Free NSU conference delves into Louisiana’s vibrant culture and history

NATCHITOCHES, La. (KTAL/KMSS) — Northwestern State University (NSU) is hosting the 17th annual Louisiana Studies Conference on September 13 in the Creative and Performing Arts Complex from 9:30 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.

The theme of this year’s conference is Louisiana Dramas. The event is free and open to the public.

Scholars from Louisiana, Texas, Florida, New York, and Tennessee will make presentations on Louisiana films, theatre, musicals, history, folklore, and literature.

More than 30 scholars, cultural authorities, and creative writers will cover a wide range of topics, including archaeology, dance, indigenous peoples, language, literature, music, narratives, politics, symphonies, history, and foodways.

Playwright John P. Doucet, poet Bernard Gallagher, musician Max Turner, and other creative writers will address the conference theme.

Dr. Shane Rasmussen, director of NSU’s Louisiana Folklife Center and co-chair of the conference, said, “Louisiana’s rich culture has given so much to the country and even the world.

Attendees at this year’s conference will get an increased sense of the dramas, challenges, and struggles encompassed in our shared history, culture, music, and literature.”

“Louisiana’s culture reflects its people, who are creative, resilient, and caring. The conference is free and open to the public, and we want to invite anyone who is interested in Louisiana culture, traditions, and history to join us and to take part in these conversations.”

Dr. Sean Bartley, associate professor of theatre history at NSU, will give the Saturday morning keynote, “A Mythical State We Call Louisiana: Place, Politics, and Performance in Louisiana Purchase.”

Bartley says his presentation will discuss the 1940 play “Louisiana Purchase” by Broadway composer Irving Berlin, librettist Morrie Ryskind, and producer B.G. DeSylva. The play satirized Huey Long and other notable figures who controlled Louisiana politics in the late 1920s and 1930s.

His lecture will include video of the musical performances from the 1941 Paramount Pictures film adaptation and two live scenes performed and directed by NSU Theatre and Dance students KeShaun Bridgewater, Jezek Maxwell, Haleigh Miller, Amaya Perkins, and Tyler Sibley. 

Following Bartley’s address, winning essays from the 17th Annual NSU Louisiana High School Essay Contest will be presented. Entrants wrote a literary analysis of a play or dramatic musical, performed a song from a dramatic musical or a monologue from a play, or wrote a one-act play set in Louisiana.

This year’s contest winners are Lalani Williams of Southside High School in Youngsville for her first-place winning play, “Bayou Secrets,” Ashlyn Underwood of West Monroe High School for her second-place winning performance of “Cabaret,” and Liss Gabriella Navarro Hernandez of Chalmette High School for her third-place winning play, “The Haunting.”

Honorable mention winners are Ellise Bryant of C.E. Byrd High School for her play “Ghosts” and E’Mantyi Mosby of Airline High School for her essay “Desire’s Baleful Cradle: A Streetcar Named Desire.” 

Several winning essays will be presented at the conference and published in the Louisiana Folklife Center’s scholarly journal, the Louisiana Folklife Journal.

Associate Professor of English and Coordinator of the Creative Writing Program at NSU, Dr. Rebecca Macijeski, said, “It’s a privilege to be able to spend time with work by young writers from all over the state each year.”

“The range of creativity, research, and expression is always inspiring. If I get to work with writers like these in the Creative Writing Program at NSU, I will be one lucky individual.”  

The conference is sponsored by the Louisiana Folklife Center, the Department of English, Languages, and Cultural Studies, and the Northwestern State College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a grant from the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities.

A full conference schedule can be found here. For more information, call the Folklife Center at (318) 357-4332.