Race Dramaturgy

by Jahnesha Huertas

David Mamet’s plays Oleanna, Race, and Speed-The Plow have countless similarities. Not only does Mamet shine light on the dynamics of power, class, and authority between men and women, but the driving catalyst of his plot is almost always the sinister actions of a female. Whether this is the manifestations of sexist views on the behalf of the playwright is not completely apparent. Mamet shows women using their assets and positions in society to take advantage of male authorities.

In Oleanna, Carol, is a college student who can't handle the pressures of college and seeks out extra help from her professor. She makes it very clear that it is unfair that the authorities who hold the power to decide if she fails are human beings just like herself - they are people who aren't less lacking in their perfections, so why do they hold so much power over her and society? Susan in Race is also a young woman, an intern to be exact, and is surrounded by men in the workplace. She is the one with less professional experience, yet she ends up being the biggest threat to the case. Karen in Speed-The-Plow portrays herself as pure and naïve and is significantly younger than Gould, the film producer, who is obviously attracted to her. She wants a film idea to be produced and she knows that she can use her sexuality to get what she wants. She is very honest and upfront with Gould about his desires and romanticizes his need for love as virtuous. She makes him think that they both are searching for the same thing.

Mamet has a very specific formula. All of these plays have only one woman in them and he places the female in a male-dominated atmosphere. Mamet gives most of the social and professional power to the men in his pieces. By making Carol the student, Susan the eager intern and Karen the secretary, they seem the least threatening. His plays communicate that still in today’s world, men hold most of the power. Mamet puts his female characters at different social statuses than their male counterparts to mirror the dynamics of authority in the real world and their efforts on their inferior subjects. Also, Mamet makes age a prominent factor in all the characters of his plays - the women are all the youngest.

Race takes this a step further by making race a prominent issue in the plot. One of Susan’s mentors is also black like herself. By doing this, Mamet makes the statement that gender trumps race. Even though both characters are black, Susan’s position does not hinder her efforts to stand up for the alleged rape victim - another black woman. Both characters are more married to the bigger picture than their current situations. They are willing to risk everything to prove a point. Even though the alleged rapist never commits foul play against Susan personally, she still wants to make him an example.

Susan’s character challenges the definition of right and wrong. She has a very strong feeling that the alleged rapist is indeed guilty, however, she doesn’t act on her strong emotions until after her mentor asks her to play the victim in a reenactment of the encounter. Such an act would be her admitting that a white man was innocent of the rape of another black woman. Susan believes that since the alleged rapist confessed to the crime, thus proving that he was guilty, all of her foul play up until that point simply does not count. Susan is actually an aid in uncovering the truth. Her male colleagues are loyal to their client, but not necessarily loyal to the truth. As lawyers, they aren't interested in revealing the truth, they only want to protect their version of the truth.

The female characters in Race, Oleanna, and Speed-The-Plow are more loyal to the principles of their life situations than to the situations themselves. Susan, Karen and Carol are interested in making a statement about justice and truth in the society that we live in and Mamet uses them as a literary device to not only forward the plot, but as a symbol. Mamet shows that though men do not hold all of the power, woman are still highly underestimated. Mamet's female characters show that it doesn’t matter how mature and professional a male may be - a younger woman who appears defenseless can fool any man into doing what she wants.

Oleanna

by Sabrina Khan 

Picture yourself as a professor whose ideals conflict with a student’s. What lengths would you go to in order to stay true to your beliefs?  How far would you go to protect yourself, or achieve success, if it meant betraying your ideals? How would you recognize it if you already had?

Now, imagine that you are a student whose beliefs challenge your professor’s authority. You follow your beliefs completely, but you take extreme measures. You ruin everything the professor has worked for. How would you justify your actions? 

Both the professor and the student end up in a sticky situation, so which would you rather be? In the end, whatever side you take, you’re wrong.

David Mamet’s Oleanna explores such profound questions and the invisible battle lines drawn within the professor-student relationship. Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, who play John (the professor) and Carol (the student), both give tremendous performances in this stunning look into the complexities of academic hierarchy.

