April 21 - May 21, 2023
Fri @ 7pm, Sat @ 3pm & 7pm, Sun @ 3pm
@ Theatre Y - 3611 W. Cermak Rd, Chicago, IL 60623
After a long search for a permanent space to call home,
Theatre Y inaugurates its new building in Lawndale
with a provocative play about race, representation and the politics of empathy.
Theatre Y is excited to announce a production of Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2012 drama 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, to run from April 21st to May 21st, 2023. Having recently relocated from Chicago’s North Side to the West Side neighborhood of Lawndale, this presentation of Drury’s play is the first Theatre Y project to be staged in its new space on W. Cermak Rd.
We Are Proud to Present… sees a group of six nameless actors–three white and three black–in a rehearsal room workshopping a re-telling of the German occupation of Namibia’s Herero tribe. As the good intentions of theatrical reenactment and the concrete details of a horrific past start to misalign, the actors battle over the problem of how to authentically tell a story, and ultimately find themselves implicated in a history that feels all too close to home. “We Are Proud to Present…” questions the politics of empathy while offering audiences deep insight into the factors of race and representation in the telling and re-telling of historical narratives.
The issue of representation in the writing of history raised by Drury’s play merges with what Theatre Y has been thinking about. Having moved from their storefront location in Lincoln Square to relocate in Lawndale, Theatre Y has launched a revitalization concept that centers cooperative artistic residencies as part of their new campus, co-conceived in partnership with community leaders, designers, urban planners, city officials, and local artists. With a $250,000 grant awarded in 2021 from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund, Theatre Y’s plan for urban renewal will reimagine connectivity, integrating high-end architectural, landscape, and spatial design with the same thoughtfulness previously reserved for wealthier areas of Chicago. Theatre Y believes that this project of their integration into the Lawndale community will spark questions about how to move an organization into a deliberately neglected neighborhood in a way that promotes revitalization without gentrification, and will provide a template of the successes and challenges of restorative justice through a global conservatory.
director Kezia waters
Returning to Theatre Y after featuring in the company’s summer production of Laughing Song, director Kezia Waters has reinterpreted Drury’s text as a poignant commentary on the fusion of past, present and future within location. We Are Proud to Present… is Waters’ directorial debut onto Chicago’s theater scene. Theatre Y ensemble members Nadia Pillay, Eric Roberts, Kris Tori and Andrew Schoen will take the stage alongside newcomers Kaleb Jackson and Terreon Collins. The production team includes costume designer Jordan Brown, sound designer Carissa Pinckney, lighting designer Piper Kirchhofer, and Henry Wilkinson once again collaborates with Theatre Y as set designer. Original music by Sharon Udoh.
Theatre Y productions are offered to the public free of charge thanks to their NPR-like membership model. “We Are Proud to Present…” runs April 21st to May 21st, with performances Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 7pm, and Sundays at 3pm at Theatre Y’s new space at 3611 W. Cermak Rd.
email info@theatre-y.com, or call 773-908-2248.
ABOUT THEATRE Y:
Theatre Y is a Chicago-based international incubator that creates connections between diverse artists seeking mutual growth through collaboration. Since 2006, Theatre Y has been a point of convergence for diverse activisms, and all of the uncomfortable conversations that happen as a result. Artistic director Melissa Lorraine and the Theatre Y ensemble are committed to continuously re-thinking the practice of theater as a tool of liberation and a revolutionary practice, bringing Theatre Y to venues ranging from LaMaMa’s historical theater to Illinois prisons. Theatre Y, which is now in its 17th year of experimental productions, challenging international content, and a member-based FREE theater model, occupies a unique place in Chicago's theater community.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR:
Kezia Waters is a time based multidisciplinary collaborative performance artist, director, cultural curator, installation and teaching artist. They received an MFA in Theatre from Ohio University and an MFA in studio art from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. They have served as an associate theater director for KB Theatre in El Paso, TX, Cultural Researcher for Mt. Zion Preservation Society in Ohio in collaboration with Ohio Preservation Office, and Art & performance curator in various cities centered around Cultural and Archival Preservation, Migrations, and Queer Futurity as it relates to Black Spirituality, Somatics. They have incorporated their Diversity and Inclusion training from J.L. creative services into Community Engagement Approaches and Studio Ethics. Time Traveling is not only a subject matter in most of their work but a method of creation/ a praxis/ a pedagogy. They push against, overlap and reject norms. Having grown up in The Black Pentecostal Church tradition, despite their queerness, they think of their work as trying to find that which is holy, whole, holistic and/ or holds within Black and/or Queer functionality. They do this often through spiritual surrealism and traditional folkloric techniques. Since moving to Chicago they have been in deep collaboration with three other performance based artists Sun Lynn, Jordan Brown and Carissa Lee located in Chicago.
