‘Glengarry Glen Ross’

In/Visible Theatre artistic director Derek Davidson likes “Glengarry Glen Ross.”

And he doesn’t try to hide it.

“I truly think that ‘Glengarry Glen Ross’ is one of the best plays of the last 50 years,” Davidson said.

Boone’s newest theater company presents American playwright David Mamet’s celebrated play March 1 and 2 at 7:30 p.m. in Appalachian State University’s I.G. Greer Studio Theater.

“Glengarry Glen Ross” originally opened on Broadway in 1984. The plot involves ruthless real estate salesmen who need to either make sales or lose their jobs.

Davidson, an Appalachian State University theater professor and co-founder of In/Visible Theatre, said, “David Mamet has an amazing ear for natural language, the way people speak – the cadences, the musicality, even the poetry in expletives.”

Davidson wrote and directed “Bumbershoot,” In/Visible Theatre’s inaugural production, which the company sent to the 2012 New York International Fringe Festival. Local audiences may have seen his recent ASU productions of “Middletown” or his sustainable approach to the play, “Big Love.”

“Glengarry Glenn Ross” is intended for adult audiences, with the characters using frequent rough language as an expression of their desperate circumstances, Davidson said.

“The cursing is the pigment and is profoundly connected to character,” he said. “There is something brutal and rudimentary about the conflicts in this play in that they’re fighting for basic scraps that will help them survive.”

As part of its mission, In/Visible Theatre presents new plays, new interpretations of older plays or, in this case, plays infrequently produced in the area. Also dedicated to using regional artists whenever possible, In/Visible Theatre is producing “Glengarry Glen Ross” because of the interest of a group of local actors.

“I love working with Derek,” said Victor Rivera, an actor who appeared in “Middletown” last November. “A bunch of us actually approached him about directing ‘Glengarry,’ and we were pretty excited he said ‘yes.’ We knew it would be a perfect challenge for us and that his love of interesting language would make him a really good match for this play.”

The all-male cast also includes Chris Hinton, Jack Lafferty, Tim Reis, Jacob Dailey, Ryan Sheehy and Preston Perrin. Davidson said that having only male characters is also connected to the play’s theme, saying, “They’re products of a place and time, urban men in a culture of testosterone, living by their wits, where capitalism is taken to a horrific conclusion. It is a great, great play. It really is. I love it.”

“Glengarry Glen Ross” will play at 7:30 p.m. in the I.G. Greer Theatre on the ASU campus March 1 and 2. Tickets are $10 and may be purchased at the door or by calling (828) 262-3063. For more information, contact In/Visible Theatre producing artistic director Karen Sabo at (invisibletheatrewnc@gmail.com)