PicksInSix Review: Rasheeda Speaking - Shattered Globe Theatre
The Power of Tactics and Toxins
PicksInSix® Review | Guest Contributor | Scott Gryder
Shattered Globe Theatre manifested a guiding value of their mission statement, leading with stories of historically marginalized communities, with their striking production of the late Joel Drake Johnson’s “Rasheeda Speaking” at the Theater Wit stage. It’s devastating how, after almost 10 years since its Chicago premiere in 2014, this play feels like it was pulled from a HR casefile of today. Is it the toner from the Konica Minolta causing Jaclyn’s stomach to turn, or could it be the noxious contagion of systemic racism?
Although the house is at first filled with positive, pre-show club-like beats, the comedy/social commentary of “Rasheeda Speaking” plays out in anything but a steady rhythm. The story focuses on Jaclyn, the only black woman working at surgeon Dr. Williams’ office. Along with her coworker/unexpectedly-turned-Office Manager Ileen, the twists and turns of each character’s emotionally-fueled tactics only further decay communication and fester fears, making it almost impossible to know who’s telling the truth at any time. And the audible gasps and vocalized confirmations from the audience infused the performance with a raw ‘live studio audience’ energy throughout.
The ensemble, made up of mostly Shattered Globe Theatre ensemble members, makes your heart ache, while your blood boils, as they inject each scene with duplicity and deceit. Deanna Reed-Foster is a force, applying a well-maintained wall of defense mechanisms, while also skillfully maneuvering office politics. Daria Harper’s Ileen agonizingly attempts to please ‘the doc,’ while squirming not to expose her spy-like intentions before her coworker of color, eventually backfiring and fracturing her once managerial disposition. Drew Schad plays Dr. Williams with such cutting ignorance and bigotry it’s nearly regrettable that one of the many office plants is not eventually smashed upon his head. And Barbara Roeder Harris’ fumbling patient Rose Saunders is disarmingly oblivious, proving that even a patient can be a pawn in the game.
Playwright Joel Drake Johnson, previously a member of Victory Garden’s Theater’s Playwrights Ensemble, recreates an all too recognizable job scenario, setting up a powerplay between management and personnel. Using the microcosm of the doctor’s office, Johnson gives us a taste of how hidden motivations, especially those based on obtuse speculation and enacted at revolting extremes, can lead to a point of self-destruction. Additionally, director AmBer D. Montgomery has shaped the characters with sophisticated subtly, even staging the actors facing downstage, unable to witness the facial expressions exhibited by their castmates, while fully revealing hidden agendas and states of mind to the audience. For example, Ileen’s twisted seating arrangement, with her laptop to her left as she sits straight-on, symbolizes how internally contorted she is from having to play operative and confidant to the powers that be and her coworker.
The design elements layer to create an instant familiarity within the surgeon’s office, sparking their own threat of danger. Similar to an actual doctor’s office’s cool disposition, scenic designer Scott Penner’s stark white nurse’s station gleams with a chilling shine, warning us as the characters do each other: one better be careful here, or they could slip. Jackie Fox’s lighting design sharpens the frigid bite of the scenes with a vicious fluorescent wash, putting the audience ill at ease, while setting the characters under a magnified spotlight. Only when the anxiety sets in and injustices bubble does the warmer palate of light cast prison bar-like shadows through the vertical blinds of the set. Adding more icing, Shattered Globe Artistic Associate Christopher Kriz’s original music and sound design intensifies moments of discord through palpable notes of ebbing, vibrating discord.
It’s that tangible dissonance that echoes beyond curtain call. What’s most tragic about “Rasheeda Speaking” is the fact that these dishonesties and ploys are oftentimes actively at play in the workplace today. These continued mind games and denials only further contaminate the plot and the workplace. So, when managing becomes manipulation, how does one break the cycle? Or, do you best them by beating them at their own game?
GUEST CONTRIBUTOR | SCOTT GRYDER received a Non-Equity Jeff Award for his performance in the one-man show BUYER & CELLAR. www.thescottgryder.com
PHOTO|Michael Brosilow
Shattered Globe and Chicago Dramatists will host a memorial on Saturday, April 30 at 4:00 pm at Theater Wit to celebrate the rich artistic and personal life of playwright Joel Drake Johnson. RSVP.
Shattered Globe Theatre
presents
RASHEEDA SPEAKING
through June 4
Theater Wit
1229 W. Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60657
TICKETS
773-975-8150
WEBSITE
For more reviews, visit: Theatre In Chicago
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