"The finest American author of his generation."-- Sunday Mail " David Mamet's] writing, like his life, brings an intellectual sensibility to a working-class world. Mamet employs Aristotle's rules of drama to write about petty thieves and sleazy salesmen; he composes free verse out of grunts, sighs, obscenities and sentence fragments. In both his stark writing style and his fascination with the male tribe . Mamet resembles Ernest Hemingway more, perhaps, than any writer of his generation."-- New York The Penitent follows the story of an acclaimed psychiatrist who refuses to testify in court on behalf of his patient--an act that might undo everything he's worked for. Here, David Mamet is in his wheelhouse--examining and undermining systems of power and the impact they have on individuals caught in their grasp. An exciting return for this playwright to the Atlantic Theater Company, which he helped found in 1985.

David Mamet is an American playwright, director and screenwriter whose most notable works include Glengarry Glen Ross (Pulitzer Prize for Drama), American Buffalo, Speed-the-Plow, Oleanna, November, Race , and The Anarchist . Besides the film adaptations for his plays, his major screenwriting credits include The Postman Always Rings Twice, The Verdict, Rising Sun, Wag the Dog , and Hannibal . Over the course of his prolific career, Mamet has earned Tony Award nominations, Academy Award nominations, Drama Desk Awards and "Screenwriter of the Year" from the London Critics Circle Film Awards.