For anyone who's read (or read about) playwright David Mamet's recent treatise on his conversion to conservative political thought, "The Secret Knowledge: On the Dismantling of American Culture," the idea that he had written a play called "Race" would be cause for grimaced teeth-gnashing.

However, the resulting brisk, darkly comedic drama making its West Coast debut at ACT isn't quite the ideological wreckage it could have been.

The play is dedicated to controversial black conservative thinker Shelby Steele, a recent Mamet mentor. Superficially stated, Steele believes affirmative action and associated actions have hobbled the U.S. conversation on race. Perhaps Mamet hopes to jump-start the conversation here, but he mostly flails unconvincingly with thinly constructed characters.

Mamet's ripped-from-the-headlines plot involves wealthy businessman Charles Strickland (Kevin O'Rourke) who's been accused of raping a woman in a hotel room. He's white; she's black. Strickland wants to hire a law firm headed by Anthony Fusco's Jack Lawson and his black partner, Henry Brown (Chris Butler). Very much up in the mix is their recently hired law school grad, young, beautiful and black Susan (Susan Heyward).

Mamet may have become the thinking man's Neil LaBute, showing he can put his characters in a topical situation and have them behave poorly through the gerrymandered arguments of his plot.

Continues through Nov. 13 at the American Conservatory Theater, 415 Geary St., San Francisco. 85 minutes. $10-$85, subject to change. (415) 749-2228. www.act-sf.org

Closing notice

B Street Theatre's excellent production of Yasmina Reza's 2009 Tony Award-winning play takes its final bows with four performances this weekend.

"God of Carnage" tells the story of two well-heeled couples who meet to discuss a violent encounter between their sons. The plot takes a couple of obvious twists and some unforeseen turns as well.

The fine ensemble includes Elisabeth Nunziato, Kurt Johnson, Dana Brooke and Dave Pierini. Buck Busfield directs.

Performances 8 p.m. Friday, 5 p.m. and 9 p.m. Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. B Street Mainstage, 2711 B St. Tickets: $22-$30. For ticket information, call (916) 443-5300 or go to www.bstreettheatre.org.

An appreciation

As an undergraduate English student at the University of California, Davis, in the mid-'70s, I was lucky enough to take a class on modern British drama taught by the esteemed Ruby Cohn. Learning of Ms. Cohn's passing at the age of 89 on Oct. 18 in Oakland, I can't help but reflect on what I still carry with me from that quarter.

Cohn was then and likely will always be the world's foremost authority on Samuel Beckett. Her books on his work remain the standard of recognizing and explicating his influence on 20th century literary arts.

Cohn had spent that summer in France with Beckett, as she always did, and often referred to him in class. But Cohn was no fawning admirer, as she maintained a clear, erudite, steely sense of literary criticism.

As much as I learned about contemporary British dramatists of the time, I came away with a stronger understanding of what serious academic study really was and particularly how to read and understand a play. Though Cohn was legendary at the time, I realized much later my great fortune at experiencing her expansive and rigorous intellect.

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