If you love Pulitzer and Tony Award-winning playwright David Mamet (best known for plays Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed the Plow, Sexual Perversity in Chicago and films The Verdict and Wag the Dog), you probably rush to the theatre to absorb his "Mamet-speak," especially those fascinating, mysterious, phone call monologues in which you have no idea who is on the other line or what is being discussed. In Oleanna, now playing at HotCity Theatre, you won't have to wait; the play opens with one of those fabulous phone calls.

Oleanna tells the story of a college professor (John Pierson) assured of his impending tenure - and the nicer house that goes with the salary bump - and a concerned student (Rachel Fenton) who visits the professor's office to talk about her terrible grades. Or is it the story of a predatory older man in power and a victimized young girl? Or is the story of a pompous but harmless educator and a vengeful, potentially disturbed woman? Part of the fun - and the challenge - of Mamet is unraveling the mystery, threading the clues together to figure out the story.

What is clear is that Mamet is a master of words, whether they rush forward or stumble out in fragments. Words themselves are the crux of the issue in Oleanna. Do we really mean what we say? Do we ever fully understand each other's words? Another focus of Oleanna is education itself. Is higher education necessary? Is it helpful? Or is it, for some, just another object to acquire or a status symbol to attain? Oleanna gives us much to think about...and talk about.

Oleanna, directed by Annamaria Pileggi, runs through February 4^th at the Kranzberg Arts Center. Find ticket information at HotCity's website or Facebook page.

Words definitely have great power, and we often interpret each other's words quite differently from the way they were intended.  Share a memory of when words had unintended consequences for you by clicking on "Comments," below.