Loup Garou

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.