Jeremy Piven Signs on for Broadway Revival of Mamet's Speed-the-Plow

Entourage star Jeremy Piven has signed on to play producer Bobby Gould in a forthcoming Broadway revival of David Mamet's 1988 dark comedy Speed-the-Plow, according to Variety. The production has set a tentative start date of October 3 and opening date of October 23 at a theater to be announced. It will be directed by Neil Pepe, artistic director of off-Broadway's Atlantic Theater Company, which was co-founded by Mamet.

Speed-the-Plow focuses on two high-powered Hollywood executives, Charlie Fox and Bobby Gould, who have come up from the mailroom together. Charlie brings Bobby a surefire hit with a major star attached. Bobby seems certain to give the green light, until his beautiful new secretary gets involved. The original Broadway production of the play opened on May 3, 1988, at the Royale now Jacobs Theatre starring Ron Silver who won that year's Best Actor Tony Award as Charlie, Joe Mantegna as Bobby and Madonna as the mysterious secretary, Karen. The production ran for a total of 279 performances.

Piven, who won a Golden Globe Award for his performance as uber-agent Ari Gold in HBO's Entourage, received a 2005 Drama Desk nomination for his off-Broadway debut performance in MCC Theatre's production of Neil LaBute's Fat Pig.

Speed-the-Plow is currently running at London's Old Vic Theatre with a cast that includes Kevin Spacey as Bobby, Jeff Goldblum as Charlie and Laura Michelle Kelly as Karen. Another Mamet play, American Buffalo, has been announced for a fall production with a cast led by John Leguizamo. The playwright's latest work, November, is currently running at Broadway's Ethel Barrymore Theatre.

According to Variety the design team for Speed-the-Plow will likely include Scott Pask sets, Laura Bauer costumes and Brian MacDevitt lights. The revival will be produced by Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and Steve Traxler, the trio who brought both November and the Tony-winning 2005 revival of Glengarry Glen Ross to Broadway.