WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT A PRESENTATION…

…ABOUT THE HERERO OF NAMIBIA, FORMERLY KNOWN AS SOUTH-WEST AFRICA, FROM THE GERMAN SUDWESTAFRIKA, BETWEEN THE YEARS 1884-1915

by Jackie Sibblies Drury
directed by Eric Ting
Soho Rep

***OBIE Award for Direction***

[World Premiere] A group of actors gather to tell the little-known story of the first genocide of the twentieth century. As the full force of a horrific past crashes into the good intentions of the present, what seemed a far-away place and time is suddenly all too close to home. Just whose story are they telling?

“Too few women playwrights deal directly with politics in the their work. Some may have bought into the cliché that women are better at writing character than they are at writing plot – and what is politics if not plot-driven? Jackie Sibblies Drury refutes this notion, and so much else, in her grand play We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as South-West Africa, From the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884-1915 (directed by Eric Ting, at the Victory Gardens, in Chicago). The show provides a thrilling opportunity to see both a serious new talent developing her voice and what an inspiring director can do to encourage it. The piece is about theatre, and how to “play” politics onstage – the politics, in this case, being the history of conquest and colonization in Namibia….Ting is a magician who doesn’t have to pull anything out of a hat: it’s all there in the script. What he’s terrific at is making stage pictures that no only frame Drury’s big thoughts and bigger imagination but ground them so that the actors can take off.” (The New Yorker)

“Director Eric Ting and the company turn history into Schoolhouse Rock for the genocidally aware.” (Time Out New York)

“An inventive new play…incendiary results…We Are Proud impressively navigates the tricky boundaries that separate art and life” (The New York Times)

“90 minutes of original, enlightening, pulse-pounding theater…It’s absolutely thrilling…it is visceral, fiercely intelligent, and entertaining. We should be grateful to Soho Rep. for showcasing this promising writer, her talented director, and their vital, important play.” (Backstage)

“A potent mix of laughter and discomfort…under Eric Ting’s nuanced direction…particularly powerful…The entire experience is a fascinating peek into the charged group dynamics that can play out in the creation of theater, and the work’s conclusion is likely to leave audiences feeling stunned.” (TheaterMania)