Glengarry Glen Ross is a two-act drama by the American playwright David Mamet. The play premiered in London in September 1983 and received its first American production at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in February 1984. In March, it transferred to Broadway, where it ran for 378 performances and won the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for drama.
The play depicts the ruthless world of real estate salesmen, with fast-talking and unscrupulous men who fake friendship with their fellow salesmen as they steal their clients. The drama takes its name from an office contest to sell lots in two Florida developments called Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms. The amorality of the salesmen, driven by competition, comments on what Mamet sees as the American business ethic of success at any cost. Like other Mamet plays, Glengarry Glen Ross explores power relationships and is known for its intense dialogue, often filled with obscenities.
The Broadway production, directed by Gregory Mosher, had an all-male cast that featured Joe Mantegna, Mike Nussbaum, Robert Prosky, Lane Smith, James Tolkan, Jack Wallace, and J. T. Walsh. The actors in the 1992 motion-picture version of the play included Alan Arkin, Alec Baldwin, Jack Lemmon, and Al Pacino.
See Mamet, David.
