At the Library in May
May 1, 2013
Andrew J. Cantrelle
May 2, 2013
Anne Galjour, playwright of the Bayou Playhouse’s popular comedy run “Okra,” is presenting audiences with the world premiere of another Cajun kitchen comedy all about “Turtles and Alligators.”
Director Perry Martin says “Turtles and Alligators” is set only a few years ago, which gives the play a contemporary feel.
“It is basically what I call a ‘kitchen comedy,’ which is what ‘Okra’ was,” Martin says. “This is a little more geared toward the environment and the wetlands with that underlying theme.”
Galjour says she feels comedy is often a good way to spread a message because through entertainment, people are more open to difficult realizations.
“People will have a good time, but also think about our culture and where we live and how things are changing,” Galjour says. “We’re losing a lot of our land. Will we still be able to live down the bayou years from now? These are all serious issues, but life is not a bowl of tears, so hopefully it’s entertaining too.”
“Turtles and Alligators” runs from May 17 through June 16 at the Bayou Playhouse, 101 Main St., Lockport.
Galjour grew up in Cut Off but has been a resident of San Francisco for 30 years. Galjour’s hit, “Okra” recently played to a sold-out run at the Bayou Playhouse. “Okra” premiered at Brava Theater Center in San Francisco in 2004, moved to Southern Rep and later to True Brew Theatre, where it continued to play to sold-out audiences in New Orleans up until the night before Hurricane Katrina hit.
Galjour is a lecturer in the Creative Writing Department at San Francisco State University, where she currently teaches classes on playwriting and fiction.
“I love my students and I feel like I’m giving back to the next generation,” Galjour says. “I feel very blessed that I get to teach. The next generation is inheriting an interesting world with interesting problems. People can explore that through the medium of words and fiction. Really good theater makes you think about things, and it should.”
She is also working on a new, untitled script for a comedy set in San Francisco about women and their place in the world.
“It’s a radical feminist comedy based on some radical feminist grandmothers from the 1960s and ‘70s, who are more militant than ever,” Galjour says. “I’m in the middle of writing it. I’m having fun, laughing, and I’m also making a point. I believe comedy is a great way to get your point across in a way where you get to think about things that are important and be entertained at the same time.”
Galjour and Martin’s relationship through theater goes back to productions at South Lafourche High School and Nicholls State University.
“He’s a really a great director and a very smart man,” Galjour says. “His productions of ‘Okra’ were the best productions that the play received of the places it was performed, because he understands it’s written for Cajun voices. He understands Cajun sensibility. The cast that he has assembled, particularly at the Bayou Playhouse, are all from Cajun country so they understand the nuances of the comedy, the language and the cultural codes. I wrote ‘Turtles and Alligators’ for the Playhouse and those same Cajun audiences.”
“Turtles and Alligators” is about the conflicting relationship between sisters Hilda, Betsy and Camille, all named after hurricanes.
“There’s a thin line sometimes between love and loathing between sisters,” Martin says. “You see a lot of that happening. Not only does the story follow the sisters, but it also revolves around the two animals: the turtle, which is their supper, and the alligators on the alligator farm where T-girl works.”
Galjour says the seed idea for the script came from her infinite source of inspiration; her family in Louisiana.
“My cousin Beverly is a grandmother and her husband Malcolm loves turtle soup, turtle sauce picante, and all of that,” Galjour explains. “Their teenage granddaughter Julianne knows how much her grandfather loves turtles. She was driving home on the Gravois road between Houma and Larose. She saw a turtle on the side of the road and because she loves her grandfather so much she ran over the turtle and put it in her trunk so her grandmother could make a turtle soup. She put the turtle in the freezer just to get it to slow down, since it’s a reptile, and it just cracked me up.”
Galjour says the situations, characters and family dynamics that she pulls from when writing are often characteristics of her family and friends in the south.
“I mean, c’mon, how many places do you hear something like that,” Galjour says. “Julianne is a very pretty Cajun girl. She’s very smart, but she also knows how to filet fish and skin a rabbit and hunt and clean ducks. She can go camping by herself. Also, one time a relative brought over a baby alligator that was caught in his troll net, so Beverly and Malcolm had it in a kiddie pool in their backyard until they could bring it back to the marsh, so those were just seed ideas for the story.”
Anne wrote some scenes for “Turtles and Alligators,” but set the script aside due to her busy schedule teaching and touring.
“When it came time to write it again there was the British Petroleum oil spill, so I decided to put that in there too,” Galjour says. “With the BP oil spill as part of the backdrop the play goes into the relationships and family dynamics.”
Martin says the oil spill sets a perfect backdrop that is not too overwhelming.
“It takes place during the BP oil spill,b but that’s not heavy handed,” Martin says. “It’s not about anti-oil or anything like that. It just happens to revolve around the BP oil spill. A lot of footage from televisions, news reports and stuff like that.”
