Barbera argues in this essay that, despite characters who lack true intellect, Mamet's play is a work of high intellectual content that adroitly chronicles a facet of American existence.

David Mamet, currently an associate director of Chicago's Goodman Theater, was born in Chicago in 1947 and grew up on the city's South Side. He attributes his sense of dramatic rhythm in part to a job during his high-school years as busboy at Second City, the famous Chicago improvisational cabaret After several years in New England attending college and working at various theaters as a house manager and actor, Mamet returned to his native city and a series of odd jobs which included a stint teaching theater classes at the University of Chicago. Some of his plays were staged at small Chicago theaters during the early '70's including the St. Nicholas Theater of which Mamet was a founding...