ABOUT THE CAST:
Terreon Collins is 22 years old, born and raised in Chicago, specifically in the North Lawndale neighborhood, where he discovered his love for the arts. All arts. Painting, sketching, designing, sewing, and knitting are just a few of the many things he’s found a love for. Then along came theater. He’s always secretly had a thing for theater. A chance to be someone new, many someones in fact. Now he’s full force in taking on an acting career.
Kaleb Jackson [they/them] is a Chicago-based performer, writer and director from the suburbs of Chicagoland. They received their BFA in acting from Ohio University where they performed, directed and produced many shows. In 2020 after the wake of George Floyd, Kaleb also co-founded and would later serve as Artistic Director for Vibrancy Theater, a theater company that uplifts and broadcasts Black, Indigenous and People of Color in theater at Ohio University and beyond. For business inquiries, headshots sessions or more information about Vibrancy, please visit kalebjackson.net or follow @kaleebjackson on Instagram.
Nadia Pillay is a Chicago-based Actress and Company member at Theatre Y. She was last seen in the 2022’s Camino Laughing Song: A Walking Dream and is thrilled to be part of We are proud to present…Nadia will be directing this year’s upcoming Camino which will be a Youth Lead Camino. In addition to acting Nadia is the Artist Liaison for Color Me Africa Fine Art, a non-profit Fine Arts organization that supports African artists from the continent and the Diaspora receive equal exposure in the Contemporary Fine Art market.
Eric K. Roberts is an actor and social worker living and working on the West Side. He’s a permanent Theatre Y ensemble member since 2016.
Andrew Schoen is overjoyed to be returning to Theatre Y, having last appeared in The Binding. He has worked in voiceover and performed theater all over town with Trap Door Theatre, Found Objects and most recently Curious Theatre Branch. He received a BFA acting degree from Northern Illinois University. Andrew paints houses during the day.
Kris Tori was born in Pogradec, Albania and came to Chicago when she was 10. Kris started her acting training as part of the Nuestra Cultura Theater Program, conducted by Aguijón Theater in partnership with After School Matters. She has her BA from Columbia College Chicago and graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) with an MA in Latin American and Latino Studies. Her thesis, Recreating Community through Theater (Memory and Place): What happens to memory when a place is gone?, was based on the play La Havana Madrid by Sandra Delgado, for which she served as the Research Assistant. She is currently an ensemble member with Aguijon Theatre and Theatre Y. Her theater credits include: Lorca: Living the Experience (Water People Theatre); Little Carl, The Emerald Camino Project, The Camino Project, Self Accusation, Stories of the Body, Macbeth, Yerma (Theatre Y); Mano a Mano: Cervantes & Shakespeare, The House of Bernarda Alba, Blowout, Yerma, Las Soldaderas, Nocturnal Creatures, Tren Al Sur, Not For Sale (Aguijón Theater); Delirium, Hecuba, Marisol (Columbia College Chicago). She is super excited to embark on this new project and work with the lovely people of Theatre Y.
