305 Wisteria St.
Ruston, LA 71272
32.526209,-92.646836
In addition to the previously
mentioned Biomedical Engineering Building, the campus of Louisiana Tech is
probably most known for its haunting of another building. The Jack Howard
Auditorium, built in 1940, has hosted popular performances by up and coming
performing arts students and musicians throughout the years. As the sounds of
recitals and plays echo throughout the building, ghostly spectators observe from
afar. Students who have worked in the theatre during late hours have reported seeing
the figure of a woman sitting in the seats. They have also heard strange sounds
and witnessed lights turn on and off. The most common occurrence is for the
theatre seats to be folded down, even after they have all been placed in the
upright position. Staff make it a chore to ensure that all of the seats are
raised. Minutes after they do so, they notice that the same one or two seats
are always placed back down.
For years, the urban legends of the
auditorium have stayed the same. Two female students by the name of Jan and
Vera were roommates. They both tried out for the school play and Jan was cast
in the lead role. Vera became so upset she hanged herself along the rafters of
Howard Auditorium and haunts the theater to this very day. Although the legend
makes for a great late-night story, the truth has been changed just a bit. In
reality, there is said to have been no debate amongst feuding roommates, yet
the story does center around a woman named Vera.
115 West 4th St.
Reserve, LA 70084
30.054904,-90.557958
From the largest cities to the
smallest towns, Louisiana has a vast and eclectic amount of theatres. Some may
be grand multi-tiered and greatly ornate venues that hosts the biggest
productions featuring the top stars of today, while others may be no bigger
than your living room with milk crates for chairs. Whatever the case may be,
you are likely to be equally entertained with both extremes. As a child, there
was a movie theatre in my home town that was so bad, it was worth going,
because you never quite knew what you would encounter. What they called new
releases were already on VHS, your feet stuck to the floors from the filth and
if you didn't get a staph infection from the chair springs sticking you in your
legs, chances were you already had it form getting bit by one of the cat-sized
rats that often scurried across the floor. I use the term “scurried”, yet
“slowly crept” was more like it, as they had feasted for so long on candy and
popcorn, they couldn't quite get around like they used to.
Pardon me for my wild tangent, as I
often have the tendency to veer off topic. Nonetheless, our next location is
one of these small hometown theatres but I can assure you, the conditions
inside are nowhere near the old theatre I used to visit. In the small town of Reserve
is a local theatre that has long been a source of great entertainment for the
local community. The theatre was built in 1931 by Louis J. Maurin, Sr. and was
originally opened to play motion pictures, or “talkies” as they were often
called during these times. In 1954, a large remodeling took place and the venue
was renamed to Maurin's Show Place of the River Parishes. It continued to
feature the latest movies of the times until its doors would shut down on May
27, 1979. Fortunately, the closure would not last too long. On May of 1980, the
St. John the Baptist Parish Council purchased and renovated the facility as a
live-theatre venue and leased it to the Cultural Center Committee. The venue,
now named the St. John Theatre opened in July of 1981 with the staging of the
musical, "South Pacific," and has operated ever since, producing and
presenting live-theatre and cultural events for the residents of the local
community.
1334 South Union St.
Opelousas, LA 70570
30.52060,-92.08217
In the heart of Acadiana, also known
as Cajun Country sits the small city of Opelousas, named after the Native
American tribe Appalousa who had
occupied the area before European contact. Although, it is quite small, at only
seven and a half square miles, Opelousas is the most densely populated city in
Louisiana. Being founded in 1720, this also makes Opelousas the third oldest
city in Louisiana. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the city
served as a major trading post between New Orleans and Natchitoches, the only
older cities in the state. Traditionally an area of settlement by French
Creoles and Acadians, Opelousas is the center of zydeco music and is one of the
only places in the state still home to some of the French-speaking Cajuns.
Although Opelousas is not a large
city geographically, it makes up for it with its festivals, entertainment and
overall Joie de vivre, or love of
life. One particular place that has been serving up a generous helping of
quality entertainment in the form of theatrical performances is the Opelousas
Little Theatre. The grouped formed in 1939 and gave its first performance, The Adorable Spendthrift, in December
1940. In its early years, the troop used the old Academy of the Immaculate
Conception Auditorium, now the Opelousas Catholic School, to perform. Other
performance locations temporarily used were the auditoriums at Market Street
Elementary School, Opelousas Senior High School and the St. Landry Parish
Courthouse.
616 St Peter St.
New Orleans, LA 70116
29.95739,-90.063949
Centralized in the French Quarter is
one of the most popular and successful little theatres in the country. For
nearly a hundred years, this little theatre, or petit theatre, has presented plays, recitals and other great shows on
a regular basis. The theatre troop was originally organized in 1916 by the New
Orleans Chapter of the Drama League of America. Just starting out, this small
group began by conducting performances in the drawing room of one of its
members, hence later changing their name to the Drawing Room Players. The group
and their shows became more and more popular in the area so they needed to
expand to a larger studio. Sometime around 1920, the group began renting a
portion of the Lower Pontalba Building adjacent to Jackson Square. If the name
Pontalba rings a bell, remember the building was constructed by Baroness Pontalba from an earlier location we mentioned. See what happens when you have
so much action in such a small grid of a neighborhood? History overlaps itself
and locations begin to tie in with one another. Similar to the “six degrees of
separation” only with New Orleans, you never get past the third degree before
everything intertwines with each other.
