MONOLOGUE:
NICCO ANNAN

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Actor • P-Valley • Shameless • This Is Us • @alldaynicco

The water is running

I am tired of running too
I unfold my body as if it were a secret a last note goodbye
She got born survivor deep in her eyes voice has fire
I’m a bad liar
We so much alike
But, I have never been good at putting up a fight
The lies
I want to wash it off me
only the tops of parts of body can peek through
I'm tired of running and fighting too
I feel like I’m drowning with darkness all around me
Bath turned to sea
the once warm water is now growing colder
It rises to my shoulders…
Under and over
The water wrapping around my neck
a gentle choking...
hands of the divine
I'm opened
I can taste the water of both bath and tears
I am under the water in the deepest parts where live all my fears
I must decide on will I stop now and get my fins
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I’m cradled in the arms of my mother finally…
I sink
Bones last forever
With forever to go
The water starts moving around me real slow
The water whispers
With my truth to tell…
says to remember my hard and my gentle as well
On the top of her waters I could see my reflection
That who I am was made before birth before conception
I would find my soft when I find the love for me
Then I could see myself at the blue black bottom of the sea
And not be scared of what I would find
Truth
would keep
my head
above the tide
There are treasures at the bottom
in the places we
are scared to go
Ruins cleaned off
turn into riches
and gold
May take
a rough drowning
to find out what we don't know
I am born
from this darkness
I was conceived
And named
because the mother returns in me
I’m sinking deep
No one saves me
It’s my own light I can finally see
I rise from the water complete
And free

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These wonderful words from the prolific poet Goldie Patrick articulates the core of Uncle Clifford. Showrunner Katori Hall masterfully crafted into the world of P-Valley — the script immediately required me to go to the depths of my soul. As an artist I reflected on the marginalized communities around me and that reflection ultimately took me back to West Africa and the Yoruba Orisha, Olukun. Olokun is an androgynous orisha, meaning Olokun is both man and woman. In the depth of the sea where the most pressure on earth resides, lives Olokun. The pressure of the deep dark sea felt like the deep darkness of Uncle Clifford sitting in her office surrounded by reminders of yesteryear. The financial debt, employment security for her loved ones, being a caretaker, a chained romantic heart, and being on the brink of losing her family’s legacy all lay shawl on Uncle Clifford’s shoulders. Going to that place energetically & creatively was one of the most thrilling experiences as an artist. Especially crafting what that experience looks like with such a spectacular design team: Costume Design by Rita McGhee, Hair by Arlene Martin, & Makeup by Parra Thomas. To allow room for our ancestors to dance in our world, unapologetically has been such a tremendous honor and joy. My formal training as actor always facilitated the excavation of the written word, the script, but it is my heritage as an African-American man that empowers everything that I do and am.