Photo by Bryan Bedder

In David Mamet's latest show, the playwright and director turns his unique perspective and Pulitzer Prize-winning pen to the legal world and tensions that are literally black and white. The cast members of his latest work—"Race," which opens Dec. 6 at New York's Ethel Barrymore Theatre—offer insight not only into their new show but also into the methods and meaning of Mamet.

The production's big-name cast is composed of James Spader and David Alan Grier as lawyers who debate defending a wealthy white client, played by Richard Thomas, on charges of raping a black woman. Kerry Washington plays a junior associate at the firm whose work on the case becomes personal.

Details of the plot remain shrouded in secrecy at Mamet's orders. Spader believes this adds to the show's impact on its audience. "At its best, it should be a provocation," he says. "That works best when freshly absorbed and not talked about before." Though Mamet has a tendency to avoid the press at times, Thomas agrees with Spader that other motives led to the demands for silence. "Take it on faith that he's not just being coy," Thomas says. "There's nothing coy about David Mamet."

"He doesn't want a 25-word summary about this play and the issues it addresses," Thomas adds. Such a brief statement would, indeed, fail to capture one of the author's works. Mamet approaches characters and subjects with a nuance and complexity that draws in audience members and actors alike.

Spader touches on this power in explaining his sense of connection to past shows and, in turn, his enthusiasm to work on "Race"—his first Broadway venture. "The plays of his that I like the most seem very familiar, but they are not of our world or our community," he says. "They are enticing worlds that are so familiar but not quite ours. They're his, I guess. And his worlds always seem to be occupied by hustlers and con men."

The characters seldom look like con men when the curtain rises, however. Mamet's shows attempt to tackle controversies arising out of the everyday environments where professional and personal lives merge. Though the plot sets the characters toward controversial issues, the issues do not come from the playwright; they come from the basic process of the interaction itself. "The subject in and of itself doesn't really exist," Thomas says. "It's only when people come into contact and establish story lines that it means anything."

Washington's attraction to the play stems from Mamet's signature combination of abstract social constructions such as the idea of race and a sense of authenticity in the writing. "I'm very drawn to the truth in his work," she says. "And then he takes an idea—like the idea of race—and he puts a question mark after it. It's fascinating and it's so packed with meaning."

The results can be controversial and cathartic. "I'm not sure how I feel about it," Spader says. "There's a satisfaction in talking about it. It's a subject we're all compelled by but spend an enormous amount of energy avoiding."

For Thomas, the script combines the most important aspects of modern theater: "It's entertaining, like a book you can't put down. But it also makes you examine what you think you know about yourself." Yet, with the universality of the idea of race in America, the thoughts the show provokes go further. "This is about how complicated it is to be a human being," Thomas says.

Mamet will not speak to the press about this show. As a result, little is known about what influenced his choice of subject or approach. While some point out that questions of race and ethnicity in America have come to the forefront with Obama's election, Spader doubts a connection. Further, he says, "I suspect it was written long before Obama was even nominated."

Clearly, the content matter is highly charged and personal, but Spader thinks it may be even more immediate for Mamet. "A play like this has to come from personal experience to know enough to write it like this," he says. Thomas adds, "One can only hope it's inflammatory."