Press Releases
High Resolution Production Photos: OLEANNA
OLEANNA
directed by Elaine Vaan Hogue
OCT 14-NOV 5/2017
mainstage theater
It’s all about power in David Mamet’s groundbreaking drama about political correctness and perception. When John, a professor, tries to help his student Carol, is it a misunderstanding or inherent misogyny that causes trouble? Featuring Johnny Lee Davenport (The Whipping Man, Thurgood) and Obehi Janice (The Gift Horse), Oleanna crackles with the fiery dialogue of Mamet at his finest.
Note: In accordance with the playwright’s wishes and our contractual obligations, we will not be hosting post-performance talkbacks for this production. Check back here soon for opportunities to engage with us, including our open First Rehearsal, Sneak Peek, and our fall session of Page to Stage.
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MAINSTAGE SEASON
Ideation | Oleanna | Man of La Mancha | The Bakelite Masterpiece | Two Jews Walk into a War…
STATEMENTS OF SURVIVAL SERIES
Unveiled | Statements after an Arrest under the Immorality Act | Lonely Planet | Ripe Frenzy
Seating Chart
Hearing Loop-Enabled
The mainstage theater is equipped with a Tele-Coil Loop System. Patrons with hearing aids and cochlear implants can set their devices to “T-Coil” to take advantage of the assistive listening system. Patrons wishing for assistive listening devices may pick up a headset from the Box Office upon arrival at the theater. Click here to learn more.
L-R: Johnny Lee Davenport and Obehi Janice
L-R: Obehi Janice and Johnny Lee Davenport
L-R: Obehi Janice and Johnny Lee Davenport
L-R: Johnny Lee Davenport and Obehi Janice
L-R: Obehi Janice and Johnny Lee Davenport
Company
John
Johnny Lee Davenport
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Johnny Lee Davenport
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John
JOHNNY LEE DAVENPORT* performed at New Repertory Theatre in Oleanna, Thurgood, The Whipping Man, and A House with No Walls. Other area credits include The Unbleached American (Stoneham Theatre); It’s A Wonderful Life, A Radio Play (Wheelock Family Theatre); Water by the Spoonful and Broke-ology/Elliot Norton Award, Best Actor (The Lyric Stage Company); Driving Miss Daisy and Master Harold…and the Boys (Gloucester Stage Company); and Invisible Man/Helen Hayes Award, Best Ensemble (Studio Theatre Washington, D.C. and The Huntington Theatre Company). Mr. Davenport has played more than 50 roles in 24 of Shakespeare’s plays including Richard III (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); Pericles (Actors’ Shakespeare Project); and Richard II (Shakespeare & Company). Film credits include Ted, The Fugitive, U.S. Marshals, and Ascendants. He was named Best Actor in Boston Magazine (2011). johnnyleedavenport.com
Our hearts are with one of New Rep’s most beloved and talented actors, Johnny Lee Davenport, and his family on the event of his death on February 2, 2020. A master of his craft, ardent advocate for theatre, and a truly fantastic person, he will be sorely missed. Our deepest condolences to his family and friends during this difficult time. Thank you to Johnny Lee Davenport for all that he dedicated to our organization.
Carol
Obehi Janice
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Obehi Janice
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Carol
OBEHI JANICE* returns to New Repertory Theatre for Oleanna after performing in The Gift Horse and New Rep’s Next Voices New Play Reading Series. Recent credits include Love’s Labour’s Lost (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company); We’re Gonna Die (Company One Theatre/American Repertory Theater); An Octoroon (Company One Theatre/ArtsEmerson); Mr g (Underground Railway Theater); her solo show FUFU & OREOS (IRNE Nomination, Best Solo Performance, Bridge Repertory Theater); Arabian Nights (Central Square Theater); It Felt Empty (Theatre on Fire); and Splendor (Company One Theatre). A graduate of Georgetown University, Obehi was named “Boston’s Best Actress” by The Improper Bostonian in 2014. Her comedic short, Black Girl Yoga, won the Reel 13/AfroPunk Film Competition (WNET/New York Public Media). American Theatre magazine named her one of “6 Theatre Workers You Should Know” in February 2017. She was also the TCG Fox Foundation Resident Actor at Company One Theatre from 2015-2017. Originally from Lowell, Massachusetts, she currently resides in Medford. Upcoming projects include a staged reading of her new play, Ole White Sugah Daddy, at SpeakEasy Stage Company in May 2017. obehijanice.com
Creative Team
Playwright
David Mamet
David Mamet
Playwright
David Mamet was born in Chicago in 1947. He studied at Goddard College in Vermont and at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of Theater in New York. He has taught at Goddard College, the Yale Drama School and New York University and lectures at New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, of which he is a founding member. He is the author of the plays The Cryptogram, Oleanna, Speed-the-Plow, Glengarry Glen Ross, American Buffalo, and Sexual Perversity in Chicago. He has also written screenplays for such films as “House of Games” and the Oscar-nominated “The Verdict,” as well as “The Spanish Prisoner,” “The Winslow Boy,” and “Wag the Dog.” His plays have won the Pulitzer Prize and the Obie Award.
