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“Seeing Oleanna has been one of the most unforgettable, remarkable experiences I’ve had at the theatre. Ever.”
-Christopher Soden, Pegasus News
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“The push and pull rhythm of Mamet-speak is there, like the intermittent nervous tapping of a pencil against a desk, but doesn’t ever take center stage. The words aren’t the thing — the actors are. A bold thing to do, with a Mamet play, and the risk pays off “
“There is something worthwhile and pleasurable about watching actors Lemieux and Young tussle with (and triumph over) a difficult text without any trappings.“
- Liz Johnstone, D Magazine, FrontRow.
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“Young’s performance gives coherence to Carol’s changing persona. Fine-boned and with a quiet ferocity… head down and eyes half-open, Young initially looks like any sleepless student making a last-ditch plea to avoid an F. She appears chastised at the end of the first scene, but when she reappears her victim grimace has become the victor’s contemptuous smile. Young’s Carol is both vulnerable and ruthless, two qualities that ignite the explosive finale.”
“Lemieux makes the professor’s political ignorance a kind of innocence. He nods and squints painfully as the true nature of Carol’s mission gradually dawns on him. His frenzied transformation at the end feels as inevitable as a werewolf’s shape-shifting under a full moon.”
“Director James Mackenzie keeps us spirally [sic] forward for 85 minutes to the psycho-thriller ending”
“Mamet remains a master of the power struggle that starts out with people talking, and everybody struggling to wrangle some meaning out of the tirade. But where language fails, as all diplomats fear, war begins”
-Martha Heimberg, Theaterjones.com
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As Carol: “Young is terrific”
As john: “Lemieux makes him all too believable”
-Lawson Tatitte, Dallas Morning News
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ANOTHER special post-show discussion of Oleanna following the August 13th performance at 8PM featuring Dr. Kathleen Burk
Dr. Kathleen Burk, Ph.D., holds a Doctorate in Literature and is a professor, writer, and poet. She is the Associate Academic Dean of the Constantin College of Liberal Arts at the University of Dallas.
Don't miss this special performance and Discussion.
Buy tickets for this performance and discussion
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When the paths of a male university professor on the verge of tenure, and an eager but confused female student collide, a searing 90-minute power struggle ensues. Exploring issues of gender roles, sexuality and harassment, Oleanna challenges and provokes our preconceptions about actions versus words and the ultimate limits of language.
Oleanna stars Natalie Young, recently seen in Second Thought Theatre’s Red Light Winter, as Carol, and Kyle Lemieux, Dallas Actor's Lab Artistic Director and Chair of Drama at the University of Dallas, as John. Oleanna is directed by James Mackenzie and designed by Cindy Ernst and Clare Kapusta.
David Mamet (Playwright) 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
Kyle Lemieux (John) is the founder and artistic director of Dallas Actor's Lab. (New York) developed and appeared in C-R-E-P-U-S-C-U-L-E at the Theatorium with The Farm, which became The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. (Chicago) King Lear, Frank's Home, (both directed by Robert Falls) and Sarah Ruhl's Passion Play (directed by Mark Wing-Davey) with the Goodman; Troilus and Cressida with Chicago Shakespeare (directed by Barbara Gaines); Uncle Vanya with Court Theatre (directed by Charles Newell); Leontes in The Winter's Tale with Bohemian Theatre Ensemble and the title role in Prometheus Bound at the Around the Coyote Arts Festival. (Regional) Sweet Bird of Youth with LaJolla Playhouse (directed by Michael Greif); Objects in the Mirror (directed by Les Waters). (International) Oedipus Rex (Theater of Epidaurus, Greece ); Telemachus in The Odyssey with Trinidad Theatre Workshop (directed by Nobel Laureate Derek Walcott). He is an Assistant Professor and the Chair of Drama at the University of Dallas where his directing credits include Richard III, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Machinal (theatrejones.com "Best Amateur Production of 2010"). M.F.A. UCSD.
Natalie Young (Carol) was most recently seen in Second Thought Theatre's Red Light Winter, directed by Regan Adair. Favorite works in the Dallas area include Suburbia (Upstart Productions), Bill (Balanced Almond/The Ochre House), Some Girl(s) and Edmond (both with Second Thought), Trysts in Toledo (Theatre Three), The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare Dallas) and The Last Days of Judas Iscariot (Risk Theatre Initiative). Natalie holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from Midwestern State University. She is represented by The Horne Agency.
James Mackenzie (Director) recent work on Measure for Measure with Nouveau 47, American Buffalo with Broken Gears Project Theatre, Couchette (writer/director) at ICT's Theatre on the Edge, and The Bespoke Overcoat (director) at the University of Dallas, where he earned his BA in Drama. Additionally, James has directed a number of narrative and documentary short films. In the fall he begins his MFA in the Film Production program at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.