The entire play takes place in the John’s spacious office and opens as he answers a phone call while Carol waits to speak. The first act can be difficult to follow because most of the dialogue is delivered in fragments. We soon discover, however, that John is in the process of gaining tenure. Meanwhile, Carol is distraught because she is lost in the classroom and refuses to fail, at least not without a fight. A simple discussion about Carol’s grades and her inability to understand John’s book escalates into an argument about his teaching methods. Soon enough, the roles are reversed and Carol gains more control over the situation than John or the audience expects. According to her, John is guilty of sexual exploitation and now runs the risk of losing his job. At this juncture, both are sharply abused by the other and push one another to the brink of sanity and us to the edge of our seats.

The script blazes with brilliant discourse fired from both characters. As the audience, we become emotionally invested and take sides, but we find it difficult to completely support either character. As Carol provokes John, we understand his anger, and as he attempts to pacify and patronize her, we feel her degradation. One wonders if John is right about education when he says that it is just “prolonged and systematic hazing,” and one considers Carol’s right to doubt his ability as an educator. How can he conceive of such an idea while teaching those who hope to learn?  It is all a matter of power—who has it and who can manipulate it to his or her advantage.

Oleanna makes immense social and political commentary. Mamet compels us to critically view the educational platform and see that the same problems exist in every leader-subject dynamic.

It is no coincidence that the play, originally written in 1992, was Mamet’s response to the highly publicized Anita Hill - Clarence Thomas hearings. Thomas, currently an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court, came under fire during his 1991 confirmation hearings when Hill, an attorney who used to work for him, testified that he had sexually harassed her. He was confirmed despite the allegations, but the truth behind them is still debated to this day.

Oleanna is an intensely powerful show sure to provoke the mind of any audience member.

HOW TO SEE THE SHOW: $25 Student Rush • Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th Street

Oleanna

by Jahnesha Huertas

 
David Mamet’s audience-dividing Oleanna follows Carol (Julia Stiles), an academically struggling student, when she comes to her professor, John (Bill Pullman), in a desperate attempt to raise her grade. Carol doesn’t want to simply protect her GPA, but she wants to actually UNDERSTAND the material in order to understand life as a whole, John agrees to re-teach the entire semester to her during private one-one sessions, but,in the midst of doing so, he challenges all that Carol believes about life, authority and power. He refers to higher education as “prolonged hazing” and tells to Carol that all personal issues, financial struggles and sexual prejudices she has overcome to gain acceptance to the institution have been pointless.

John’s intentions are pure. He is working on receiving tenure at the institution and seems to see a bit of himself in Carol. Though they are of different ages, sexes and economic classes, they each have an idealistic sense of achievement they want to fulfill. John repeatedly has private sessions with Carol and says he wants to help her because he “likes” her. Carol then brings a suite against John for sexual harassment. She recalls everything that the audience has seen, but attaches malicious intentions to John’s words, causing the audience to rethink what actually happened.

The set realistically modeled a professor’s office. There were no set changes since the entire play took place in John’s office, but there were numerous costume changes that I found disturbing. To represent the passing of time, the stage would fade to black after and the window shades of the professor’s office would rise to show the campus outside (either sunny or winter-like to inform the audience of the season) and then close again. The actors would then return in different or altered clothing. Technically, this gave the actors time for a wardrobe change, but in terms of the flow of the story it depleted artistic continuity. For a moment, the audience was taken out of the realm of the plot, and the actors had to work even harder in the next scene to recapture the energy.

The true question of Oleanna is what is power and how does it fit into the idealistic standards we set for our lives? Carol didn’t lie in her accusations, she simply recounted what she felt had happened. Although she did report the truth, I feel she altered the facts to show her professor that, although he has the authority, she has the power. Words and actions are perceived differently and that difference in perception defines our interaction with humanity and what embodies our individual visions of what is “truth”.

HOW TO SEE THE SHOW: $25 Student Rush • Golden Theatre, 252 W. 45th Street www.oleannaonbroadway.com