Tulane University - Jambalaya Yearbook (New Orleans, LA)

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HAPPENINGS

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WJ . New Orleans Theater With all due respect to Arthur Miller and his Death of a Salesman, no other play by an American writer has proved as popular with critics and audiences alike as Streetcar Named Desire. Though characterization is the key to any good play, in Streetcar Named Desire the setting makes the difference between a good play and a great play. Is it possible to think of Streetcar Named Desire without thinking of New Orleans? Probably not, for New Orleans and theater, thanks mainly to Tennessee Williams, have become forever inextri- cably linked. Theater in New Orleans existed long before Tennessee Williams put a pen to paper to create the definitive American Play. In fact, you could say the foundations were laid some three centuries ago by the French colonists who built the Vieux Carre, named the streets, and mixed blood with the Indians (and later, everyone else) to create America ' s most unique and colorful city. Without this special heritage, the- ater in New Orleans would be unimaginable. With no ghosts to draw on, Bohemian quarters for settings or peculiar na- tives to play characters, this city would be just another ship- ping port on the Mississippi River. Fortunately, all these things and more (like Voodoo) combine to provide ample fodder for dramatist and theater-goer alike. Even today, resident playwrights draw on the city and its people for their inspiration. Two fine plays of the past year. Spiritual Gifts and Slugs in the Bathtub; set in New Orleans, played to enthusiastic hometown audiences. Both are by beginning playwrights who, like Williams before them, were drawn to the city and stayed to write about it. The resulting works, while bearing some resemblance to William ' s plays, stand on their own as original works about the people who live here. Spiritual Gifts, by Dalt Wonk, takes place in a French Quarter pub and focuses on the secret lives of the people found there. In Slugs in the Bathroom by Nan Parati, the tone is considerably lighter as it concerns a house of people on St. Charles Avenue during Mardi Qras. At the Theater Marigny this season were two fine, well- known plays which greatly depend on the mingling of illusion and reality for their success. For one month last semester, The Boys in the Band played to standing-room-only audi- ences for its story of a birthday party thrown by a group of homosexuals. While the overall tone is comedic, there is a disquieting finale concerning the truth behind a heterosexual guest ' s nature. In fact, the audience left the theater never knowing what to believe. Similarly, Agnes of God, the story of a young nun ' s pregnancy and miscarriage, practically re- writes the book on blurring illusion and reality. By far the best known playhouse for big-name theater in New Orleans is the Saenger Theater. Located on the corner of Canal and Rampart Streets, between the Central Business District and the French Quarter, the Saenger Theater has been providing New Orleans with the Best of Broadway. This season alone, audiences saw the Broadway hits Jerry ' s Girls, La Cage Aux Folles, Little Shop Of Horrors, the The Real Thing from its gilded seats. Boasting a beautiful, spa- cious theater and well-chosen calendar, the Saenger Theater brings in big shows and big crowds. It also costs big bucks, but the real thing (broadway, that is) cost a lot more-plus it is so far away. Though traditionally based on no-risk musicals, the Saenger proved with The Real Thing that powerful dra- ma could be found outside the smaller theaters and more experimental coffeehouses. These same coffeehouses, however, cannot be beat for their snug intimacy, funky ambiance, and serious commit- ment to resident playwrights and less accessible works. Bor- sodi ' s Coffeehouse, near Tulane ' s campus, consistently pro- vides original works with amateur actors, as well as more established works such as this year ' s Moliere plays. Less accessible to the student, but certainly worth seeking out is Till Waiting Fills at the far end of Chartres Street in the French Quarter. Though it was once either a garage or a warehouse, today it hosts the most experimental works in town. Best of all, the audience often provides as much theat- rical inspiration as the plays themselves. With so much talk being heard these days about the lack of opportunity for black actors, the Contemporary Arts Center opened its season with an all black production of (what else!) Streetcar Named Desire. The Center also put on Spiritual Gifts, Cloud 9, Passion, The Wake of Jamey Foster, and the performance piece. Life of Bosch. For $24 and a ride downtown, a Tulane student could enjoy all these works over the course of the school year. While a trip downtown often proved worthwhile, Tulane University itself offered several stimulating ventures into the dramatic arts. Especially notable were the updated version of Romeo and Juliet and the antagonistic Sam Shepard play, Angel City. Musical productions at Tulane University almost always succeed, and this year Chicago and Top Girls were no exceptions. Better even than them was the opening of the Albert Lupin Experimental Theater in the New Fine Arts Complex on campus. - Aase Theater 189

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I Creativity On Campus creativity on campus 191