{"id":113857,"date":"2022-09-27T20:51:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-28T00:51:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=113857"},"modified":"2022-09-27T20:51:37","modified_gmt":"2022-09-28T00:51:37","slug":"we-are-proud-to-present-opens-muhlenberg-theatre-dance-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/?p=113857","title":{"rendered":"\u2018We are Proud to Present\u2026\u2019 opens Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance season"},"content":{"rendered":"

Opening Sept. 29, Jackie Sibblies Drury\u2019s play
\n<\/span><\/i>offers a theatrical look at race and storytelling
\n<\/span><\/i>through the lens of the 20th century\u2019s first genocide.
\n<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/i><\/i><\/p>\n

Allentown, Pa. <\/strong>\u2014 The first show in the Muhlenberg College Theatre & Dance takes a hard look at the intersections of theatre, storytelling and race. Jackie Sibblies Drury\u2019s \u201cWe Are Proud to Present a Presentation About the Herero of Namibia, Formerly Known as Southwest Africa, From the German S\u00fcdwestafrika, Between the Years 1884\u20131915\u201d tells an often forgotten part of history. The play is dramatic and often challenging, says director Nigel Semaj \u2014 but also very funny.\u201cWe Are Proud to Present\u2026\u201d focuses on six actors who gather to tackle the challenge of theatrically presenting the little-known story of the first genocide of the 20th century: the extinction of the Herero tribe at the hands of their German colonizers. Armed only with love letters from German soldiers, they test their own limits of empathy as their own biases and stories begin to seep into the theatrical process.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\u201cIt has been some of the most challenging acting work I\u2019ve ever done,\u201d says Bryson Brunson \u201925, who plays Actor 4. \u201cAnd it\u2019s been so rewarding at every turn.\u201d<\/p>\n

The show runs Sept. 29 \u2013 Oct. 2 in Muhlenberg’s Baker Theatre, in the Trexler Pavilion for Theatre & Dance.<\/p>\n

Through producing a play, the characters realize that it\u2019s not about a presentation anymore. It\u2019s about the theatrical process, according to Nigel Semaj, the director of the production and a member of Muhlenberg’s theater faculty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe audience doesn’t necessarily see the difficulties of the process, how hard it is to create a production,\u201d Semaj says. \u201cWhen you have something informative and important, sometimes, unfortunately, it is the product of an unruly process.\u201d<\/p>\n

Difficult conversations are a trademark of this play, according to Semaj. Beneath all the comedy, are questions that demand answers.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we start to question the world, we start to understand it a little bit more, we start to unravel the layers of society and the norms that we have been taught and have been thrust on to us,\u201d Semaj says. \u201cWe learn to challenge them. And by challenging them, we might learn to change them.\u201d<\/p>\n

There will be a facilitated reflection after each performance, to help process these difficult conversations found in the show.<\/p>\n

Community is a huge part of the process and presentation as well. Due to the difficult material of the play, Semaj and the ensemble sought to create a supportive and safe rehearsal space. This involved checking in with each other, restorative practices, and support from the Counseling Center.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can’t collaborate on creating a piece that is a behemoth of a play if we don’t have community with one another,\u201d Semaj says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe care and the support that’s coming to us as actors is beautiful,\u201d Brunson says. \u201cAs an actor, it’s been really enlightening to learn about the boundaries you can set in such a way, to say, \u2018I’m not okay with this.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the play demands a lot of the cast and crew, Brunson says it\u2019s a \u201cfun and funny\u201d show.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou’re gonna have a good time, no matter what,\u201d Brunson says. \u201cAnd if you leave with some lingering questions about yourself and the world at large and identity, that’s theater.\u201d<\/p>\n

Performances of \u201cWe Are Proud\u2026 \u201d are on Sept. 29 \u2013 Oct 2: Thursday through Saturday at 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday at 2 p.m in the Baker Theatre. Tickets are $15 for regular admission, $8 for youth, and $8 for Muhlenberg and LVAIC students, faculty, and staff.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
Tickets are available online at\u00a0muhlenberg.edu\/seeashow<\/a>\u00a0or by phone at 484-664-3333.<\/b><\/div>\n

Information Provided By:
\nScott Snyder
\nMarketing Manager
\nMuhlenberg College Department of Theatre & Dance<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Opening Sept. 29, Jackie Sibblies Drury\u2019s play offers a theatrical look at race and storytelling through the lens of the 20th century\u2019s first genocide. Allentown, Pa. \u2014 The first show … Continue reading \u2018We are Proud to Present\u2026\u2019 opens Muhlenberg Theatre & Dance season<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5716,69,482],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-113857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-allentown","category-in-the-valley","category-press-release-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/muhl-college.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113857"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=113857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/108438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=113857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=113857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thevalleyledger.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=113857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}