A different kind of Shotgun

John Biguenet, the Loyola University playwright, has scored a major success with his second Hurricane Katrina-inspired drama "Shotgun." Biguenet's earlier play "Rising Water" garnered national and regional awards for the soft-spoken and gregarious Biguenet, and set the mark for other dramas dealing with the tragedy of lives literally washed away by the monster hurricane. Much of Biguenet's first offering took place in an attic as a longtime married New Orleans couple sought refuge from drowning in the hours following the storm. "Shotgun" takes place in the period that ran from January through May of 2006, a time when race relations were less strained due to a common perceived recovery effort on the parts of both the Caucasian and African-American communities. At the opening of the play, a white man, Beau Harlan (played by Rus Blackwell) and his son Eugene (Alex Lemonier) seek out a place to live in a black section of Algiers, across the river from their destroyed home in Gentilly. The imagery of bridge building and using bridges to build relationships is key to this script as Mattie Godchaux, the daughter (Donna Duplantier) of an old out-of-work machinist (Lance E. Nichols) allows them to rent the other side of her shotgun home she is sharing with her father. There is a sense of loss that both families have experienced due to the storm and the characters are fleshed out very well from the start when the white family accepts the generous offer of housing from the down-on-their luck Godchaux family. As the days move on the two incomplete families become closer and Beau and Mattie come to lean on each other for emotional support. Mattie's former love interest, Clarence "Willie" Williams (Kenneth Brown, Jr.) provides comic release as a ne'er-do-well who comes of age and achieves real growth at the play's end. Each of the play's characters comes to grips with extreme loss. Mattie has suffered a miscarriage. Dex, who has been proudly and fiercely independent, has lost his Ninth Ward home and the memories associated with his deceased wife. Both of the Harlans are dealing with the storm-related death of the wife and mother they deeply loved. Even Clarence, who wants everyone to call him Willie now, bemoans the loss of Mattie's love for him. In "Rising Water" Biguenet showed two people literally clinging to each other as the murky waters of the broken levees forced them into the crawl space of their attic. In "Shotgun" he shows two people clinging to each other who are literally torn apart by outside forces. Valerie Curtis-Newman previously directed Nichols in "Yellowman," the emotional play dealing with color variations within the African-American community. Her brilliant direction of Biguenet's script is a must-see for all devotees of theatre and the cast has responded to her direction with exceptional work. Geoffrey Hall handled the scenic designs, which prominently featured a front stoop throughout the play. At one point in the play Mattie refers to the two families living together in the shotgun home as emblematic of the city of New Orleans in a post-Katrina environment, living together and depending upon one another. "Yeah, but there's a wall running down the middle," her father answers, highlighting the problem of racial prejudice that has always existed within the city. "Shotgun" will be seen throughout the remainder of the month at Southern Repertory Theatre. In a talk-back session following the play Biguenet described "Shotgun" as a group of human beings who are dealing with trying to piece their lives together while confronting the external pressure of a climate of returning racism. It is worthy theatre and will play well outside of New Orleans later in the year because of the universality of its message.

Son of a gun....

Well, just when I thought the news of the faltering economy, the sliding stock market, the Madoff rip-off, the ethical problems of Ray Nagin's administration and the slow recovery from Katrina couldn't get any worse, I got another shock. Louisiana leads the nation in gun deaths! Now that's a number one title I would have preferred we not earn. But earn it we did. Louisiana has more per capita gun-related deaths than any other state. Remember, we only have approximately three million residents and most of them live in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. According to the Violence Policy Center, a nonprofit group out of Washington, D.C. that monitors such statistics, Hawaii showed up with the fewest gun deaths. While the national death rate was pegged at 10.32 deaths per 100,000 residents, Louisiana led the way at nearly twice that with its 19.58. Alabama was second with 16.99 and Alaska and our other neighbor Mississippi were tied for third place on this unenviable list with 16.38 per 100,000. Nevada finished off the top five list with its ranking of 16.25. It almost boggles the mind that three of the top five states are located in the Deep South. States like Texas or Arizona with their Wild West histories don't even make the cut. To my knowledge, gun ownership is high in those states too. Apparently, the gun owners there are more responsible and careful than the denizens of Dixie. Then, again, residents of New Orleans have been known to signal in each year by firing rounds of automatic and semi-automatic weapons into the air as one might have seen in Hussein's Iraq. Ah, yes, welcome to Louisiana. Welcome to the Third World. Can somebody cover me while I make a dash for my car?

The march toward summer

There is a point in the springtime when the heat index starts to rise and the temperate, comfortable days of April and early May begin the oppressive march toward the high heat and high humidity of summer. The days when a fan seems adequate to cool a room start to slide into a succession of sticky, moist days when only air conditioning, a cool iced tea, lemonade or a cold treat like a snowball offer any respite from the relentless heat. This is New Orleans after all. Louis Armstrong's jazz standard "When It's Sleepy Time Down South" and George Gershwin's "Summertime" suggest a laissez faire attitude by most folks down here. That attitude might well be attributed to the high heat and humidity that abounds here starting in May and which lasts until October or later. When one moves from an air conditioned building into the outdoor heat, the rush of hot air is almost overwhelming. Eyeglasses immediately fog and an automobile seems more like an oven than a mode of transportation. Yet for all of these minor annoyances there is little doubt that few of us would exchange that indominable heat for any of those snowbound days of winter the northern folk face with snowblowers, scrapers and shovels in hand. Ah, yes, the dog days of summer are nearly here, but thank goodness for that heat. It makes me appreciate what passes for winter down here all the more and I look to the fall for relief from the onslaught of summer. As near as I can figure it, that should be sometime around Halloween.

