We Are Proud To Present: Play Summary

We Are Proud To Present … The play, We Are Proud to Present, by Jackie Sibblies Drury was very interesting to me.
Beginning with reading the script first then to watching the play. The play answered a lot of my unanswered questions but also left me with a few questions. Going into the play I had preconceived notions about who exactly were the Herero people and what relation did they really have with the Germans. I thought this play was about six actors trying to come together to act out this play in front of an audience which it was but it was really a lot deeper than that. I expected the characters to be dressed a lot different. I was expecting the black characters to be dress in African style clothing with maybe cloth around their waist
I was expecting the character, Sarah, clothing to change multiple times since her role would change to the grandma, a cow, an African etc. Which led me to realizing how important it is for a good actor to be able to act not only from the outside but from the inside. Also, them wearing every day clothes when performing the play made sense since there were three parts of the play. When I say everyday clothes they were wearing jeans, regular shirt, shoes things you wear every day, nothing spectacular. Another element in the play I want to discuss is the lights they used. Each scene in the play had different lights. For example, beginning the play they had blue lighting. Then, the next scene had green lights. Last, the music and played a big part in this play. In the scene where black man, another black man, and the black woman were practicing
Myself, being an African American not only could I relate but people my race could relate. In this scene, the two black men who were acting as the Herero slaves were trying to get home and the two white men acting as the Germans would not let them go to their home and made them step back and raise their hands to the sky and if they made another move they would get shot. This scene immediately raised emotions for me because we may not still be slaves but in certain situations we are still being treated like slaves. For example, the young teenage boy, Trayvon Martin, being shot and killed walking from a convenient store to his home but because he was black and had a hoodie over his head to the white man he began to look strange but in reality, that is not the case. In my opinion, some white people not all white people believe they still have control or want to have control over African American people. African Americans in today/s time are being killed daily by white police and there are being no consequences made to prevent their actions. This scene is very relevant in today’s time. This scene is the beginning where all of this started, slavery. As this scene ended, actor four being the last actor on stage I believed he was more stunned and upset seeing actors 1,3 and Sarah laughing as if what they just acted out was funny and it was