"I'll probably get some backlash for this but if the two actresses do this I hope that Marsha Norman updates the script with some Ebonics -- these are two lower middle class women (just a step above poverty) they shouldn't talk like Tulane graduates."
Disagree.
Jessie and Thelma are not two lower middle class women just a step above poverty.
They are very much two ordinary women who should strike the audience as not being particularly upper middle nor lower middle class. The play is not written in any kind of dialect indicative of social class for a reason; that reason applies whether the two actresses are white or black.
From the script (please note the last lines):
"The play takes place in a relatively new house built way out a country road, with a living room and connecting kitchen and a center hall that leads off to the bedrooms. A pull cord in the hall ceiling releases a ladder which leads to the attic. One of the bedrooms opens directly onto the hall and its entry should be visible by everyone in the audience. It should be, in fact, the focal point of the entire set and the lighting should make it disappear completely at times and draw the entire set into it at others. It is a point of both treat and promise. It is an ordinary door that opens onto absolute nothingness. That door is the point of all the action and the utmost care should be given its design and construction.
The living room is cluttered with magazines and needlework catalogues, ashtrays and candy dishes. Examples of Mama's needlework are everywhere -- pillows, afghans and quilts, doilies and rugs,and they are quite nice examples. The house is more comfortable than messy, but there is quite a lot to keep in place here. It is more personal than charming. It is not quaint. Under no circumstances should the set and its dressing make a judgement about the intelligence or taste of Jessie and Thelma. It should simply indicate that they are very specific real people who happen to live in a particular part of the country. Heavy accents, which would further distance the audience from Jessie and Thelma are also wrong."
Just as most actresses have endeavored to honor this direction (including Spacek and Bancroft in the film), so should, and I expect will, McDonald and Winfrey. There is no reason why they should treat the direction differently because they are black.
Updated On: 5/26/14 at 09:08 AM
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