'Oleanna' cast discusses roles

Maybe they're just used to playing together. Or playing off of each other. But even in separate interviews, Monica Koskey and Jim Frangione, the two actors in Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet's controversial play, Oleanna, sounded like something out of he said, she said. Frangione plays John, a male college professor. Koskey portrays Carol, his female student. When they meet to discuss her grades and academic performance, the dialogue gets steamy and the actions ambiguous. A question arises as to whether the professor's actions violate a behavioral code, or whether he is protected by "academic freedom." As part of a national tour, the play will run at the Annenberg Center's Zellerbach Theater through February 5. About an hour before a matinee performance, Koskey and Frangione each took 15 minutes to discuss the preparation they put into their characters. Koskey said she uses a combination of research and internal feeling to "become" a student who feels she is sexually harassed by her professor. "I read a lot of books about the psychology of a young woman,women abused and campus politics to get me in the headset of what its like to be a female in college in these years and what is appropriate with a professor and what kind of language is appropriate," she said. "It's much more about studying in the moment and being with Jim, staying in the moment. "I will have been with him and reacting to what he gives me and being there and doing the play with him -- that brings me to that place," Koskey added. The actress added that she pulled parts of her character from aspects of real people. "It's really a matter of looking around at young women and seeing her in others." she said. "Looking for her in women -- and mostly of course, looking for her in myself." Koskey also said she drew from her own experiences. "She's someone I feel I am," she said. "I didn't grow up with much money or that great of an education. By the force of my will, I got myself to college and to New York City and had a lot of trouble." Koskey's counterpart in the drama, however, said he didn't do a lot of research preparation and thought differently about his character's role. "Well, I'll tell you I don't necessary feel that he does overtly sexually harass her," he said. "I think he's guilty of a few things, the least of which is sexual harassment. "The way I attack this role is I look at it and I try to give the character of the Professor as much integrity as I can and I try to play him as honestly as I can." While Koskey said she saw Carol as a small-town girl lost in a big university world and being manipulated by her professor, Frangione said he believed if Carol was a victim of anything, she was a victim of miscommunication.

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