Oleanna

A student meets with her professor in his office. They meet three times. First, to discuss her grade in a course in which she is struggling. Second, to address an alleged incident of harassment that occurred during their previous meeting. Finally, to present the demands of a group of students who support the accusation.

The Algarve Theater Company brings to the stage this atmosphere of relative truth, where doubt stifles any certainty. In this power struggle between the public and the private, it becomes impossible to distinguish the real from the false. As Pulitzer Prize-winning American playwright David Mamet puts it, “Whatever conclusion you reach, it’s wrong.”

The title refers to a utopia: a colony that failed due to the density of the forest. Symbolically, it represents the utopia of academia, confronting us with the possibility that the world we have built may not be compatible with our humanity.