It almost doesn’t matter that Rasheeda Speaking isn’t a perfect play. The opportunity to be able to experience the masterful interaction of Dianne Wiest and Tonya Pinkins is more than enough. Pinkins brings to her character, Jaclyn, humor, intensity, and a large dollop of cunning sadism. Wiest is simply from another dimension. While all fine actors possess a pallet of colors, she adds shades of emotion rarely seen in real life, let alone on stage. A top-quality actor takes us from green to blue with ease. Wiest journeys from emerald to turquoise to teal to sapphire without needing to utter a word. Her eyes, which often brim with tears, say it all; her Ileen has seen hardship, desperately needs to please, and is standing on the edge of a fear which may be her doom.
Darren Goldstein is silkily insensitive as Dr. Williams, the catalyst who sets in motion the conflict of the play. He feels that Jaclyn doesn’t fit in as a receptionist in his office. He enlists Ilene, whom he has just promoted to office manager, to keep a record of Jaclyn’s infractions; he needs the paper trail to fire her without incurring a lawsuit for discrimination. Williams lures Ilene with a combination of flattery, cajoling, and an underlying subtle threat.
When she arrives at work, we see that Jaclyn is indeed problematic. She proclaims “The air is full of toxins,” which have made her sick and absent from work for five days. She bitches about the tasks that have piled up in her absence. She’s unkempt and spills water on the floor while caring for the plants. Worst of all, she’s rude to the point of cruelty when Rose, an older patient that Patricia Conolly portrays as dazed and confused, has forgotten to check in on the ground floor.
Jaclyn is unbending and overbearing, and even her insistence that Williams stop calling her “Jackie” seems petulant. Jaclyn tells stories, but are they truth, exaggeration, or outright lies?
So is it just racism that prompts Williams to want to fire Jaclyn? The ugly thread is definitely woven into the fabric of the play. Rose’s son feels that black people are still angry about slavery. Ultimately, Ilene’s family feels she’s unsafe around a provoked Jacklyn. And when Jaclyn explains that Rasheeda is the name a group of white young men have assigned to every middle-aged African-American woman who rides on the bus with them, Pinkins delivers the monologue with such heart, we immediately sympathize with her. But in that speech is the kernel of bigotry that Jacklyn carries. She’s offended because “Rasheeda is a Muslim name.” Add this to the glee she takes in knocking her Hispanic neighbors, and it’s clear that prejudice goes well beyond black and white.
It comes as no surprise that Cynthia Nixon has done an exemplary job of bringing out the best in her actors. Too bad a basic flaw in the play structure hasn’t been addressed. The audience loudly applauds during the blackout at the end of a scene which seems to be the last in the drama. As Jaclyn picks up the phone, and says “Rasheeda speaking,” the title has been driven home. However, a few moments later, the lights come up again on what is actually the play’s finale. A much more refined Jacklyn is wearing almost the identical outfit Ilene wears in the beginning of the play. She sports a flattering wig and has become the antithesis of her earlier self. She’s soft spoken, has baked the doctor a pecan pie, and is kind and helpful to Rose. She expresses surprise and concern as Ilene leaves her job for good. Jaclyn even asks to be called “Jackie.” She’s learned the game, and is winning at it. The answer to remaining in Goldstein’s office isn’t just about gaslighting Ilene by rearranging her desk drawers, then pretending to be innocent. Jaclyn had adopted a whole new persona; we surmise that it’s only skin deep. The tension that’s been created is in no way eased.
As for Pam, the woman who’s coming in to take over Ilene’s job, she’d best remember that Jaclyn has declared herself the new de facto office manager. Pam better look out, and not to be lulled into a sense of security by the new, improved Jackie.
