Famous American Playwright and Storyteller David Mamet

On November 30th, 1947 David Alan Mamet was born in Chicago. Known for having an avid imagination and a natural knack for storytelling, throughout his childhood he was known to keep a pen and paper close and even professed to his mother that one day he would eventually become a famous writer.

When he was older, he taught at several prestigious universities including Goddard College, New York University, and the Yale Drama School.Currently, he occasionally still lectures to classes at the Atlantic Theater Company, of which he is a principal founding member.

He originally started his career as an actor, then a director before he was noted as a talented playwright in the 1970's.His first major plays were "The Duck Variations", "Sexual Perversity in Chicago", and "American Buffalo".

Many of his plays have been originally produced and performed by the St. Nicholas Theater Company in Chicago.There, he is not only esteemed as a founding member, but also as the current Artistic Director.

The production was a hit with both audiences and critics alike and was eventually awarded the coveted Obie Award.The play soon thereafter opened on Broadway and enjoyed similar widespread fanfare.

Other popular works of Mamet's during this period include "The Woods", "A Life in the Theatre", "The Water Engine", "Edmond", and "Lakeboat".Once the seventies passed, Mamet began writing for other projects, including a handful of extraordinarily popular films.

These films included "Ronin", which was originally published under an assumed name, J D Zeik.Other film work included "The Verdict", "The Untouchables", "The Postman Always Rings Twice", "Rising Son", "Hoffa", "Vanya on 42nd Street", and "The Edge".Many of Mamet's first screenplays were simply adaptations of plays which he had already published.

It was only "Glengarry Glen Ross", his third screenplay that ultimately won him the coveted Pulitzer Prize.Following the award, in 1986 he wrote and directed the film "House of Games".Since then, he has written and directed a steady stream of other films including "State and Main", "Homicide", and "Things Change".