DarrenBarefoot.com

David Mamet’s Oleanna is a fascinating, controversial play about sexual politics. It was also turned into a film starring William H. Macy and Debra Eisenstadt, which I haven’t seen.

Last night, while searching for a particular quote from the play, I happened upon some copyright infringement by somebody at Burlington County College (see the happy graduates). They’ve scanned or typed the entire text of the play, and posted it on their site. Handy, if you’re doing a production. Not so handy if you’re the playwright. Regardless, I imagine Mr. Mamet makes most of his money from film these days, so he can afford the lost revenue from book sales.

This was the quote I was looking for, by the way:

JOHN: Well, all right. (Pause) Let’s see. (He reads.) I find that I am sexist. That I am elitist. I’m not sure I know what that means, other than it’s a derogatory word, meaning “bad.” That I That I insist on wasting time, in nonprescribed, in self-aggrandizing and theatrical diversions from the prescribed text that these have taken both sexist and pornographic forms here we find listed…

It was that bit about the word ‘elitist’ that I was looking for.