The Hollywood Hell

In 1896, William Selig founded the first film studio in Hollywood, then a sleepy farming town, to escape Thomas Edison’s eastern cartel. From then on, Hollywood churned out product. Film was a commodity, seldom art - and even less today. Speed-the-Plow, a play by David Mamet, concerns an aesthete and...

By Penn Bullock

August 13, 2009

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In 1896, William Selig founded the first film studio in Hollywood, then a sleepy farming town, to escape Thomas Edison’s eastern cartel. From then on, Hollywood churned out product. Film was a commodity, seldom art - and even less today.

Speed-the-Plow, a play by David Mamet, concerns an aesthete and a profiteer in a Hollywood office. Both mid-level execs, they’re debating whether to take an inane blockbuster over an adaptation of an apocalyptic novel. When they throw their secretary into the argument, Hollywood shows its true face as a degenerate slum. In Mamet’s own words, Speed-the-Plow is “about work and the end of the world.” It’s having its southeastern premiere at the Gable Stage (1200 Anastasia Ave, Coral Gables) in the Biltmore Hotel, a building that radiates the noir glamour of 1930s Hollywood. Speed-the-Plow opens 8 p.m. on August 15 and runs till September 13. Tickets cost $42.50 or less. Call 305-446-1116, or visit gablestage.org.
Thursdays-Sundays, 8 p.m. Starts: Aug. 15. Continues through Sept. 13, 2009

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