.
This play contains strong language and adult themes.
Performances are February 23 – March 24
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 8:00PM.
No late seating.
Reviews
Charlotte Observer: As you enter Carolina Actors Studio Theatre for David Mamet’s “Race,” the strains of the finale to Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony come over the sound system in the cruelest irony of the theatrical season. “Alle menschen werden brüder,” sings the chorus: “All men become brothers.” Meanwhile, the three main characters of Mamet’s play convince us nothing connects members of the human race except utter self-interest. If we are brothers, then we are brother piranhas.
Arts a la Mode: The lawyers’ banter, with and without their client present, reveals the artifice behind their legal decisions: first, about whether to take the case, then how to win it, and then how to deal with a potential traitor in the firm.
Creative Loafing: By stripping off the veneer that has ennobled the profession of Perry Mason and Clarence Darrow, those great seekers of truth and justice, Mamet shows us that the people who uphold our legal system — and by extension, the people who write our laws and lead us — are calculating, dishonest, amoral, and above all else, watching out for themselves. Part of the fun is that while Mamet is subjecting law partners Jack Lawson and Henry Brown, plus the firm’s new minority recruit, to the merciless glare of his searchlight, the playwright also turns the mirror on himself. Winning a case in court, as Lawson describes it, is unmistakably akin to telling a story and deftly manipulating an audience’s attention and sympathy onstage.
My friend and I attended Saturday and loved the play adn the acting . . . and loved the theater!!! I’ve been in Charlotte for 20 years and its my first time. It wont be the last. It is very misleading to give you any negative feedback, because I give the whole experience an A++, but the conference table chair backs are too high for the audience to see the attorneys when they were sitting around the desk. I’m getting tickets for two of my co-workers I loved the evening so much. THANKS TO ALL OF YOU!!!!!