We Are Proud to Present a Presentation I recently attended my first ever UNCW play, 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. Upon seeing this title, I thought for sure I would be bored to tears and that I would sit there waiting to go to dinner later. This play did have facts in it, but the facts were made to come alive and were anything but numbers and figures, they were people and they were emotions. The play starts off with facts, figures, and dates being shouted at the audience but the play quickly turned into a comedy fest when Ashley Burton was told to “get into the cat” in which she proceeded to try and become an actual feline. The whole cast got into this, even taking selfies with the newly transformed Ashley as her cat self. All of the actor’s did a superb job but there were a few that stood out more than others.
Bruno Rose did a phenomenal job to say the least. His rendition of Wade in the Water brought tears to my eyes. His voice was full of soul, and I was transformed back to a time where slavery was common. My heart ached for the Herero tribe, and I could picture slaves being beaten and torn down. It was in simple terms, breathtaking. Rickie Smalls also did a fantastic job. His facial emotions hit every mark, and I could feel the anger and tension that he felt during parts of the play. Towards the beginning of the production, I was in tears of laughter when Gary T. Moore was talking about how he was always the character actor and when he pretended to be Afreya Munroe’s grandmother. He got so into his part and it showed,