Mamet’s Play at Tiffany After Taper Dispute

David Mamet’s “Oleanna,” whose January production at the Mark Taper Forum was recently canceled over a casting dispute, is on again--but not at the Taper.

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Mamet’s three scenes of tense encounters between a male college professor and a female student--one of the most controversial plays to hit New York in recent seasons--is slated to open in January at the 99-seat Tiffany Theatre in West Hollywood. It will be directed by William H. Macy, who was set to stage it at the Taper. Macy plans to use actor Lionel Smith, who is at the center of the dispute.

Smith, who is African-American, has charged the Taper with racist behavior. Taper officials deny the charge.

The Taper production fell apart after Mamet insisted on choosing the cast for the two-character drama, including Smith, a longtime Mamet friend and veteran actor. According to Macy, “the sticking point” was the casting of Smith. Taper officials “had qualms about casting a black actor,” Macy said, “because they felt it would raise issues that weren’t addressed by the play.”

As presented in the original production in Cambridge, Mass., and the still-running Off-Broadway production in New York, the play focuses on issues of sexual harassment, political correctness and academic freedom. Both roles have been played by white actors in those productions.

Racism was “categorically not” involved in his decision, declared Taper artistic director Gordon Davidson. He said he would have “no objections” to the idea of a black actor in the role, but he did object to Mamet’s refusal to allow the Taper to collaborate in casting.

“If we were going to cast a black actor,” Davidson said, “I’d still want to see a whole bunch of actors. We owe it to ourselves as producers and to the acting community to see as many as we can.” But Mamet, said Davidson, felt his own casting decision was “the period at the end of the sentence.”

The issue of how a “a person of color in either role” might affect the interpretations of the play is so “secondary,” Davidson said, that “we never got to that point.”

Macy begs to differ and said he believes the added racial angle will make the play even more interesting: “I love what it does to the play.” Macy admits his own initial reactions to Mamet’s idea of casting Smith included some “racial stereotyping,” and he believes it’s important to examine such responses. However, he also predicted that “the issue of race will be over in 30 seconds (after the play begins).”

Smith accused Davidson of “acting in a racist manner.” He added that he would now use Davidson as the model for his upcoming characterization of the play’s professor. Told of Smith’s comment, Davidson replied, “I wish he reminded me of the professor in the play.”

Apparently there was one other factor why the casting of Smith was challenged--he isn’t enough of a star. Even though the Taper doesn’t use star billing, “recognizability” is still “one of the crucial factors” in casting, Davidson said. He pointed out that the 760-seat Taper needs larger crowds than the 339-seat Off-Broadway theater where “Oleanna” plays in New York or the 99-seat Tiffany.

“David Mamet is the star,” responded Smith. He said the original cast, Macy and Rebecca Pidgeon, isn’t famous, either.

Mamet was on a hunting trip and unavailable for comment, said an assistant in his Massachusetts office. But Macy responded to Davidson’s point that the principle of collaboration was the major issue: “All producers want to make projects collaborative. That’s what’s wrong with a lot of projects.”

The Old Globe Theatre in San Diego has scheduled the play for May and South Coast Repertory is considering a production, but non-L.A. stagings probably won’t be subject to such tight author-imposed casting controls, said Mamet’s agent, Howard Rosenstone.

The Taper’s production of “Oleanna” isn’t the theater’s only casualty of the rift with Mamet. The Taper had awarded Mamet the first of three $25,000 grants under the Timothy Childs program, set up in 1991 to encourage established playwrights to bring new works to the Taper, which was hoping to produce Mamet’s “The Old Neighborhood” as part of the deal. After the “Oleanna” dispute, Mamet returned the money he had already received. “Now it’s back to the drawing board” for the Childs program, said Taper producing director Robert Egan.