Voodoo has haunted the streets of New Orleans since the 1700s, and today its lasting impression resonates, serving as the name of a popular New Orleans music festival, a Louisiana barbeque restaurant and a high-end brand of PCs. And this week, the Department of Communication Studies brings the tale of voodoo to life by staging a performance based on New Orleans voodoo legend Marie Laveau’s enduring impact on the city. “Voodoo Queen” opened Wednesday in the HopKins Black Box Theatre and was adapted and directed by communication studies graduate student Brandon Nicholas. “Voodoo Queen” will continue to run Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., with a special matinee Sunday at 2:30 p.m. The HopKins Black Box Theatre is housed in 137 Coates Hall, and donations are accepted at the door in lieu of payment.Nicholas, a New Orleans native, said he has been interested in the city’s history and the intriguing ways female figures within religious practices perform. “Whenever you’re watching this, it’s like you’re watching a secret,” Nicholas said. “It’s like watching something through a peephole.”The plot structure of the show, which features scenes Nicholas calls “little vignettes of Laveau’s life,” follows the Black Box Theatre’s notable reputation for conceptually interesting performances. “Shows in the Black Box Theatre are not meant to entertain or make you feel comfortable,” said Jordan Cheatham, communication studies and French senior and assistant director of “Voodoo Queen.” Cheatham said the shows are available to make people think for themselves. “The show itself acknowledges misconceptions about voodoo and plays with them,” she said. “It’ll force people to ask questions.”
And asking questions is exactly what the cast and crew of “Queen” did.Prior to starting rehearsals, the cast visited New Orleans and learned about the history of voodoo by taking the city’s popular graveyard tours and visiting Laveau’s tomb. “All the voodoo rituals in the show are real and based on research,” Nicholas said. “The story is told in a series of narratives from the perspective of a journalist who chronicled Marie Laveau’s life, and all the set pieces represent something important within voodoo rituals.”Lisa Flanagan, manager for the Black Box Theatre, said the performance is especially intriguing because of its ties to Louisiana’s history.”It’s investigating the history, lore and legend of Marie Laveau and other notions of voodoo and Louisiana culture,” she said. “It’s a real part of Louisiana history.”Flanagan said HopKins Black Box, known for its oral, avant-garde interpretations of literature, is an appropriate venue for the production as well.”We’re a laboratory,” she said. “Just like a science lab with people mixing experiments, that’s what we’re doing. Sometimes we’re successful; sometimes we’re not. That’s how we perform.”–Contact Matthew Jacobs at [email protected]