Talk:Oleanna

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Where does the play's title come from? It's not the name of either character, and so far Googling it amounted only to play and movie references.

I have heard that the name Oleanna refers to a faild attempt to create a utopia. Mamet uses this in a ironic way because the play its self is the complete opposite.

According to a film review I read by James Berardinelli, it refers to a folk story about how a man (named Ole) and his wife (Anna) bought acres of swampland then sold it as farmland to those who were willing to invest their lives' savings. Once the money had been collected, the pair vanished and the buyers were left with worthless property. This became known as the "Oleanna swindle".