The winding down of Jazz Fest

Nothing can take the joy out of a Jazz Fest and spin it into a muddy mess quite like severe thunderstorms. In April or May it's always a crap shoot as to whether or not the weather will prove to be overly kind and mild or excessively stern and challenging. A rapid moving thunderstorm with heavy downbursts of wind and rain can take a pleasant day and suddenly make it a horrid experience. True musiclovers will allow little to deter them from their enjoyment of the performances, but for those of us used to creature comforts like dryness and the ability to move about unfettered by mud and slop, it's a real challenge. Yesterday's mid-afternoon downbursts did their best to bring down the spirits of the huge crowd gathered at the historic Fair Grounds. But try as the rain did, the sun reappeared for a bit and the party went on. The ground was soaked so quickly that water gathered in pools adjacent to walkways and near the entrances of the tents erected to protect the smaller crowds gathered to hear gospel, contemporary jazz and traditional jazz. Like Jimmy Buffet's "Margaritaville" suggests flip flops were blown out in record numbers following the storm as they became mired in the muck stirred up by rain and refuse from the crowds. When the Radiators and the Neville Brothers finished up their sets at 7:00 p.m. (the Radiators ended a tad early), the crowd was largely smiling and happy. It was, after all, Jazz Fest and it could have been the best one so far.

Israel Independence Day

Preparing the "Cantorial Soloist" toss is Beignet Yisroel (from left: Cantors Michael Shochet and Jordan Franzel with Rabbi David Bockman. Victoria May is in the foreground.)

Getting ready for the 61st birthday of Israel is not that hard if you go by the English calendar. It's always the same date, May 14, which is the date that the State of Israel was announced by David Ben Gurion in 1948. But the date on the Hebrew calendar is almost always the 5th of Iyar (Yom Ha'atzmaut) and always follows Israeli Memorial Day (Yom Hazikaron). If the 5th of Iyar falls on a Friday or Saturday, the celebration is pushed back to the preceding Thursday with Yom Hazikaron held on Wednesday. If the 5th of Iyar falls on a Monday, the celebration is pushed forward so that it occurs on a Tuesday. This is to protect the sanctity of the Sabbath, which won't allow a sad day of memorial to run directly after it ends. So, Israeli Memorial Day must fall on a Monday after an interceding day between it and the Sabbath. This year the date of Yom Ha'Atzmaut was May 3 on the Gregorian calendar and, while the celebrations were not as pronounced as those for the 60th anniversary of the Jewish state, they were held in earnest and with gusto. This year a number of former New Orleanians gathered to make the celebration even more special by appearing on stage at Conservative synagogue Shir Chadash. This was the singing group Beignet Yisroel composed of two cantors, a rabbi and a cantorial soloist. Beignet (pronounced BEN-yay) is a term for a famous New Orleans delicacy, a square donut without a hole that is covered in confectioner's sugar. Typically sold at tourist havens like Cafe du Monde, beignets are best served hot like the group named after them. Beignet Yisroel was formed in the 1990s when its members were all working in New Orleans. Cantor Michael Shochet was the cantor at Temple Sinai, a Reform synagogue. Jordan Franzel was the cantor at sister Reform temple Touro Synagogue, while Conservative Rabbi David Bockman was a trumpet player who loved to perform at Chevra Thillim. Shochet has moved to Falls Church, Virginia, where he is presently employed as the senior cantor at Rodef Shalom. Franzel moved to Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania where he now works as Congregation Or Ami's cantor. After leaving New Orleans, Bockman moved away to Raleigh, North Carolina, where he served as pulpit rabbi for several years. Now he makes Temple Beth Shalom of Teaneck, New Jersey his home. All three came back for a performance with Cantorial Soloist Victoria May of Congregation Gates of Prayer. May more than holds her own as the sole member of the distaff side of singers and performers. In the time since Bockman, Franzel and Shochet moved away, Chevra Thillim merged with Tikvat Shalom to become Shir Chadash, where their concert was held. Beignet Yisroel performs Jewish music with heavy influences from New Orleans music. It's great to see these Jewish spiritual leaders and musicians return to their former haunt to entertain the city's community for whom they apparently still have many feelings.

