What is the play Oleanna about?

What is the play Oleanna about?

Oleanna is a 1992 two-character play by David Mamet, about the power struggle between a university professor and one of his female students, who accuses him of sexual harassment and, by doing so, spoils his chances of being accorded tenure.

What do we learn of John in the final call Oleanna?

During a final phone call, John learns that the earlier calls were really attempts to lure him to a surprise party. He can no longer delay his departure and the student/teacher conference ends abruptly. In the second scene the relationship between student and professor has been radically altered.

What does Carol want in Oleanna?

Carol wants to teach John a lesson—and the meek, lost front she presented in the first act may have been a manipulative façade designed to provoke John into behavior that crossed a professional boundary.

Why is the play called Oleanna?

David Mamet uses several allusions in his play Oleanna, the biggest of which is the title. Oleanna makes reference to a utopian community founded in New Norway by a man named Ole Bull. However, the colony was located in a densely-forested part of Pennsylvania, void of arable land.

What genre is Oleanna?

drama film
Oleanna is a 1994 drama film written and directed by David Mamet based on his 1992 play and starring William H.

Who is John in Oleanna?

John, a professor at an unnamed American university, is one of the two dual protagonists and antagonists in Oleanna.

Who is Carol in Oleanna?

The college student Carol (played by Rebecca Pidgeon) and the professor John (W. H. Macy) meet in his office. She is doing badly in his course and can’t understand the work. He, about to receive tenure and buy a new house, offers to tutor her.

Who manipulates whom in Oleanna?

Carol accuses John of trying to manipulate her, when really, she has perhaps been the one manipulating him into revealing certain things about himself and behaving a certain way so that she can gather more and more ammunition against him. Get the entire Oleanna LitChart as a printable PDF.

Who wrote Oleanna?

David MametOleanna / Playwright

How old is Carol in Oleanna?

twenty-year-old
The dream of Oleanna became a dream abandoned. A dropout without tenancy. In the first scene of the play, John – a university professor, husband, and father in his mid-forties – is on the verge of achieving tenure. He is meeting his twenty-year-old student, Carol, in the tight confines of his office.

Who is the antagonist in Oleanna?

John
John, a professor at an unnamed American university, is one of the two dual protagonists and antagonists in Oleanna.

Who is the protagonist in Oleanna?