Tartuffe
Moliere’s classic comedy of bad manners, Tartuffe (or The Imposter), gets a snazzy update in this production, created especially for Festival International de Louisiane. The riotous household of the feckless Orgon is relocated from 17th-century France to 1970s Fire Island, to highlight Moliere’s eternal themes of hypocrisy, jealousy, and gullibility. Orgon has been swayed from his determination to marry his beautiful daughter Mariane to the ardent Valère by the wily religious mountebank Tartuffe, who has assumed command of Orgon’s thinking...and, by extension, his household, and fortune. Even the combined efforts of his brash maid Dorine, his plainspoken brother-in-law Clèante, and his increasingly desperate wife Elmire seem insufficient to pull Tartuffe’s wool from Orgon’s eyes.
White Rabbit Red Rabbit
White Rabbit Red Rabbit has been called a play, but really it’s a lively, global sensation that no-one is allowed to talk about. Iranian playwright Nassim Soleimanpour has created this ‘theater entertainment meets social experiment,’ where actors perform a script they have not seen before the lights go up, and will make you question everything you know. Produced by The Hive.
Slamdango 2: Electric Boogaloo! Puppet Slam
Due to previously sold out Festival crowds, Wanderlust returns to present innovative and provocative short-form puppet and object theater to an adult audience. For mature audiences only.
The Timeline For Children
The Timeline, an AllisonWonderland Children’s Theatre production will take you on a journey through time from Ancient Greek Theatre all the way to present-day Hamilton. We will touch on the major happenings in theater history along the way including Commedia Dell Arte, Shakespeare, Vaudeville, Zeigfield Follies, MGM Movie Musicals of the 40s & 50s, Late 20th century, and into our current theater scene of the 21st century! It will be such fun!!!
An Explosion of Words & Sounds: A Gathering of French Poets
Five French-speaking poets from Canada and Louisiana meet at this show to display their colors and culture. From different horizons, they will make you discover or rediscover their part of the country, their beauty, their uniqueness. Charles Leblanc from Manitoba, Serge Patrice Thibodeau from New Brunswick and Barry Ancelet, David Cheramie and Kirby Jambon from Louisiana will have you experience the richness of French language and the power of their words. It’s an event blending harmonious poetry with distinct accents and subject matter and folkloric music.
SoLEAUX: A SHORT FESTIVAL OF DEVISED WORK (ULL Theatre Unit)
It’s back! The University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s School of Music and Performing Arts presents SoLEAUX: A SHORT FESTIVAL OF DEVISED WORK. Now in its second year at Festival International, this eclectic presentation of new work features devised pieces by talented university performance artists. Manipulating light, sound, song, mixed media, and spoken word, SoLEAUX explores human connection, cultural displacement, familial bonds, and encounters between Acadiana and the outside world. Come see what raw, funny, and surprising things have sprung from the mind of UL Theatre’s solo performance artists.
Cypress Knee Theater Company presents a Folkloric Odyssey
Cypress Knee Theatre Company embarks on a folkloric odyssey of bayou poems, whispered spells, and good gris-gris in this re-imagination of Cajun myths and legends. The loup-garou is close! Lay 13 pennies, beans, and broom straws by the door!
Cajun/Creole Comedy One Man Show
Cajun/Creole Comedy One Man Show: Jerrod Guillory is a South Louisiana comedian who delivers humor and laughter as a strong punch line, without the use of explicit language. He has the talent that will reach your funny bone as he speaks very proudly of his Creole-Cajun heritage. Guillory embraces all of the southwest Louisiana cultures and has a genuine love and respect for his French-speaking ancestors. He always says, “Through suffering, sorrow, frustration, and turmoil; there is truth in laughter.” In his stand-up, he tells the tails of everyday living, the meaning of family and what living in Acadiana is all about. He is rapidly becoming one of the most talked about comedians around. If you haven’t seen him yet, you’re truly missing out.
Rhythms & Roots
Celebrating the cultural bridges between local and international artists, Rhythms and Roots connects a local Louisiana musician with an international artist. The groups collaborate to create a once in a lifetime performance every night of Festival International at Blue Moon Saloon. Check the schedule for details.
Art Battles
Les Jeunes Artistes will face off in Art Battles, a competition between young artists in front of Acadiana Center for the Arts. The public gets to watch the artists create, and vote for their favorite! Jeunes Artistes provides various platforms for young artists to experience professionalism. They reach out to local businesses and the surrounding community to create a collective and lasting impact for art awareness and growth in the State of Louisiana. Jeunes Artistes is a non-profit organization that promotes works of art by younger artists.