Storer Boone Awards

The seventeenth annual Storer Boone Awards, sometimes referred to as "the Boonies," were held last night at Le Chat Noir, the swank cabaret that has been the host for the awards ceremonies that honor local theatre for the past eight of those years. Le Chat's gracious hostess Barbara Motley and local actor Brian Peterson served as emcees. As expected, it was a night of revelry for many of the productions that had previously been hailed at the Big Easy Theatre Awards in March. Among the best of the most acknowledged productions were the controversial Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins" and the gripping drama "Coyote on a Fence." Michael Aaron Santos, Anchie Joachim and Jason Kilpatrick repeated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor in a Drama ("Coyote on a Fence"), respectively. This time out, Santos's wife, Ashley Ricord, won for Best Director of a Drama, making it a clean sweep for "Coyote." Ricord also picked up a "Boonie" for her InsideOut/NOLA Project role in "Sideman" as Best Actress in a Drama, making her a double winner of both Big Easy Theatre and Storer Boone Awards. It should be apparent that the young upstarts of Inside Out Productions and the NOLA Project, who began only a few short years ago, have little else to prove. They are at the pinnacle of success. It was Le Petit du Vieux Carre and the NOLA Project's "Assassins" that garnered most of the other big wins for the night. Jimmy Murphy and Lisa Picone won Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress in a Musical for their roles in "Assassins" and A. J. Allegra won the nod as Best Director of a Musical. All three won Big Easy Awards last month. Of course, "Assassins" was given the nod for Best Musical outright. Other "Assassins" winners were Jefferson Turner as for Musical Director, Eli Grove and Kyle Herbert for Best Set Design, and Cecile Casey Covert for Best Costume Design. Another winner for the night was the Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre's production of "Rent" which garnered Best Lighting Design honors for Scott Sauber and Nancy Macko and Best Sound Design for Cliff Stromeyer. Other winners who reprised Big Easy wins were Meredith Long for Best Actress in a Musical ("Ruthless, The Musical"), Natalie Boyd for Best Actress in a Comedy ("Speech & Debate"), Aimee Hayes for Best Director of a Comedy ("Speech & Debate") and Karen Hebert for Best Choregraphy ("Cabaret"). The Best Comedy of 2008 was "Speech & Debate" and Ricky Graham and Sean Patterson's zany "Renew Revue" about recovery in a post-Katrina environment was given the award for Best Origianl Play. Other winners were Laura Jean Hoffpauir for Best Stage Manager and Alex Lemonier for Best Performance by a Child ("The History Boys"). "A Kingdom of Statues," another joint production of the NOLA Project and Le Petit du Vieux Carre won the award for Best Children's play. The big honors of the night were handed out to Deborah Bell as the Arthur Tong Unsung Hero Award and to local luminary Lyla Hay Owen as the 2009 Storer Boone Lifetime Achievement Award. There were two performances of note throughout the night. The first by Lisa Picone of "Surabaya Santa" from 2 Left Feet's production of "Songs for a New World" was absolutely hysterical. Picone was on top of her game. The second half opened with a rousing number from FourFront Productions' "Altar Boyz." This was timed fortuitously just prior to the reprise of that show opening soon at Le Petit Theatre du Vieux Carre. What made this night special was that it was the New Orleans area theatre community coming together and voting for themselves. Unlike the Big Easy Awards, which are nominated by committees, the nominations and final votes for the Storer Boone Awards come from the rank and file of actors, actresses, directors, producers, technicians, stage managers, etc. They are tabulated online at Stageclick.com and in several cases this year some of the categories were decided by one vote. In some cases the winner's margin was only by two votes.

Jazz Fest Shabbat

Marcia Ball with her small fan at Jazz Fest Shabbat

Every year, typically the fourth Friday of April, Touro Synagogue has held a Jazz Fest Shabbat, an opportunity to put Jewish liturgical music and worship and counterpoise it with the music associated with the Jazz Fest, whether that be contemporary, New Orleans rhythm and blues, klezmer or more traditional jazz. Last year Kermit Ruffins held sway in the huge sanctuary and, because of the dates for Passover conflicting with the first weekend, it took place on the second weekend of the festival, closer to the first week in May. Ruffins did a fantastic job getting the entire audience to move up towards the front and dance up and down the aisles prior to the worship services portion of the program. I didn't think anyone else could do as great a job until last night. And I am thankful to reveal to you all that I was wrong! Marcia Ball, the best female pianist to play New Orleans style music took command of the bimah where her band joined her as she tickled the electric ivories. She made the audience feel so happy to be there and to really get into the spirit of the services in a meaningful way. Now for my observant Jewish friends, I am sure there is little I could do to convince them that playing music on Shabbat or using electricity to amplify it could be justified. But for those of us who are a bit more liberal in our approach to tefilah (prayer), it was a revelation. After all, it is Jazz Fest and things are just a bit different during these days. The Jazz Fest Shabbat is in its 16th year, having been formed originally by the late Cantor Stephen Dubov, an amazing man, singer and religious leader who left us way too early. Cantor Dubov was a personal friend of mine and consoled my son and I on the evening of my wife's passing, a mitzvah that I will never forget. After Dubov left New Orleans other cantors have come and gone, but it seems to me that none have taken on the post of coordinating Jazz Fest Shabbat any better than Touro's present cantor Billy Tiep. Billy gets it and he pours himself into each concert. I offer him my heartfelt thanks for a truly moving experience that most everyone agreed was the best we'd ever seen. I can't wait to see how he tops this one next year.