Theatre--Performance

Eunice Players’ Theatre is preparing its season opener, Barefoot in the Park, a two-act comedy by Neil Simon. This production of the play marks a revival on the EPT stage following its first run in 1972. Director Suzanne LaHaye has put together a cast of stage veterans and audience favorites to bring to the stage the story of a newlywed couple who must contend with their own differences - she being free-spirited, he being a strait-laced lawyer - as well as a faulty postage-stamp sized New York apartment, a quirky neighbor and a nosy mother-in-law.

Bonnie Pitre and Charles Seale

Bonnie Pitre and Gabe Ortego 

Gabe Ortego, Bonnie Pitre and  Tucker Kelly

Gabe Ortego, Bonnie Pitre,  Ricci Arnaud and Charles Seale

Ricci Arnaud and Gabe Ortego

The show will begin its run Thursday, March 24 through Sunday, March 27. Dinner theatre is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m. at Nick's on Second St., with the performance immediately following. Other performances dates include Wednesday and Thursday, March 30 and 31. All evening performances are at 7:00 p.m.; the Sunday matinee is at 2:00 p.m. Individual tickets for the show are $10 and on sale at David Ltd. Salon on Second St. Season tickets may be purchased and more information can be obtained by calling 546-0163 or 457-2156. For $20 a season ticket includes 3 shows, reservation rights, voting privileges and an invitation to the 42th Annual Irving Awards. Angel and patron packages are also available for purchase.

More pictures and information about EPT can be found on their Facebook page or at euniceplayers.blogspot.com.

Theatre--Performance

Local playwright and actor Cody Daigle opened Wednesday night in Shining City, a production of Playhouse Tulsa and the first review, which is very good, is already out.  It can be found here.

Theatre--Performance

The UL-Department of Performing Arts is presenting Picnic by William Inges.  The show opens on Thursday, March 17th and will run every day through March 20th.  The Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 7:30 pm and the Sunday performance will be a matinee with a 2 pm curtain.  There will also be an encore performance on March 22nd at 7:30 as part of the College of the Arts' annual Spark Festival of the Arts.


Tickets are available at the door.  Tickets are free to ULL students, faculty and staff with their UL ID card, $5.00 for students of other schools, alums and seniors, and $10.00 for general admission.

For more information, call the UL Department of Performing Arts at (337) 482-6357. 

Theatre--Performance

Eunice Players’ Theatre is preparing its season opener, Barefoot in the Park, a two-act comedy by Neil Simon.  This production of the play marks a revival on the EPT stage following its first run in 1972.  Director Suzanne LaHaye has put together a cast of stage veterans and audience favorites to bring to the stage the story of a newlywed couple who must contend with their own differences - she being free-spirited, he being a strait-laced lawyer - as well as a faulty postage-stamp sized New York apartment, a quirky neighbor and a nosy mother-in-law.

Filling the roles of the newlywed couple, Corie and Paul Bratter are Bonnie Pitre and Gabe Ortego of Eunice.  Gabe was most recently seen in The Farndale Avenue Housing Estate Townswomen's Guild Dramatic Society's Production of A Christmas Carol as Gordon, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor Irving Award.  An accomplished actor in the Opelousas and Eunice theatres, with Providence, A Tuna Christmas, and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? to his credit, Gabe has also directed Steel Magnolias, Monky Business, and The Subject Was Roses.

Bonnie returns to the stage following her Irving Award-winning performance in Providence and a stellar turn in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.  Bonnie appeared in several plays at LSU while earning a minor degree in theatre; she has also been seen on the EPT stage in Woman and The Sound of Music, and she also ran the lighting for If the Shoe Fits.

Longtime EPT actor and frequent set designer Charles Seale returns to the stage in the role of the quirky but charming Victor Velasco after having recently taken part in Fiddler on the Roof and co-directed Deathtrap.  Interestingly, Charles assisted with painting the scenic backdrop for the EPT's earlier production of this show.

Joining the cast as Corie’s mother, Mrs. Banks is Ricci Arnaud from Crowley .  Ricci is past president of Acadia Players in Crowley , where she appeared in The Queen of Bingo, A Coupla White Chicks Sitting Around Talking, and Seven Nuns in Vegas.

Stepping in as the telephone repairman is Tucker Kelly of Crowley, most recently seen in last season’s What the Bellhop Saw at EPT.  He’s also had roles in Bridge to Terabithia and Seance in Acadiana at Acadia Players, as well as numerous high school and church productions.

Rusty Moody of Eunice has the cameo role of the delivery man.  Currently the mayor of Eunice, Rusty is returning to the stage after a 20 year absence, having last been seen in The Nerd for which he won an Irving Award.

