Brian Sands

How I Learned What I Learned at Le Petit through May 7 If you’ve enjoyed such plays as Fences, The Piano Lesson or Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, and want to learn what went into their creation and, more broadly, what forces shaped playwright August Wilson, head to Le Petit for How I Learned What I Learned, Wilson’s memoir in monologue written and originally performed by the late … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards May 2, 2023

Big Freedia Live With the LPO at the Orpheum Theater Scheduling challenges caused me to attend the dress rehearsal for Big Freedia Live With the LPO so it would be unfair to write a full review of the show. Let’s just say it was a great idea to bring together these two beloved New Orleans cultural ambassadors who combined for a fabulous evening in which each one’s talents … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards April 18, 2023

Drapetomania: A Negro Carol at the André Cailloux Center through April 30 No Dream Deferred (NDD) is a community-anchored theater production company, founded in 2016. It presented its first show, Tarell Alvin McCraney's In the Red & Brown Water, at the Beaubourg Theatre in the CBD in the fall of 2019. Its second presentation was to have been Robert O’Hara’s Bootycandy; … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards April 4, 2023

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at Le Petit through April 2 Night of the Iguana at Loyola’s Lower Depths Theatre New Orleans generally sees an uptick in production s of Tennessee Williams plays in March as the dramatist’s birthday falls on the 26th of the month. Hence, the Tennessee Williams Literary Festival blossoms each year around this time and, with it, presentations of his … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards March 21, 2023

White at NOMA's Lapis Center for the Arts through March 31 I had seen Fat Ham, James Ijames’ Pulitzer Prize-winning adaptation of Hamlet, off-Broadway in New York last year and loved it. So I had been looking forward to seeing The NOLA Project’s production of Ijames’ White from 2018. In a nutshell, and as per The NOLA Project’s (TNP) press release, “White is a … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards March 7, 2023

Roller Soul at Cafe Istanbul In my 2022 Year in Review column, I lamented that a certain “NOLA quirkiness” had been missing from the season just ended. If Intramural Theater’s CAVE restored some of that quirkiness to NOLA’s theater scene as 2023 began, then Roller Soul, seen last month at Cafe Istanbul, threw us big beads of delicious eccentricity just as Carnival kicked … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards February 22, 2023

Sistas the Musical at Teatro Wego! through February 12 If you want some entertainment this weekend but prefer to avoid Mardi Gras parades, head to JPAS’ Teatro Wego! in Westwego for Sistas the Musical. You won’t catch any beads or cups there, but you’re likely to have a good time. Set in St. Louis, Sistas introduces us to three Black sisters, the teenage daughter of one, … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards February 7, 2023

CAVE at The Backyard Ballroom through January 27 In my 2022 Year in Review column, I lamented that a certain “NOLA quirkiness” had been missing from the season just ended. Well, leave it to Intramural Theater, which once gave us a play about a young guy sexually involved with an air conditioner, to start the new year off with some of that quirkiness with its newest … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards January 24, 2023

The Wedding Party Experience at the Margaret Place Hotel through February 3 If you’re looking to enjoy a three-hour “dance party” in a beautiful Lower Garden District courtyard while savoring some yummy hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, then by all means check out The Wedding Party Experience at the Margaret Place Hotel, a new stylish venue. If, however, you want to partake … [Read more...] about Trodding the Boards January 10, 2023