Travel to the communities of south Louisiana and witness how a man’s fingers are all that remain of a plot of tilled earth, his palms what remain of some riverbed and how his eyes are a family gathering he will not attend. Louisiana is disappearing. Since the mid-twentieth century, we have seen more of our shoreline fall prey to the waters lapping at our banks than any other region in the world. Six major hurricanes in the in the early 2000's have exacerbated this already dire situation. Many Louisiana residents south of New Orleans have seen water rise to the point where it seeps into their homes during minor storms, while others have already watched their small fishing villages disappear under several feet of open water. In Louisiana, so many of our cultural traditions and industries derive directly from our relationship with the rich waters and swamps that surround us. What will become of our cultural traditions as the land that nurtures them disappears? What becomes of a people whose land disappears before their very eyes?
In response to these questions, ArtSpot Productions and Mondo Bizarro created Loup Garou, an environmental performance that used rigorous physicality, poetry, live Cajun music and visual installation to investigate the deep interconnectedness between land and culture in Louisiana. Loup Garou opened at sunrise on October 8, 2009 on the overgrown fairway of an abandoned golf course in New Orleans City Park and went on to play to sold out audiences nationally and internationally.
Loup Garou is deeply rooted in the realities of southeast Louisiana, responding to one of the most urgent environmental threats in the world. It is courageous in its scope and execution, a work from two fierce companies in the trenches of post-Katrina New Orleans, working with soul and integrity to ensure that our city and state thrive into the future. Part performance, part ritual, part howl to the world about southeast Louisiana’s plight, Loup Garou sings a song of love and hope for our precarious homeland.
Knoxville Botanical Garden
The Carpetbag Theater
Knoxville, TN
August 26, 2010
Ko Festival of Peformance
Amherst, MA
August 6-8, 2010
Apple Pond Farm
NACL Catskill Festival of New Theatre
Calicoon, NY
July 31, 2010
INFANT Festival
Novi Sad, Serbia
June 29, 2010
Alternate ROOTS (excerpt)
Lutheridge Conference Center
Arden, NC
August 13, 2009
New Orleans City Park
New Orleans, LA
November 13-15, 2009
October 8-25, 2009
Performer Nick Slie
Director Kathy Randels
Writer Raymond “Moose” Jackson
Music Barbara & Whit Connah
Designer Jeff Becker
Costumes Susan Gisleson
Visual Installation
Adam Tourek, Phil Cramer
and Swamp deVille
Production Manager
Melisa Cardona
Production Assistants
Rebecca Mwase, Hannah Pepper-Cunningham
Additional installation by
Moose Jackson
Additional Musicians
Sean LaRocca, Kathy Randels and Chloe Smith
“In the future, there will be two types of people: those who saw Loup Garou and those who didn't. Those who did will never forget it.”
—Brian Sands, Ambush Magazine (2009)
“A perfect storm of vivid writing [and] spirited acting.”
—Will Coviello, Gambit Weekly (2009)
“Loup Garou makes a powerful statement that anyone who loves New Orleans and south Louisiana should see.”
—Molly Reid, Times-Picayune (2009)
We All Work for The Devil: Myth, Politics and Cajuns Collide in Loup Garou
—Antigravity (2009)
"This is a great creative work of anger, caution and imagination, [with] ingenious design elements, haunting, scene-setting music and phenomenal performance.”
—David Cuthbert, Steppin' Out (2009)