The St. Louis Actors' Studio begins its fourth season with David Mamet's NOVEMBER. Mamet's known for exposing the more corrupt under-belly of things, exploring the decadence people are capable of with a writing style that has come to be known as "Mamet speak", exemplified in plays like his 1984 Pulitzer Prize winner, Glengarry Glen Ross. Mamet also co-authored the screenplay for the 1997 film “Wag the Dog” that like NOVEMBER, featured Oval Office hijinks and manipulations -- with the president hiring a Hollywood producer to stage a fake war to distract the public from a sex scandal.
So, it's days before the election, and a very unpopular incumbent president, Charles H. P. Smith, is in a dire situation. His poll numbers are "lower than Gandhi's cholesterol". When he asks his lawyer why people hate him so much his lawyer replies, "Because you fucked up everything you touched." Not only that, but his political allies have pulled the financial plug and his devoted speechwriter is on vacation. Smith is desperate to get re-elected and secure the funds for his presidential library, or at least leave the white house with a little cash in his own pocket. What's a commander-in-chief to do?
