Storyville, a book, and NOLA colleges/theatres--a brainstorm..

I'm brainstorming here; I would have to dig deeper on each of these thoughts:

--I'm not sure if we are still looking into academic theatres, but I'm thinking of script material and wondered if the colleges in the area had any letters, responses, etc., from the college president or theatre/arts departments regarding their progress/actions post-Katrina. I know I saw one letter from the president at Dillard a while ago, but I wonder if there are more of these around--maybe a graduation address or maybe even responses from the local professional theatre companies. It'll take some searching, but could be worth looking. Maybe an installation or transitional material?

BTW, the Dillard costume project I mentioned a couple months ago went very well. My mentor, Tisch Jones (U. of Iowa) said that they shipped over a dozen boxes from UI, and at least three other colleges in the state followed suit. She is hoping to maintain a correspondence with Dillard through an exchange of resources and people over the next few years. I can share more specific info about any of this if anyone is interested.

--I also found a book of interest: "Cities of the Dead: Circum-Atlantic Performance" by Joseph Roach. The book focuses quite a bit on New Orleans, including Storyville, Mardi Gras, the Black Indians, and a historical area outside of the NO border called Congo Square, which was an unofficial public marketplace and was known for dances and music for African slaves, free people of color, and Native Americans.

The book also has many pictures of Storyville, black Indians and other events/rituals, which I will try to scan or find online later. They also mention some historical newspapers (inc. The Mascot and The Daily-Pacayune), which might be of interest if they have archives.


As I said, this is brainstorming (thinking in the shower really does work), so I have to research further later today; I'll keep you posted...

--bryan m.