Before Mamet was Mamet, with the staccato dialogue and repetitive dialogue, and before he got knee-deep into genre writing and film-making, these two plays were written.

REUNION (1M 1F, 43 pgs and multiple scenes) is the story of a father re-establishing contact with his estranged daughter. It is written in a sort of blank verse which is possibly what caused Edith Olvier to praise it in The New Yorker as "a poem for two voices -- a distinguished and remarkable one." It is certainly distinguished from Mamet's later work, the plot as it is having very little forward momentum. But it is quite moving and excellent and a great soft introduction for actors who want to learn to 'speak Mamet.'

DARK PONY (1M 1childF, 10 pgs) is another father/daughter story and possibly the simplest play I've ever read. It seems to be informed by Bruno Bettleheim's ideas about the power of stories told to children set forth in THE USES OF ENCHANTMENT, a book that Mamet has acknowledged as having great influence on him. The story is this: as the father and daughter drive home (from where, we don't know), he passes the time by telling her a fairy-tale-like story about a handsome brave and the eponymous pony. The subtext of the tale is: everything will be okay. Like I said, it is a simple play, but I imagine it can be quite moving in performance.

Longtime fans of Mamet will want to read this to see a completely different side of the maestro; Mamet virgins will find this collection an easy way to get into Mamet. Those in between might prefer to work their way through the AMERICAN BUFFALOs and SPEED-THE-PLOWs before turning back to the start of it all.