Question: What famous playwright and essayist directed the movie House of Games? 
Context: The Shakespeare Bridge in the Franklin Hills section of Los Angeles, California, was built in 1926.  It is made of concrete and decorated in a Gothic style.  It was named after famous playwright William Shakespeare and later designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument #126 in 1974. Sakae Kubo (久保 栄 , Kubo Sakae , December 28, 1900 – March 15, 1958) was a Japanese playwright and director.  Kubo studied and translated German literature at Tokyo Imperial University and then soon he became the disciple of another famous playwright and theatre director, Kaoru Osanai.  From his mentor, Kubo had adopted Shingeki theater, a new type of drama that developed in Japan in the early 20th century under the influence of Western-style theater.  To honor the death of his teacher, Kubo began to write one of his most famous works, which was "", translated by David Goodman.  This play was most recognized for its focus on socialism that was depicted in pre-war Japan.  It is seen as realist drama, for it describes the struggles of a reform-minded intellectual in the Hokkaido countryside which took place during the Soviet famine of 1932–33. The Panida (pronunciation: "rhymes with Canada") Theater is a small community theater in Sandpoint, Northern Idaho in the United States of America.  The theater was built as a vaudeville and movie house by F.C. Weskil in 1927.  Deriving its name from "the "PAN"handle of "IDA"ho", The Panida opened as a vaudeville and movie house in 1927, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Past performers have included Bonnie Raitt, Arlo Guthrie, Wynton Marsalis, and Mitch Miller.  Actor Viggo Mortensen began his acting career at The Panida.  They play host to art house films, current movies and past classics.  They host concerts, business workshops, dance performances, comedy (including Gallagher on his final tour), live theatre and much more.  They have an active film club and feature many film festivals. David Alan Mamet ( ; born November 30, 1947) is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter, and film director.  As a playwright, Mamet has won a Pulitzer Prize and received Tony nominations for "Glengarry Glen Ross" (1984) and "Speed-the-Plow" (1988).  Mamet first gained acclaim for a trio of off-Broadway plays in 1976, "The Duck Variations," "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," and "American Buffalo."  His play "Race" opened on Broadway on December 6, 2009, and his play "The Penitent" previewed off-Broadway on February 8, 2017. The Burnell family were a Dublin family who were prominent in Irish affairs from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century.  They acquired substantial estates and married into the aristocracy.  They produced several noted judges and politicians, a famous playwright, and a poet.  They were staunch Roman Catholics and supported the Irish Confederacy in the 1640s. House of Games is a 1987 heist-thriller film directed by David Mamet, his directorial debut.  He also wrote the screenplay, based on a story he co-wrote with Jonathan Katz.  The film's cast includes Lindsay Crouse, Joe Mantegna, Ricky Jay, and J. T. Walsh. S. L. Puram Sadanandan (1928–2005) was a famous playwright and film scriptwriter of Kerala, India.  He was a trailblazer of the theatre movement in Kerala.  He was born on April 15, 1928, in S.L.Puram in Alappuzha district to P.Narayanan and Karthyayani.  He started writing plays while studying in school and associated himself with the trade union activities in his village.  He became a strong sympathizer of the Indian Communist Party witnessing the hardships of the poor workers around him and had close contacts with Communist leaders like R.Sugathan.  He took part in the Punnapra-Vayalar uprising and was arrested and imprisoned and could not pursue his formal studies further .  However, he withdrew himself from active politics following the split in the Communist party.  He was founder of "Kalpana Theatres" and "Suryasoma Theatres" at S.L. Puram.  He has written more than 60 plays.  His first drama, "Kudiyirakku", was staged when he was only 16 years old.  He entered the filmworld by writing the dialogues for the film Sreekovil in 1962.  He had written script for famous Malayalam film of the 1960s, "Chemmeen".  He wrote scripts for more than 135 films and many of them won state and national awards.  In 1965 he got the national award for the best screen play for the film "Agniputhri".  He died on September 16, 2005.  He was survived by his wife Omana Sadanandan and two sons, Jayasurya (who directed the films "Speed Track" and "Angel John") and Jayasoma. The Vernon Plaza Theatre, located in Vernon, Texas, first opened in 1953 as a state-of-the-art fully, modern movie house and was the first theater in Texas built to show 3-D movies.  Constructed atop the ruins of the Vernon Opera House, the movie house has had several owners and in recent years fell into disrepair.  Dallas artist Stephen Taylor began extensive renovations of the theater in 2004.  In late 2006, author Mark Finn and his wife Cathy Day, along with Stephen Ray and spouse, Sahar Arafat-Ray, acquired and began operation of the old theater. The Grand Illusion Cinema is the longest running independent cinema in the city of Seattle, Washington, and has become a landmark of the film community.  Opened as The Movie House in March 1970 by Randy Finley at 1403 NE 50th St in a converted dentist’s office the cinema became the city’s first intimate arthouse and showcased foreign and revival films.  The cinema's success led to Randy creating the Movie House in Portland, Oregon in 1973.  He then took over the Guild 45th Theater and created the Seven Gables Cinema at 50th and Roosevelt in Seattle.  They, and other theaters, became the Seven Gables Theatre Chain, which was later merged with Landmark Theatres.  The Grand Illusion was never part of the Seven Gables chain and remained a popular independent venue.  Non-profit film arts organization, the Northwest Film Forum, saved the theater from closure in 1997, remodeled it, and revitalized interest in the institution. The Covedale Center for the Performing Arts is a live theater venue located at 4990 Glenway Avenue, Cincinnati, Ohio.  The building was originally built by the Ackerman Family and opened as a cinema on March 21, 1947 with 924-seat movie house.  In the 1970s a wall was erected down the middle to allow for a two-screen set-up.  In 1998 the movie house was converted into a Cinema Grill, offering second-run movies and a dinner.  That shut down a year later.  The grill reopened in 2000 but went out of business again.  The building was purchased by Cincinnati Young People's Theatre and opened on July 26, 2002 with the musical production "West Side Story".
Answer: David Mamet