The show will begin its run Thursday, March 24th through Sunday, March 27th. Dinner theatre is scheduled for Tuesday, March 29 at 6:00 p.m. at Nick's on Second St. , with the performance immediately following.  Other performances dates include Wednesday and Thursday, March 30 and 31.  All evening performances are at 7:00 p.m.; the Sunday matinee is at 2:00 p.m.  Individual tickets for the show are $10 and on sale at David Ltd. Salon on Second St .  Season tickets may be purchased and more information can be obtained by calling 546-0163 or 457-2156.  For $20 a season ticket includes 3 shows, reservation rights, voting privileges and an invitation to the 42^th Annual Irving Awards. Angel and patron packages are also available for purchase. 

More pictures and information about EPT can be found on Facebook and at www.euniceplayers.blogspot.com.

Theatre--Performance

Blaine Peltier and Dennis Ward

The Saturday, March 19th performance of Chez Gisèle will be “Retro Disco Night”. A costume contest for the best retro disco outfit will take place that night awarding $100 for the best disco outfit. So shine your platform shoes and press your bell bottom slacks. Come to the March 19th performance of Chez Gisèle, at Cité Des Arts, 109 Vine St., downtown Lafayette, and disco dance away with $100. Contest is open only to all ticket holders. To purchase a ticket to the play call 337-291-1122.  To purchase tickets online (using paypal), visit the Cite website.

Theatre--Performance

A Different Woman, tales from a true Texas Childhood, an original one woman play written and performed by Veronica Russell, will be playing at Cité des Arts this Friday, March 11 & Saturday, March 12th at 7:30pm. Tickets are $12.50 for general admission, and $10.00 for Students and Seniors. Please call 291-1122 for reservations In the freewheeling, liberated 1920's, women finally get the vote, but apparently publishing anecdotes about childhood abuse, your brothers' sexual exploits with the family livestock, and sincere wishes that death and destruction might be visited upon all the members of your backwater Texas family would still get a girl institutionalized and kicked out of Great Britain. Edna Gertrude Beasley is the most incendiary feminist author never heard of. Her autobiography, My First Thirty Years, was banned upon its publication in 1925 for "gross obscenity," and most copies were destroyed in U.S. and British customs offices. Some eventually made it into circulation, though the governor of Texas later sent the Texas Rangers to seek out and seize any copies that had managed to infiltrate his great state. Upon discovering this powerfully independent iconoclast and her amazing story, Veronica Russell set about adapting portions of her all-but-vanished book into a one-woman theatrical production which has been performed to great success in New York and New Orleans. There is now have the opportunity to help re- introduce Gertrude and her story to a larger audience.  Throughout the summer of 2011 this show will tour 6 Canadian Fringe theatre festivals, including a stop in Edmonton, the largest such festival in the Americas.

Editor's Note

Happy Mardi Gras!!

Theatre--Performance (Musical Theatre)

South Pacific, the legendary Broadway and movie hit, will be presented by the Iberia Performing Arts League opening Friday, March 25 and running Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sunday afternoons thru April 10.  Evening performances are at 7:30 and Sunday Matinees are at 3:00 at the Essanee Theater, IPAL’s Art Deco home.  

 Helen Allain Richthofen (Bloody Mary)

 Anne Catherine LeBlanc (Liat) and Phillip Smith (Lt. Joe Cable)

Thomas Owens (Luther Billis),  James Wyche (Stewpot) and Matthew Dugan (Professor)

Kim Monroe (Nellie Forbush) 

Kim Monroe (Nellie Forbush) and Michael Parich, Sr. (Emile de Becque)

Ticket or other information can be obtained by calling the theater at 364-6114, e-mailing ipal@cox.net, or by visiting the IPAL website. Tickets can also be obtained in New Iberia at Paul’s Flower Shop, Delaune’s Pharmacy, or Accentrics. All seats are reserved and are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.

Theatre--Auditions

Two roles remain to be cast in the Acadia Players' production of Noises Off (Garry and Selsdon).  If interested, contact the director (Russell Faulconer) at (337) 783-1512 or (337) 581-9876 or Jody Powell at (337) 580-1787.

Theatre--Performance

The Opelousas Little Theatre at The Delta Grand presents William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Two households, both alike in dignity,

In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,

From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,

Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.

From forth the fatal loins of these two foes

A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;

Whose misadventured piteous overthrows

Do with their death bury their parents' strife.

The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,

And the continuance of their parents' rage,

Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,

Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage...

Directors Travis Fontenot and Walter Duncan McBride bring to life this timeless comedy/tragedy.  That's right!  Everyone knows the story: Boy meets girl. Girl belongs to a rival family. Rival family hates boy. They get married anyway. Rival families fight. People die. She pretends to kill herself. Boy buys poison and kills himself while she wakes up from fake-killing herself. Kills herself... Got all that? Of course there's more than that, it is a two hour play filled with comedy, swordfights, and a world of intrigue. Join the fine actors of Opelousas Little Theatre as they retell this story of the people of Verona, Italy in one of The Bard's best told stories.