Yun-Fei Ji: Looking for Lehman Brothers
Curated by Dr. Christopher Bennett
February 3, 2017 – May 6, 2017
Ji revivifies the brush-and-ink painting methods typically associated with earlier periods of Chinese art, including literati landscape painting of the Song Dynasty. His work reinvents the system of symbolic structures found in classical Chinese painting to expose the dark side of industrial development on contemporary life. The exhibition highlights a suite of paintings and sketches that grapple, retrospectively, with the devastation and aftereffects of Hurricane Katrina. These works by Ji establish parallels between the scope of the financial collapse of 2008 and that of Katrina three years earlier – with the focus persistently falling on the effects that large-scale and global crises have on the lives of ordinary people.
Sandra Eula Lee: Make of / Make do
Curated by Dr. Christopher Bennett
December 27, 2016 – May 6, 2017
Lee’s installations incorporate sculptural, photographic, and drawing traditions to consider ways in which place is created among changing urban and environmental conditions. The sculptures and installations she constructs are informed by her observations of daily life and through the collecting and reconfiguring of the materials that pass through it. Lee uses materials salvaged from construction sites in her art. Working with materials gathered during travels through South Korea, China, and the United States, she configures work that explores the theme of the “garden” — principally as an East Asian formation — and the “ponds” often located within them.
KATC TV3 Chat Room
The Chat Room conducts interviews with several Festival performers in both French and English. Learn about the artists’ backgrounds, influences, and cultural connections, and enjoy intimate, acoustic performances. The Chat Room is located at Acadiana Center for the Arts. Check the schedule for more information.
Cuba through the Lens of Louisiana & Cuban Photographers
Anyone who has explored this fascinating and troubled country will tell you that Cuba leaves an indelible mark. It is a privilege to photograph this mysterious and beautiful land and its people. The gallery at Third and Vine will open once again during Festival International and pre-festival events, featuring images taken through the lens of Louisiana and Cuban photographers.
Photographic Retrospective 30 Years of Festival International
This linear exhibit in our café space at ACA visible from Vermilion Street will explore extraordinary moments of Festival photography over the years.
Festival Poster Exhibit
Explore 31 years of Festival International through the art and posters. This exhibit will showcase Official Festival Posters from the first in 1987 to present day.
Original Art of Festival International
This exhibit will showcase original Festival art from regional artists, created over the span of the past 30 years. This overview is an opportunity to watch Acadiana’s artistic sensibilities evolve, while gaining a deeper insight into the inextricable connections between visual arts and music through Festival International. See paintings from 1987 through 2017: Various graphic works, multimedia art pieces, paintings, and sculptures, done exclusively for Festival International.
Tattooed Walls
A lineup of Acadiana and International visual artists will create temporary works of art in an interactive session with local musicians and DJ’s. Artists include: David Alpha, Lynda Frese, Olivia Perillo, Emee Morgan, Kelly Russo, Nicole Touchet , and others will be among the contributors.
Bach Lunch
Presented by the Lafayette Science Museum Foundation, Bach Lunch is a concert series taking place on Fridays during the Spring and Fall seasons that lets participants enjoy a meal to the sounds of live music in an open-air venue. Guests are invited to bring their own lunch, or they can purchase a meal through the participating restaurants around the square. All proceeds benefit the Lafayette Science Museum and help fund future exhibits and educational programs. Bach Lunch will feature Sirius Plan. Bach Lunch will take place at JD Bank Pavillon de Cuisine.
Leo Touchet: People Among Us
This exhibition of large black and white photographs is a retrospective collection of photographs from a 50 year career as a photojournalist. Many of the photos were taken on assignment for national and international publications around the world.
LA Folk Roots
Come out and enjoy performances brought to you by Louisiana Folk Roots, an organization dedicated to sharing Louisiana’s traditional cultural expressions with an emphasis on our Cajun and Creole Heritage through performances and related educational activities.
Ma Place
Filmed in November of 2016 in Lafayette, Thibodeaux, and New Orleans, this documentary and artistic project “Ma Place” invites the public into the everday life of Francophone Louisianians. Through 9 locations in 360 degrees (Virtual Reality), the languages and identités of the participants are revealed. “Ma Place” was made possible by a partnership between the Fédération des Jeunes Francophones de Louisiane and a Québecois organization, Projet Ose through a grant from the Ministère des Relations Internationale de la Francophonie in Québec.”
Festival After Hours
Louisiana International Music Exchange (LIME) is designed to promote and present Louisiana musicians to music industry professionals from around the world. The mission is to boost Louisiana’s cultural economy by capitalizing on the state’s largest cultural export — music. There are LIME After Hours showcases at live music venues throughout downtown. These events are offered to encourage professional networking opportunities for Louisiana musicians.