May Concerts
May 2, 2012
Female-laden, character-driven comedy hits stage
May 2, 2012
Audience members are in for a month-long treat when the Bayou Playhouse in Lockport brings back Anne Galjour’s delicious comedy “Okra.”
This spunky show demonstrates what happens when two daughters come up with their own endeavors to stop their ornery mother from throwing their inheritance down the video poker machine.
Director Perry Martin says “Okra” has been performed at multiple venues and is a continuous sell out.
“It was our biggest hit,” Martin says. “It sold out almost every performance when we did it in 2008, and it is the No. 1 requested show for us to bring back here at the Playhouse since.”
Martin says the show is authentic.
“It makes us laugh at ourselves,” Martin says. “You’ll notice that anytime something is said onstage, especially if it’s French or Cajun, people in the audience relate.”
When guests walk in, they will immediately smell the shrimp creole cooking on stage, followed by the coffee being percolated and the gumbo in Act Two.
“The whole concept of family revolves around the kitchen table in this area,” Martin says. “Cooking is like making love down here.”
Lois Duet, from Cut Off, plays Lillian Bourgeois, the medicated “mama” addicted to the casino.
Anne Galjour, the playwright born and raised in Lafourche Parish, says that as the idea developed, the characters started to write themselves in.
“I just started writing scenes,” Galjour said. “Around that time, gambling became legal again in Louisiana, and I was hearing stories of people, especially women, having problems with gambling and poker machines, being drawn to them after the death of a husband or loved one.”
Duet is the only cast member reprising her role.
“Everybody else is new, it makes me think no one wants to work with me,” Duet says, laughing. “My character has a tendency to be overbearing, and I try to steal the show all the time.”
Tonia Guidry, from Cut Off, is Duet’s real-life and on-stage daughter. Guidry’s character, Marie, has become an agoraphobic, who will not leave the safety of the house, after she was allegedly attacked by a rooster in the garden.
“We’re excited because this is the first time we have ever had a mother-daughter duo for this show,” Martin says.
Galjour says Marie’s incident with the rooster was the “kernel” idea that formed the play.
Joycelyn Boudreaux, of Houma, plays Claudine, the other daughter who has returned from teaching in New Orleans to stop her mother from burning through her inheritance.
“They think I’m just here to keep an eye on my inheritance, but I truly came back because they can’t take care of themselves,” Boudreaux says. “I’m kind of naughty too; one of those naughty teachers.”
Then, there’s Travis Resor from New Orleans, who plays Henri, the family’s “kissing” cousin from France.
“I’m full of the wonderment of the south,” Resor says of his character. “I just want to meet an alligator and pet it. I try to bring the family together, but there is a lot of animosity.”
Martin explains that Travis has been in most of the Bayou Playhouse shows.
“I’m always lucky to find a really great cast who just bring the characters to life,” Martin says. “This will be the fifth production of this show that I have directed with a different cast.”
Galjour says she is grateful for the various casts who have delivered this show with the same love, recognition, respect and humor that she feels for her culture. She explains that when “Okra” was performed for the first time in Lockport, she felt that the cast portrayed the poetry of the show more than any other cast because they were authentic Cajuns.
“My characters popped off the page,” Galjour says. “When the accents are authentic, it’s like another level.”
“Here we have real Cajuns with real accents,” Martin says. “When you use real accents, there’s a poetry that comes through.”
Martin says that Duet did not have much experience when she got the part during the first production of “Okra” at the Bayou Playhouse.
“The first time we did ‘Okra,’ Lois (Duet) came planning to read for a background role and she read so well that she became the star of the show,” Martin says.
“When I turned 62, I decided to make a bucket list of things I’ve always wanted to do,” Duet says. “I would have loved an acting career.”
Duet secretly snuck away to the open audition for “Okra” for fear of rejection and was shocked when Martin offered her the role.
“I was always crying,” Duet says. “The night of the first performance, I was hyperventilating and apologizing to Perry saying ‘I don’t know why I did this. I’m so sorry I got you involved with my stupidity.’”
Martin said he had to give Duet some encouragement, but as soon as she got on stage, her nervousness disappeared.
“We had talked about all the performances, but it never registered,” Duet says. “I thought it was just one performance, and then when I realized we had several performances, I started to panic all over again.”
The play runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday from May 18 to June 17.
Galjour currently teaches in the creative writing department at San Francisco State University. She is writing a new comedy, based on a real event involving turtle soup and road kill, that opens at the Bayou Playhouse next year.
Tonia Guidry (Marie), Louis Duet (Ms. Lillian) and Joycelyn Boudreaux (Claudine) rehearse for Bayou Playhouse’s “Okra.”
Anne Galjour, a Cut Off native who wrote the play, is a teacher in the creative writing department at San Francisco State University. Her new comedy, based on a real event involving turtle soup and road kill, opens at the Bayou Playhouse next year.