ROMEO- Andrew Markel
BENVOLIO- Cody Richard
BALTHASAR- Nick Blumrich
ABRAM- Nick Blumrich
LORD MONTAGUE- Travis Fontenot
LADY MONTAGUE - Tara Sibille
JULIET- Austin Guidroz
TYBALT- Jersten Seraile
SAMPSON- Cody Sibley
GREGORY- Dustin Clark
LORD CAPULET- Duncan McBride
LADY CAPULET- Cindy Pitre
NURSE- Sarah Bourgeoius
MERCUTIO- Andy Doucet
PARIS- Dalton Guiterriz
PRINCE- Eugene Dupre'
FRIAR LAWRENCE- Casey Harmon
JOHN- Cody Sibley
APOTHECARY- Jada Doucet
CITIZEN'S OF VERONA- Alix Trombley and  Hillary Ziegler.

STAGE MANAGER- Erica Stanford
BACKSTAGE- Chelsey LeBleau
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR- Nick Blumrich

 The cast of Romeo and Juliet will preform at the Delta Grand Theatre in downtown Opelousas from April 6th through the 9th and April 13th through the 16th at 7 pm. Matinee performances on April 10th and April 17th at 2 pm


Tickets are available over the phone at Sebastion-Dupre Fine Jewelery at 337-948-4367 or can be purchaed at the door on the day of show.

Look OLT up at www.opelousaslittletheatre.com or become a fan on Facebook.

Theatre--Auditions

The Evangeline Players have cancelled the Sunday, March 6th auditions for The Glass Menagerie.  The auditions will take place as scheduled on Saturday, March 5th.

Theatre--Company Website

The Evangeline Players have launched their new website.  Check it out.

Theatre--Company Website

Acting Unlimited, Inc and Acting Unlimited Repertory Academy are announcing their new website.  Take a look and leave comments for the companies.

Theatre--Review (Abbey Players)

Ray Blum reviews the Abby Players' production of Blithe Spirit in the Friday, February 25th issue of the Daily Advertiser.

Theatre--Performance (Musical Theatre)

Back by popular demand, Chez Gisèle, a drag musical comedy noire stage play by Dennis Ward, directed by Christy Leichty, opens March 17th for a two week revival at the Cité Des Arts theater.


The second production is dedicated to the memory of Clarence Aucoin, who died forty years ago, March 7, 1971. The premier run of Chez Gisèle was a three week run in May and June of 2010 and sold out almost every performance. .


Chez Gisèle will be performed March 17th, 18th, 19th, 20th and 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th. All performances start at 7:30pm except Sunday matinees, which will begin at 2:30pm. It’s recommended that tickets be reserved in advance by calling Cité Des Arts at 337-291-1122 or online by paypal at the Cite website.

Theatre--Auditions (Musical Theatre)

Auditions will be held February 27th (5 pm to 7 pm) and 28th  (5:30-7pm) at Cité Des Arts for the original Brenrose production of Exile, a gospel musical about the final exile of Napoleon at St. Helen’s.  One child and seven adults are being sought for this production which will run May 5th through the 21st at Cité.  The producers are seeking a 8-12 year old boy, four males and three females, ages 30-70.  Be prepared to do a cold reading and to audition with one song of the auditioner's choice.  All members of the cast will be a part of a chorus, many will have solo numbers.  This show will be directed by Maureen Brennan.   The production team is also seeking musicians, technicians and a stage manager. 

Call 337-298-7321 for more info.

The UL Department of Performing Arts presents Picnic by William Inge from March 16th through the 20th.  The show will take place in the theatre at Burke-Hawthorne Hall on the UL campus.  Shows times are 7:30 pm, with the exception of a 2 pm matinee on Sunday.


The play takes place on Labor Day weekend in the joint backyards of two middle- aged widows. One house belongs to Flo Owens, who lives there with her two awakening young daughters, Madge and Millie, and a boarder who is a spinster school teacher, Rosemary Sidney. The other house belongs to Helen Potts, who lives with her elderly and invalid mother. Into this atmosphere comes a young man named Hal Carter, whose animal vitality upsets the entire group. Hal is a most-interesting character, a child of parents who ignored him, self-conscious of his failings and his hard luck. Flo is sensitively wary of the temptations Hal poses for her daughters. But Madge, bored with being merely a beauty, sacrifices her chances for a wealthy marriage for the excitement that Hal promises."

