It’s for you-hoo JACLYN has an attitude problem. That, at least, is the view of her boss, Dr Williams. “I don’t think she fits in,” he moans to Ileen, his office manager. But firing people is so difficult nowadays. To appease Human Resources and dodge “those superficial laws about harassment”, he asks Ileen studiously to document Jaclyn’s missteps. No, no, no, this isn’t about race, the doctor hastily clarifies—“That’s not what I’m about.” It’s just that Jaclyn’s prickly demeanour disrupts the “teamwork atmosphere” he wants for his office. With a proper paper trail of her mistakes, he can send Jaclyn packing without fear of a lawsuit.So begins “Rasheeda Speaking”, a powerful new play by Joel Drake Johnson, which opened at New York’s Pershing Square Signature Centre on February 11th. Set in a generic doctor’s office with drab linoleum flooring, this play turns latent prejudice into something palpable and uncomfortable. Jaclyn, performed with stage-dominating charisma by Tonya Pinkins, is black. She is hard-working, but also, indeed, a bit snappish and occasionally rude to patients. Ileen, played with eagerness and fragility by Dianne...
from The Economist: Books and arts http://ift.tt/1DJAmE1
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