Forgotten history and genocide collide with contemporary ideology in Pony World’s must-see We Are Proud…
How do you tell a story about genocide when the perpetrators are responsible for destroying all of the evidence of it ever occurring? That is one of the many important questions raised by the new production of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s at New City Theater (1406 18th Avenue), and staged by Pony World and directed by David Gassner. Since 2013, it has been staged across major cities in the US and in the UK and now makes its Northwest premiere now through April 4.
In Drury’s play, a theater company, with six actors (three white and three black, four men and two women), wants to tell the story of the genocide of the Herero people in Namibia by the Germans, over a span of about thirty years. With it ending literally 100 years ago, there are no living survivors, and the Germans made sure that no one would survive to tell their story. There are no history books you can check out at the library from noted historians. All that is left is a box of letters, not all of which are relevant or useful, and the desire of the cast to try to tell this story regardless of what gaping holes history has left in this tragedy. As one of the white characters points out, the authenticity of the Holocaust is never questioned because it’s been well-documented. The Herero, not so much. It’s trying to tell the true story with six actors, forced to work together, to find out what happens people stop being polite and start getting real.
Two points need to be made. First, this is one of the most uncomfortable theater-going experiences I can remember. It’s not entirely due to the white, male characters using the “N” word with more inhibition than all sensible people would be comfortable with, either: if New City Theater ever wants to crowdfund some air conditioning, I promise to be good for the first $50. Secondly, I hope everyone in Seattle sees it before closes on April 4.
The six characters are called Black Woman (Dedra Woods), Black Man (G. To’mas Jones), Another Black Man (Jason Sanford), White Man (Nik Doner), Another White Man (Rickey Coates), and, obviously, Sarah (Alyssa Kay, white woman). It is staged as being a play-within-a-play, which feels Shakespearean, with much courser dialogue and less structure. The characters are all attired in their workout gear. This play, which has gotten rave reviews in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times and the Washington Post, would not work here if there actors weren’t so strong. I was impressed with how each actor was able to move from acting like they’re acting to acting like they’re not really acting yet so seamlessly. The intimacy and close quarters of New City Theater made that even more apparent.
I was particularly surprised at how nuanced the production was, especially given its disorganized appearance. The motivations and biases come through in each character, particularly the men, whose ego and righteousness try to shape the play into their own ideological comfort zones. The white male characters are forced to reckon with their cultural blind spots while the African American men (American being an important note to add there) are faced with the limits of identity politics. What made We Are Proud… both so urgent and discomforting is its timeliness. It very much feels like it was captured in the moment and documented on social media, circa March 2015. It also touched on the “banality of evil” and what Camus would call “the nakedness of man when faced with the absurd.”
Everyone picking up their tickets were told that the play would run 100 minutes without an intermission, the program says 95. I don’t want to give away any more of the plot than I already have, but only to note that the climax at the end is so uncomfortable for everyone inside the theater that the only thing you know that could cut the tension is the clock.
[otw_shortcode_info_box border_type=”bordered” border_color_class=”otw-black-border” border_style=”bordered” rounded_corners=”rounded-10" background_color_class=”otw-silver”]We Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, from the German Sudwestafrika, Between the Years 1884–1915, written by Jackie Sibblies Drury and directed by David Gassner, plays through April 4 at New City Theater. Tickets can be found here.[/otw_shortcode_info_box]
