STRAIGHT TALK 2008-09

THE NOLA PROJECT

Monday, Oct. 6 at 7 pm at The Gamm Theatre

Playwright and Gamm Resident Director Judith Swift (pictured) gives audience members the first look at a new play she’s developing about agencies and people caught up in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

In this staged reading, people are off the rooftops; the city is drained of water, sewerage and toxic sludge; levees are being rebuilt; the oil and natural gas industries have rebounded; CNN has packed up to chase the newest disaster; and Mardi Gras remains as a celebration of a people’s will. But thousands remain displaced — separated from family, friends, and communities that defined a life, a spiritual center. And Through it all, New Orleanians echo the same refrain: “We feel betrayed.” The source of the betrayal finds its way to the highest seats of power; its victims can be found in the lowliest of circumstances.

Based on over 90 interviews with Katrina survivors from New Orleans and surrounding parishes, The NOLA Project gives voice to the voiceless in all of their pain, suffering, steadfast determination and joy.

Reading followed by a Q & A with Swift; Ian McNulty, freelance journalist and author of “Season of Night”, a post-Katrina memoir about rebuilding a life in the Unsinkable Crescent City; and Q. Kellogg, Ph.D. of the Coastal Institute, IGERT Project, University of Rhode Island.

Straight Talk is open to the public at no charge. To reserve up to two general admission seats, please call Tom DiMaggio at 401-723-4266, ext. 10. Seating is limited. Please arrive no later than 6:45 p.m., after which time seating is open to walk-up traffic and reservations are void.