I have to say first and foremost that as I was reading this play I had such an urge to analyze the actual dialogue as you would a "real dialogue" that you transcribed. I always find "real conversation" interesting, the possible motivations of each speaker whether it be conscious or unconscious. What was interesting about Oleanna is that I have been on both ends of the conversation as instructor and as student. What I liked about this play was that it really tested my ability to be objective. I had to restrain myself from judging either person too harshly because so much information was missing from the dialogue, like What happened beforehand? What relationship did they previously have? Was this their first contact in his office? What had she written that made her concerned enough to go in & talk to him (more than likely it was a ploy, but we as readers don't know whether she premeditated it or whether it came to her as she was sitting in his office).
I had to sit back & look at all the facts independently & not make snap judgements about what was happening. I love reading things that push me to read beyond my assumptions that push every "hot button" issue, because when people are emotional it becomes really difficult to try to look at things from an objective standpoint. This kind of reading really forces you to look only at the facts at hand and not presume that your inferences and assumptions are THE answers.
That is why language study intrigues me so much. You become the outside observer who writes about what you notice. For example, in a very simple English sentence you will more often than not see subject verb object, versus spanish which has the subject embedded within the verb. The great thing about that is that not once did I make a judgement about the value of either system. Rather I can point out that English does this & Spanish does this, but then ASL does this...
For me this play was like reading a transcript of a conversation where you looked at word choice, pauses, interruptions, stress, etc... to try to determine what that reveals about what the speaker intended versus what the listener interpreted...
I definitely think this is a good play for high school students because this will really push their ability to think critically about very sensitive and "hot button" issues.
