For all the yapping I do about New Orleans theatre, it’s about time I put up or shut up. Tonight’s the night! Thursday, April 10 at 8:30pm, Mona Rogers in Person opens a 4-night run at the Sidearm Gallery. See actors Michael Martin, Elizabeth McCarthy, Frederick Mead (that’s me!), Mary Pauley, and Holly Walker transform into different incarnations of the burlesque queen, Mona Rogers.

Mona Rogers in Person is a 90-minute, one-woman play interpreted by 5 male and female actors. The play is a verbally and physically explosive exploration of womanhood gone beserk, a nightmarishly hilarious story about a woman with a media-instilled appetite for fame. Can you tell I’m having a good time? Written by the late brother of famed songstress Diamanda Galas, playwright Phillip-Dimitri Galas described Mona Rogers in Person as “avant-vaudeville”. His script is an incantatory collage designed for high-voltage performance. It debuted in 1985 at the La Jolly Museum of Contemporary Art.

The New Orleans premier of Mona Rogers in Person is directed by Agnes de Garron, a New York performance artist, choreographer, and puppeteer. A founding member of the San Francisco performance/social activist group, The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Agnes received the 2007 “Legend of the Year” award from the Fresh Fruit Festival in New York.

TICKETS:
Call for reservations: 504 218 8379. Regular ticket price is $12, and discounts are available to students, seniors, and returning customers. Read the rest of this entry »

by Sam Winston

I’m feeling Trent Johnson to be LSU’s new basketball coach. The question is, will the young hoopsters of Louisiana?

The key seems to lie with Collis Temple Jr., the driving force behind LSU basketball in recent years. Based on this report from The Advocate, it seems Johnson’s got the full endorsement of Temple Jr.

I never thought Brady was much of a coach having watched such uneven performance from his teams over the years (and the lack of say, an out of bounds play). While the old Dale Brown/Perry Clark adage might seem to apply, “He can recruit but he can’t coach,” not even that held up for Brady recently. Indeed the word on the street was that it was Temple Jr., and not Brady, that convinced Tyrus Thomas, Big Baby, and the others to play at LSU after having all played with Temple Jr.’s son Garrett in AAU ball. Losing DJ Augustin to Texas certainly didn’t help either.

Johnson doesn’t have a final four appearance yet, but he did just go to the sweet 16 with Stanford. He also made it to the sweet 16 with much less talent at Nevada of all places. That’s a sign of good coaching. Now all he’s got to do is recruit in Louisiana and stay friends with Temple Jr.