A group of actors gather to tell the little-known story of the first genocide of the 20th century. We Are Proud to Present … takes place largely in a rehearsal room that descends from collaborative to absurd as a group of idealistic actors—three black and three white—attempt to recreate the extinction of the Herero tribe at the hands of their German colonizers. Along the way, they test the limits of empathy as their own stories, subjectivities, assumptions and prejudices catalyze their theatrical process. Eventually the full force of a horrific past crashes into the good intentions of the present, and what seemed a faraway place and time comes all too close to home.
Justin Frieman Charles, Round Lake High School, Round Lake, Ill.