Louisiana’s bicentennial celebration continues with Swine Palace’s upcoming season.
The theater will perform three plays dealing with the state’s culture – “A Free Man Of Color,” “Rising Water” and “All The King’s Men.”
“A Free Man of Color” focuses on pre-Louisiana Purchase New Orleans and Jacques Cornet, a “beguiling and irresistible entrepreneur,” according to Swine Palace’s website.
Kristin Sosnowsky, Swine Palace managing director, said “A Free Man of Color” will “capture audiences’ imaginations with a compelling story, great characters and intricate production design with rich, colorful costumes and an expansive set.”
She also said the show is a great opportunity to “share the history and culture of our great state.”
Paul Russell, director of “A Free Man of Color” said he wants to “simplify” playwright Jogn Guare’s work while staying true to the vibrant history of New Orleans.
“New Orleans in the early 19th center was a menagerie of culture and races,” Russell said in an email. “It was yet defined and, to some degree, continues to evolve.”
Swine Palace’s second main production is “Rising Water,” a two-person act following a couple stranded in their attic during Hurricane Katrina.
Benjamin Koucherik, graduate student and co-director of “Rising Water,” said the play is about overcoming tragedy.
“[The play] will help you understand how we get through tragedy, how we get through inconceivable loss,” he said.
Koucherik drew comparisons to tragedies in his home state of Colorado, where 12 people were killed and 58 injured in a mass shooting July 20.
“I think about how people overcome [that,]” he said. “How do people move forward? In a much larger way, Katrina speaks to that as well. A story like ‘Rising Water’ helps everybody to look at what it takes, the sacrifices that must be made and the love and community that must be there to rise up from tragedy.”
Swine Palace’s final 2013 production, “All The King’s Men,” is a political story heavily inspired by former governor Huey P. Long.
The play follows Willie Stark, a “driven, self-proclaimed savior of the working man in the 1930s American South,” according to the Swine Palace Website.
It’s also the only production of this play outside of New York, according to Sosnowsky.
“[We] pursued [the play] as it is a natural compliment to our season,” she said.
Koucherik said the goal of this season of Swine Palace theater is to simply pay homage to to Louisiana.
“Each play offers a chance for us to capture something unique about the culture down here and the lives people live in this area,” he said. “This is such a unique place and has so many interesting cultures, there’s a lot of rich history to draw from.”
 
____ Contact Taylor Balkom at [email protected]