Theatre--Review

Alter Ego Productions presents Louisiana Women: Visionaries as a touring production.  There are a dozen thirty-minute autobiographical monologues presented by various actresses portraying women who have made some significant contribution to Louisiana's cultural life--many of them not as well-known as they should be.  In a given evening, the audience will spend time with three of the ladies, chosen by who is available to perform and which subjects might be especially relevant to the audience.  The ladies range across the whole history of Louisiana and include writers, artists, naturalists and activists.

Last night, at Cite Des Arts I saw KATE CHOPIN (Donna Rigdon Jones), CAROLINE DORMON (Molly L. Markwick) and CLYDE CONNELL (Carol Anne Gayle).  These are autobiographical monologues so the action is confined to watching the women go about some typical task--writing, gardening, sculpting and so forth as they reminisce about their lives and work.  

The point of these shows is to give a portrait of a personality, to give some sense of the person to go along with the wikipedia article and the photos.  Each woman is presented in an iconic costume in an iconic setting--a visual quick guide.  The performances are engaging and professional and the physical presentation is clever and evocative.  I came home and looked up all three ladies on the Internet because I had a sense of having met them and gotten to know them.  I wanted to know more about them and their lives.

It is a shame that this presentation is almost a secret at Cite.  Louisiana Women is entertaining and informative, visually appealing and it moves at a good clip.  It's the perfect show to take the family to see and then discuss a bit.  The scripts move too fast to be preachy and the actresses are charming and convincing.  It is well-directed, well-designed and technically proficient.  The production is thoroughly professional.  Unfortunately, the program does not give performance dates--I know there is another performance this afternoon (Saturday, Sept. 11).  If you are lucky, there may be one tomorrow as well.

Check out www.louisianawomenonstage.com to find out their performance schedule.  Encourage them to come back to Cite and make plans to take some friends.  I have seen them twice and both times I was glad I had the opportunity.  Yes, it is a bit of an after school special on Oxygen but I am a man who is not acquainted with any of the subjects or participants and I was very glad I saw the show--I was entertained and informed and I came away feeling invested in the ladies.  Congratulations to all of the talented people involved in this production.  My evening with you was well-spent! 

---Walter Brown
   AUI