‘David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein’ to Stage NY Reading

Art imitates life imitates art? “A Play About David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein,” a very meta stage show whose title references the fiery playwright and disgraced Hollywood producer, will stage a charity reading this summer in New York City.

Written by Mathilde Dratwa (“Dirty Laundry”) and directed by “Russian Doll” co-creator Leslye Headland, the play will have its New York premiere on July 21 at the Judith O. Rubin Theater at Playwrights Horizons, as a reading to benefit the New York Civil Liberties Union. The one-night-only event will feature Billy Eichner (“Billy on the Street”), Abbi Jacobson (“Broad City”), Heléne Yorke (“The Other Two”) and Kara Young (“Purpose”).

Though the name pretty much says it all, “A Play About David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein” is described in the official press release as “exactly what it sounds like — and not at all what it sounds like: it’s about Mamet (who has, in real life, written a play about Weinstein); it’s about way too many dudes named David; but, first and foremost, it’s about three women — each with her own reasons to be pretty… angry.”

It’s true that Mamet, the Pulitzer prize-winning playwright and screenwriter of “Glengarry Glen Ross,” “The Anarchist,” “House of Games” and “Wag the Dog,” wrote a #MeToo-inspired stage show called “Bitter Wheat” about the downfall of a Weinstein-esque film mogul. John Malkovich starred in the production, which debuted on the West End in 2019 to dismal reviews, with Variety calling the play a “catastrophically misjudged, cheap and nasty satire.” (For what it’s worth, Malkovich at the time predicted that “a lot of people” would dislike like the show, which he described as a “black farce.”)

Producers of “A Play About David Mamet Writing a Play About Harvey Weinstein” called the show “audacious, surprising and moving.”

“We have been enamored with Mathilde’s audacious, surprising, and moving play since we first read it,” producers George Strus and Rachel Sussman said in a joint statement. “We are thrilled to have assembled this stellar cast under Leslye Headland’s leadership to support the unceasing work of the NYCLU at this crucial moment.”