ABOUT THE PRODUCTION TEAM
Piper Kirchhofer (Lighting Designer) Is a Jeff Award nominated lighting designer. Previous work includes- Chicago: The Great Kahn at Redtwist Theatre, Tick, Tick... BOOM! at BoHo Theatre, Macbeth at Three Crows Theatre, Hurricane Diane at Theatre Wit, 8-Track, Once Upon a Mattress, and Songs for a New World (Asst. Lighting Designer) at Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre. Indiana: A Christmas Carol (Asst. Lighting Designer) Atlanta: Buddy! The Buddy Holly Story, Morningside, Shrek Jr., Having Our Say: The Delaney Sisters First 100 Years at Georgia Ensemble Theatre. You can find more of her previous work and find upcoming projects at piperlighting.com
Carissa Lee (Sound Designer) is a performance and sound artist. She received her BFA in theater from NYU And is an MFA candidate at the School of the Art institute Chicago graduating in May. Her work uses recordings, writing, Black southern culture and voice to materialize emotions ranging from grief to joy.
In addition to being an artist she is a passionate teacher who has worked with theaters and non profits across Los Angeles - helping students of all ages use their lived experience to make performances. She has exhibited and performed in New York NY, Los Angeles CA, Chicago IL, and Quebec City Canada. She is extremely proud to be a member of Chicago based artist collective suspended culture. Thank you Vikas for the love and light you bring to me everyday. Thank you Kezia and Theater Y for giving me the opportunity to bring my sound work to the theater stage. Yay!
Jordan Brown (Costume Designer) is a visual artist and performer. His interdisciplinary work in textile, sculpture and performance has been exhibited at Never Apart Gallery (Montreal, QC) Clear Gallery (Tokyo, Japan), Dancemakers (Toronto, ON), and Espaço Alkantara (Lisbon, Portugal). In 2020, his video “Family Tree” won the Hybridity Award at the OFFTA Festival (Montreal, QC) for “successfully merging languages, materials, techniques, forms and processes of various kinds”. As a member of the Chicago-based performance art collective Suspended Culture, he has performed at Links Hall, Ohio University and the Mois Multi festival in Quebec City, QC. Jordan will complete an MFA in Sculpture at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in May of 2023. You can find more about his work at jordanderronbrown.com or by visiting @jupiter.brown on Instagram.
Henry Wilkinson (Set Designer) is excited to help inaugurate this new space with Theatre Y as it embarks on this new chapter in its new home. With degrees in architecture and scenic design, he's been designing and building shows for the past decade. Most recently, he's worked on Theatre Y's Camino project and Pale Horse Playhouse's opening season.
Assistant Director and Theatre Y Co-Founding Artistic Director Melissa Lorraine - Born in France, graduating from Northern Illinois University with a B.F.A. in acting, Lorraine became a company member of Studio K in Budapest, Hungary. Co-founding Theatre Y with now deceased Director Christopher Markle. Premiered the English language version of Transylvanian writer András Visky’s JULIET with over two hundred performances worldwide. Starred in Visky’s I KILLED MY MOTHER, earning a Chicago’s Best Actress Orgie Award. Lauded by The Chicago Reader for turning even an “overwritten” and “implausible script” into “probing, harrowing, hallucinogenic truth,” for her Directorial work on VINCENT RIVER. In 2013 Lorraine directed the world premiere of THE BINDING, a collaboration between Theatre Y and two acclaimed Serbian/Hungarian choreographers, which was a cover feature of the Chicago Reader. Collaborating with Georges Bigot for one year (2015-16), Lorraine developed the Theatre Y Ensemble of 12 actors, according to the traditions of the Theatre du Soleil. She now leads this ensemble to discover a common language and a new way to work, searching for a way to make theater without the “dictator”. In 2018 she began to research Movement Therapy for Trauma Rehabilitation, and works with men serving life sentences at Stateville Correctional Center towards reinstating parole in Illinois.
Theatre Y productions are offered to the public free of charge thanks to their NPR-like membership model. “We Are Proud to Present…” runs April 21st to May 21st, with performances Fridays at 7pm, Saturdays at 3pm and 7pm, and Sundays at 3pm at Theatre Y’s new space at 3611 W. Cermak Rd. For more information and to reserve your seat, visit www.theatre-y.com, email info@theatre-y.com, or call 773-908-2248.