Directed by: Sara Birk
Stage Manager: Kelsey LaCoste
Assistant Stage Managers: Gilbert Moore

Flo Owens- Rachel Chambers
Madge Owens- Kristen DuBois
Millie Owens-Amber Izdepski
Helen Potts- Ana-Alicia Scott
Rosemary Sidney- Elizabeth Satterly
Irma Kronkite-Megan Laque
Christine Schoenwalder-Amanda Caldwell
Hal Carter- David Huynh
Alan Seymour-Jeremy Drewery
Howard Bevans- Martin Smith
Bomber Gutzel- Andre Trahan



$10.00 General Admission, Free w/ Valid ID, UL Lafayette Students, Faculty, and Staff
$5.00 UL Lafayette Alumni, Senior Citizens, Students, and Children
Tickets available only at door.

For more information call: 337.482.635 

Theatre--Auditions

IPAL presents Agatha Christie’s The Unexpected Guest directed by Travis Guillory! Auditions will be held Monday, March 28th and Tuesday, March 29th at 5:30 pm.. Performances will be June 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th, 2011.

On a foggy night in South Wales, Michael Starkwedder crashes his car in a ditch and enters the darkened study of Richard Warwick to find Warwick dead and Warwick 's wife, Laura, standing near with a smoking gun. Despite the murder being obvious and overwhelming evidence pointing towards it, Starkwedder does not believe she killed him. The two decide to place the blame on an enemy from the past, Mac Gregor, a man whose son was run over by Richard while he was driving drunk. As the story progresses, the two fake the fact that they were just finding out about the murder and others in the house are introduced. The police suspect everyone in the house, but are especially puzzled by a set of unidentified fingerprints. Are they Mac Gregor’s? Or do they belong to Laura’s lover whom Laura has lied to protect? Murder, jealousy, craftiness, and witty humor add up to equal another one of Agatha Christie’s surprise endings.

For more information, email ipal@cox.net or call the director at (337) 789-9362.

Dramatiks Productions stages For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozoke Shange.

 Hear the Sound of Color! 

Dramatiks Productions  is proud to announce the opening of  Ntozoke Shange’s For Colored Girls who have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf, a choreopoem, or series of poems choreographed to music. For Colored Girls expresses the many struggles and obstacles that African-American women have faced throughout their lives. While the play focuses on women of color, the poems are about women, love, family, abuse, relationships, identity, sexuality, choice and friendship, and are embodied by each woman's story, providing a sense of the interrelationships among the performers and of their gestures and dance movements.
The play begins and ends with the lady in brown. The other six performers represent the colors of the rainbow: the ladies in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple. The various repercussions of "bein alive & bein a woman & bein colored is a metaphysical dilemma" are explored through the words, gestures, dance, and music of the seven ladies, who improvise as they shift in and out of different roles.

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf is directed/produced  by Jennifer Miller under the umbrella of Dramatiks Productions.   The members of this extremely talented cast are Bria Hobgood, (Orange). Tametria Smith, (Yellow),  Kisha Guillory, (Purple), Kristana Marshall, (Red), Nyokia Mckeith (Green), NeeKee Mcdonald (Blue) and Gale Whitting, (brown).

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf opens Thursday, February 24-28th, and runs for one weekend only. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 pm and Sunday at 3:00 pm.  Tickets are $15 and $10 with senior, student and group discounts available. Tickets can be purchased by calling the box office at (337) 291-1122, by going to the box office or by visiting Cite’s website.

Theatre--Auditions

After the HUGE successes of Grease and A Christmas Story, the Acadia Players takes on one of the biggest endeavors in its history.

 

Noises Off is a hiliarious spoof of community theater life and the sometimes happenings before, during and after a performance of a play. In it's "adult humor" style way, the players of "Nothing On" must deal with all the aspects of Murphy's Law (what can go wrong usually will) as they seek to prepae (only hours before opening curtain) and then perform their rendition.

 

Unrequited love, mixed up emotions, jealousy (and let's not forget sardines) all combine to make a rollical time which will have adult audiences rolling in the aisles. Add to that a cactus and an axe, and audiences will be "splitting their sides" as they watch this play evolve at lightning speed.

 

The Acadia Players will be holding auditions for Noises Off from Monday, March 1st, through Wednesday, March 3rd at the Historic Rice Theater in downtown Crowley. Auditions will begin at 6 pm each evening. 

 

They are looking for 5 males and 4 females (with two roles that could be played by either) 18 years of age or older. The play is not for the faint at heart, as characters will play "dual roles" - meaning that they will play the character they are cast as AND the character that their character plays in the spoof play.

 

Performances are scheduled for July 14th through the 17th at the Historic Rice Theater in Crowley, with a Media Night performance on July 9th.

 

Those interested may show up one of the nights of audition, or contact the Crowley Flower Shop at 783-1512 or Jimmy Broussard, President, at 783-5532.

 

Noises Off is written by Michael Frayn and is being produced by special permission of Samuel French, Inc.