American Buffalo

"Action talks and bullshit walks," Don (Bill Smitrovich) tells his errand boy Bobby (Freddy Rodriguez) in Mamet's Pulitzer Prize-winning play. There isn't a lot of action in American Buffalo, but as any Mamet fan knows, there is plenty of talk: about business, money, character and ethics, which is riveting. Don's working a scam with Bobby—they plan to steal a rare coin collection—but he reckons without the help of his poker buddy Teach (Ron Eldard), a seedy, paranoid waster, who inveigles himself into the scheme at Bobby's expense. Artistic Director Randall Arney helms the show, the first major staging in LA in more than a decade.