The Power in ‘Oleanna’

Don Shirley is right to be concerned that “Oleanna” doesn’t reflect the reality of sexual harassment (“Casting’s Just One Bug in ‘Oleanna,’ ” Feb. 7). However, “Oleanna” is not a play about sexual harassment.

As a UCLA associate dean of students who works with those affected by sexual harassment and whose area of academic expertise is gender issues, I am uneasy with anyone thinking that the interchange David Mamet sets up in the first act bears any realistic relation to the sexual harassment some experience. In fact, the behavior trivializes the problem.

The value of “Oleanna” is its ability to incite--”My job is to make you mad . . . ,” says John. As a vehicle for forcing us to rethink power and perception, the play is an achievement.

MELORA SUNDT

Los Angeles

“Oleanna” neither extols nor vilifies political correctness; instead, it is about the debate itself. Each side is hopelessly inarticulate, and neither side makes the effort required to understand the other’s point of view. Unable to reason together, teacher and student, man and woman, are reduced to a struggle over power.

“Oleanna” is a deliberately ambiguous play. This frustrates those whose ideological blinders prevent them from seeing the ambiguity, but it rewards those who think about it.

ROGER JANEWAY

Los Angeles

Don Shirley, I salute you! You finally and exquisitely demythologized “Oleanna.” Your “rigged as a play can get” puts it bluntly and succinctly. I could never understand the awe in which this play has been held. As you say, “It has only one thing going for it: timeliness.” And that’s not enough to cause all the furor. The Mark Taper Forum should have disliked the play for reasons other than casting and should have had the guts to say so.

JIM BUCKLEY, Artistic Director

The Pewter Plough Playhouse

Cambria