When Robert Brustein and August Wilson squared off for their Jan. 27 debate at Town Hall, it became the hottest ticket in town. Repercussions are already being felt, not only from the nature of their discussion, but in the idea that famous theatre speakers of a somewhat controversial nature will draw a big audience.

The next volley has been fired by David Mamet, who will speak on "Three Uses Of The Knife - The Nature and Purpose of Drama" three times at various venues of Columbia University: Feb. 24: Miller Theatre; Feb. 25 & 26: The Low Memorial Library. All evenings start at 8 PM.

Sponsored by Columbia University Press and The Committee For Columbia Lectures On American Culture, the Mamet lecture is free and open to the public.

Mamet, who began his career in Chicago, is the author of Sexual Perversity In Chicago, The Cryptogram, Edmond, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Life In The Theatre, Speed-The-Plow and Oleanna, as well as the essay collection, Writing In Restaurants. His controversial nature stems from several plays' use of profanity (American Buffalo, Glengarry, Sexual Perversity) and a perceived misogyny in his treatment of female characters (Oleanna, Sexual Peversity, Speed-The-Plow, Cryptogram).

--By David Lefkowitz