'Oleanna' set for Golden Theater

Mamet play to take over for 'Avenue Q'

By GORDON COX

David Mamet's 'Oleanna,' starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, is confirmed for an opening at Broadway's Golden Theater this fall.

The expected Broadway transfer of David Mamet play "Oleanna," starring Bill Pullman and Julia Stiles, has snapped up the Golden Theater, currently home to tuner "Avenue Q," which just announced its closing.

Produced by Jeffrey Finn ("On Golden Pond"), "Oleanna" has confirmed an October opening in New York. Well-reviewed staging is now playing at Center Theater Group in Los Angeles, where it runs through July 12.

Mamet's 1992 two-hander, which preemed in Boston before going on to an Off Broadway run, centers on two charged exchanges between a university professor (Pullman) and his female student (Stiles). Doug Hughes ("Doubt") directs.

Stiles played the same part in London in 2004, although that production, which co-starred Aaron Eckhart, is unrelated to the current staging.

"Oleanna" reps Stiles' Broadway debut, while Pullman has not appeared on the Rialto since his starred in "The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?" in 2002.

Plays by Mamet have turned up with increasingly frequency in New York in recent seasons, with revivals of the scribe's works "Speed-the-Plow" and "American Buffalo" both landing on the Rialto last season.

This season, "Oleanna" joins a Main Stem lineup that already includes the world preem of "Race," a new play penned and helmed by Mamet. That show, toplined by James Spader, opens in December. Meanwhile, a double-bill of Mamet one-acts will be seen this fall at the Atlantic Theater, the Off Broadway troupe co-founded by Mamet.

"Oleanna" begins previews Sept. 29 before it opens Oct. 11. "Avenue Q" shutters Sept. 13.