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Brian Zoldessy, who directed my thesis play Patterns, does double-duty as Director and Teach in this gem of a production of American Buffalo at Tri-C East. By the time the play was over Zoldessy had so inhabited the character of Teach that I was disgusted by him: that is to say, it’s a fantastic performance and if you know Brian, you know that in many ways he’s perfect for the role. (Not to say that Zoldessy is a whiny-ass like Teach, because he’s not.)

 

From the moment Donny walks on (Noah Budin), you can sense that the production is going to be good. There is a presence like that of Dennis Franz both physically and in the resonance of the voice; and great attention has been paid to the iambic rhythms often employed by Mamet. The strength of the language comes through because all of the actors and Zoldessy clearly pay careful attention to what is said, how what is said is said, and, most importantly with a Mamet play, what is unsaid.

The set is wonderful with a strong sense of a rundown pawn show somewhere and the two main characters shine through as the paranoiac losers they are; with the only faithful and redeeming character, Bobby (Justin Robinson), a down-on-his-luck junky being all too willing to become like the losers he idolizes. The appalling inversion of morality that takes place in this play makes it worth seeing again if you haven’t seen it in a while and worth seeing for the first time if you’ve never seen it.

A big plus is that Zoldessy and Tri-C do a great job.