Director
Elaine Vaan Hogue
Elaine Vaan Hogue
Director
Elaine Vaan Hogue (Director) is a director, actor, and teacher. Previous productions at New Repertory Theatre include directing Baltimore, The Amish Project, Imagining Madoff (Elliot Norton nominee for Outstanding Production), The Kite Runner, and co-curating the inaugural Next Rep Black Box Festival in 2014. Regional directing credits include A Disappearing Number (URT @ Central Square Theater); Metamorphosis (Boston Center for American Performance); Walking the Volcano (Boston Center for American Performance/Boston Playwrights’ Theatre); Crave (Nora Theatre Company); Thin Air: Tales from a Revolution (Kansas City); Infinity’s House (Majestic Theatre); Fen (New Theatre); The Penelopiad, Execution of Justice, Lizzie Stranton, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, The Other Shore, Angels in America, Three Sisters, Pains of Youth, Polaroid Stories, Marisol, and many others (Boston University). As an actor she has performed in The Road to Mecca (Boston Center for American Performance); Creation: Mythic Weavings (Women on Top & Magdalena USA); When Jennie Goes Marching (Olney Theatre & Spontaneous Celebrations). She is a member of the Magdalena Project, an international network of women in contemporary theatre, and is a participant in an international cyber-performance group collaborating in All the Better To See You With (Odin Teatret), MagFest KISS (Amsterdam), trans-hack-feminist UpStage Jam (Eclectic Tech Carnival). Ms. Vaan Hogue serves as Program Head of Theatre Arts at Boston University. Originally from Los Angeles, she resides in Central Massachusetts.
News + Media
Press Releases
Press Release: OLEANNA
Event Information
SPOTLIGHT SYMPOSIUM
OLEANNA
Wednesday, November 1 at 7:30pm
David Mamet: Playwright and Provocateur
Mainstage Theater | Mosesian Center for the Arts
Featuring WBUR’s Louise Kennedy and Ed Siegel discussing the themes of Oleanna, the complete works of David Mamet, and the playwright’s stance on post-performance conversations.
In accordance with the playwright’s wishes and our contractual obligations, this event is being held on a non-performance night and will be the only opportunity during the run to discuss the play with our panelists.
LOUISE KENNEDY works with WBUR’s The ARTery to broaden and deepen WBUR’s connections with artists, audiences and arts organizations in Boston and beyond. Previously, Louise launched and led Edify, WBUR’s new home for coverage on all media platforms, whether on air, online or in person, about education and learning at all stages of life. Louise joined WBUR in 2012 as director of community engagement, overseeing WBUR’s live events and other direct, local forms of connecting with our audience. Before joining WBUR, Louise was a longtime editor and writer at The Boston Globe, most recently as theater critic. She has also worked at newspapers and magazines around New England. A native of Dayton, Ohio, Louise holds a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale College. She is the co-author, with Linda K. Rath, Ed.D., of The Between the Lions Book for Parents: Everything You Need to Know to Help Your Child Learn to Read and has taught journalism at Emerson College.
ED SIEGEL is WBUR’s ARTery Editor and Critic-At-Large. Former Boston Globe theater and television critic Siegel began his 35-year career on Morrissey Boulevard in the Globe Sports Department. He has also filled in as living and arts editor. Since leaving the Globe in 2006, Ed has been an associate editor at Berkshire Living magazine; contributed book reviews to Newsday, the New York Times and the Globe.
Learn More
Behind the Title
A colony and a folksong
What is “Oleanna” and why did Mamet choose the word for the title of his play?
The story begins with Ole Bull, a Norwegian violin virtuoso who founded a colony in Pennsylvania in 1852. He envisioned the settlement as a utopia and named one of its four towns “Oleanna,” combining his own first name and his wife, Anna’s.
As his settlement ran into financial difficulties and ultimately failed, Ole Bull’s critics in Norway penned a mocking ballad, also titled “Oleanna,” which was later popularized by folk singer Pete Seeger:
“In Oleanna land is free,
The wheat and corn just plant themselves,
Then grow a good four feet a day,
While on your bed you rest yourself.”
Meet the Playwright
David Mamet
David Mamet is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter, and director from Chicago. His play Glengarry Glen Ross was awarded the 1984 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Oleanna marks the fifth Mamet play to be produced at New Rep, following American Buffalo(1996), Speed-the-Plow (2009),Boston Marriage (2010), and Race (2012).As a writer, he is known for his fierce rhetoric which balances harsh language with beauty and humor. In an interview with The Paris Review, Mamet shared: “I always had compositions in my dreams. Sometimes after waking up I would remember a snatch or two and write them down. There’s something in me that just wants to create dialogue.”
Outside theatre, Mamet is well known for his screenplays, which include The Verdict (for which he received an Academy Award nomination), The Untouchables, Hannibal, Spanish Prisoner,Redbelt, and Phil Spector.
Read an interview with David Mamet
