Antonine Maillet, Canada’s premier Acadian author and playwright, in her play, “Les Crasseux,” shares another version of the deportation of the Acadians…Their return to Canada to fight for their rights, their belongings, and their sense of community.
Camille Bulliard, UL Theatre professor and native of St. Martinville, brings Madame Maillet’s characters to life in the UL Lafayette production of “The Rabble.”
The UL Lafayette College of the Arts production of Antonine Maillet’s The Rabble [Les Crasseux] began on March 22 and will run through March 31 as part of the 6th Annual Festival of the Arts.
The production opened with an invitational reception and auction in Burke Hawthorne Hall.
There was an encore performance yesterday (March 27) and there will be three more this weekend on March 29, 30, and 31, at 7:30 p.m.
“The Rabble [Les Crasseux]” is a groundbreaking play about the return of the Acadians to Nova Scotia after their initial exile, who find that they are not welcome on the land they previously owned. Then they learn that they are to be exiled once again, but this time they strategize to maintain what is theirs.
The UL Lafayette production of the play relies on parallel cultural experiences and expressions of the Cajun people. The cast delivers a dialogue that is robust and passionate. The play is written in an ambiguous historical framework, so this production is developed within a sort of “suspended world,” where the characters are archetypes of the personalities they represent.
“‘The Rabble’ is a perfect opportunity to support our mission as the premier pre-professional performing arts training program in Louisiana, bringing progressive, exhilarating, state of the art productions to the community.
“Madame Maillet’s work offers the Performing Arts Program this opportunity supported with the robust ‘carnival-esque’ quality and deep brotherhood known of the Acadians/Cajuns, upon which our young actors in training can explore and expand upon,” says Camille Bulliard, Director.
The production also presents a strong opportunity for hands-on, mentor-led training for technical design-based students from the residency of Joe Stewart. He is an internationally recognized production designer based in Los Angeles, Calif., but is also a Lafayette native.
Stewart’s illustrious career has garnered him numerous Emmy Awards, Director Guild’s Awards and Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards. As artist-in-residence with the College of the Arts for 2011-2012, Stewart has worked with a design team of six students, chosen from the Architecture and Performing Arts programs, to work with him directly in the development, design and construction of the set for “The Rabble”.
Bulliard is one of three St. Martin parish natives who are part of the production.
Bailey Hebert and Mario Raymond, graduates of Breaux Bridge High and students in the UL Performing Arts program, have actively been involved in the preparations. Hebert is playing the role of the Barber, and Raymond is a member of the deck crew, assisting with lighting and set construction.
Tickets for the production are $20 for general admission, and free to UL students, faculty and staff, and can be purchased on the Performing Arts Program’s website at http://pfar.louisiana.edu.
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