Oleanna is powerful two-character play from David Mamet, which is all about the serious struggle between a university professor and a female student who is accusing him of sexual harassment, thus squashing his chances of gaining tenure at the school. This is a story of the extreme destruction which can be brought about through complete miscommunication, while also addressing the political correctness of dealing a topic as complicated as sexual harassment.
A mere eighty minutes in length, Oleanna wastes no time in its delivery while afterward urging the audience to passionately discuss its subject matter of power, gender, class, and political correctness, exactly as Mamet had intended. If riveting drama appeals to you, Oleanna may very well be the show for you as it exposes the ugly underbelly of human relationship.
Oleanna premiered in May 1992 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, as the first production of Mamet's new Back Bay Theater Company, and featured William H. Macy as John, the complacent, arrogant, and intolerable professor who seems to unconsciously abuse the academic power he holds over the lives of his students. Rebecca Pidgeon initially played the female lead, Carol – described as possibly one of Mamet's most fully developed female characters, the timid and confused nobody whose failure to understand the ideas and principles presented in John's class cause her to seek further personal instruction.