Galjour brought a few of the scenes to Martin and they were an immediate hit.
“Perry [Martin] said ‘I would like to produce this play, finish writing it.’ So I did,” Galjour says. “The actors, Perry and I were cracking up. Perry is really great with comedy.
Hilda, played by Jody Terrebonne from Golden Meadow, is the eldest sister, also called Nanny.
“Even though she’s the older sister, she’s also like the matriarch since her mother died and everybody goes to her with their problems,” Terrebonne says. “It seems like she solves everyone’s problems but her own. She’s busy keeping everything together and keeping the two sisters from killing each other.”
Terrebonne says the show is special because Cajun culture is often portrayed in a very exaggerated light.
“To be able to portray a modern-day Cajun without it sounding overboard like many people often do and to keep our culture is important,” Terrebonne says. “I think we’re unique down here and we still have that flavor that our grandparents had. I also like that everyone in the cast comes from different parts of Cajun Country.”
Aggie Thibodaux from Choctaw is playing Betsey, also known as T-Girl, who works at the alligator farm and can skin an alligator, nutria, clean a fish and kill turtles.
“She is a tough cookie,” Thibodaux says. “She’s the tomboy who thinks she can do anything and that she’s always right. She likes to stir up trouble between the family members, cause mischief, and is ready to tell someone off if she needs to.”
Galjour says although she loves all of the characters, T-Girl has a special place in her heart.
“I just think that T-Girl is such a can-do young woman,” Galjour says. “She’s strong, smart and she can do it all. I like young women who are strong like that.”
Camille, played by Laura Pierce from Thibodaux, is the self-proclaimed environmentalist of the group, according to Martin.
“She doesn’t actually do anything,” Martin says. “She just reads a lot and considers herself an environmentalist. Her big outing was to go see the bullet holes where Huey Long was shot.”
“Camille is the educated one but she just can’t win,” Galjour adds. “She can’t get anyone in the family on her side.”
Seth Pontiff from Houma plays John, the simple farmer.
“John is the next door neighbor and friend of the family’s,” Pontiff says. “He loves his animals more than anything, and he’ll die for them. He goes in and out the house and his main priority is his farm.”
Co Co, played by Roland Cheramie from Golden Meadow, is the sweetheart and beloved uncle.
“I think we all have relatives like Co Co who are just really good people and just very sweet and gentle,” Galjour says.
Scott Courville from Houma plays Grady Cheramie the owner of the alligator farm.
“I think Grady wants to have this big giant enterprise and everyone does the work for him,” Courville says. “He’s just that guy trying to be big. He bosses everyone around and expects everybody to jump when he snaps his fingers. He’s not really a bad guy, he’s just arrogant.”
Martin says the dynamics in Galjour’s shows are what keep people so interested.
“It’s the dysfunction and that’s what Anne [Galjour] is really good at,” Martin says. “The dysfunction of this family is really humorous. It’s about many of these people making a living off the land and dealing now with the oil spill that affects them all. Co Co is a troller. John has cattle in the marsh. Grady seems to be the only one who’s figured out how to make a dollar off it sees opportunity in every disaster.”
Martin says audiences should not expect “a second version of ‘Okra.’”
“This is probably in my opinion is a little more well written,” Martin says. “It’s not just about comedy; it has a good storyline. It’s very funny, but it’s not like ‘Okra’ with silly laugh after silly laugh. I think it will be just as enjoyable as ‘Okra’ and I think it’s a great follow up for Anne.”
Martin says he is mostly excited about the gravity of having the world premiere of “Turtles and Alligators” at the Bayou Playhouse.
“Anne doesn’t do very many premiers outside of San Francisco, but this was commissioned by us to be written for our stage,” Martin says. “I’ve worked with Anne on a couple of projects but this is a great and special process because this is a show that’s never been done, which means every night we’re talking on the phone to readjust and tighten, talking about what’s working and what isn’t. She’s adapting the script as we go.”
Galjour says this performance is important because if local heritage is not protected and passed on, it will be lost.
“The importance of the Bayou Playhouse is that it celebrates and honors Cajun culture,” Galjour says. “It needs to be supported because it’s an important place for the community and all generations. There’s no other culture like it anywhere in America.”
Tickets to the premiere cost $30, seats at all shows that follow are $23 for adults and $20 for students. For more information, call (888) 992-2968 or visit www.bayouplayhouse.com
Bayou Playhouse Director Perry Martin listens to Jody Terrebonne (Hilda) and Aggie Thibodaux (T-Girl) rehearse “Turtles and Alligators.” A white dome on the table is a placeholder for a turtle, the night’s dinner.
The play, written by Anne Galjour and including heavy doses of legal heritage cast against issues of coastal erosion, makes its world premiere in Lockport on May 17. Galjour, a Cut Off native living in San Francisco, also wrote the script for the wildly popular play “Okra.”
