Previews: A BODY OF WATER at Le Petit Theatre

On Thursday, July 18, at 7 p.m., Le Petit Theatre will host a public reading of Louisiana-native playwright and producer Kelley Nicole Girod’s play “A Body of Water.” This event is part of the theatre’s Petit Reads series, which showcases significant works to the local community.
As a playwright, Girod’s work centers on her Black Cajun/Creole Louisiana heritage. “A Body of Water” is the third installment in Girod’s Louisiana trilogy, following “This Stretch of Montpelier” and “The Faith Healer,” which are true stories based on Girod’s family. According to Girod, the trilogy has been developing for almost a decade. In each play, we meet the characters at different points in their histories, connecting the three stories.

“My family history is not unique to Louisiana, but it is unique in that America still hasn’t really experienced the full culture of what Louisiana has to offer,” Girod said. “It’s just experiencing the traditions, the ways of life, the way that we think is super specific to that tradition. It’s also our relationship to nature. So much of who we are as a people, the way that we move, the way that we eat, the way that we experience our day-to-day, so much is influenced by our natural environment.”

Set during The Great Flood of 2016 in Baton Rouge, “A Body of Water” tells the true story of Girod’s mother, Martha, a wealthy matriarch deeply rooted in her Creole heritage. As Martha navigates cancer recovery and significant life changes, the flood forces her to confront past traumas and the instability of her current life, echoing the devastation she experienced during Hurricane Camille.

“It’s at a time in her life where she has finally worked really hard for everything that she’s really wanted,” Girod said. “She has the life she wants; she has the house she wants. And then the Great Flood comes along and literally sweeps away everything. The house gets flooded, and she has to live like a nomad with her husband until they can return and rebuild. Then it just brings up the history of everything she thought she had left behind.”

In all of Girod’s pieces, she writes the setting as its own character because of how it profoundly influences and affects the people of Louisiana. The Great Flood of 2016 will be a steady presence felt throughout the play during the read.

“Weather has always been a big thing; you just automatically have a relationship with the weather by virtue of growing up in Louisiana,” Girod said. “You always know when hurricane season is coming; every aspect of your life is affected by the environment and nature. When I talked to my mother about that time in her life and about that experience, what she was feeling, and what things were coming back to her, I tried to structure the play around all the things she was fighting internally and trying to overcome.”

Since moving to New York in 2005, Girod has established herself as an award-winning playwright and producer. She holds a master’s degree in playwriting from Columbia University. Currently, she serves as the Director of New Work at the Apollo Theater and Executive Director of The Fire This Time Festival, which she founded in 2009. In 2023, she was honored with the New York Innovative Theater’s Ellen Stewart Award.

Girod looks forward to further developing her trilogy in Louisiana and fostering an artistic pipeline between Louisiana and New York in collaboration with Le Petit Theatre. 

“Everyone I’ve talked to who is interested in the trilogy, I told them that Louisiana and the people of Louisiana have to be integral to the process wherever the pieces go,” Girod said. “The other side of this presentation we’re doing for Le Petit Theatre is not just the presentation of the work, but this is the beginning of us being able to have a real conversation and a real pipeline between our artists in Louisiana and our artists in New York.”

“Kelly and I both shared the feeling that there out to be a back and forth between artistic product between the two states,” said Le Petit Artistic Director AJ Allegra. “Because everyone that leaves Louisiana is still very proud of where they come from [they have] a great sense of pride of place, and pride of culture. For me, this is a way for us to start hopefully a more free-flowing passage of information and shared artistry between New York and Louisiana.”

Andrew Block, Girod’s longtime collaborator and fellow Louisiana native, will direct the reading. Block is an award-winning NYC-based director who has received the Ovation and L.A. Drama Critics Circle awards. His notable credits include Adam Szymkowicz’s “Clown Bar 2,” Mark Jason Williams’ “Straight Faced Lies,” and “The Other Day.” This will be Girod and Block’s first collaboration in their home state of Louisiana.

“I’m really excited to work with people who this story is about,” Block said, who is working on creating a sense of community in the reading. “I think most people who have lived in Louisiana have dealt with a massive storm and how to come back from that. And that is what happens in this play, so it’s tapping into that real personal, ‘Oh, this is my life.’”

“I think there is a real sense of connection between New York and New Orleans in particular because they’re both incredibly important cultural cities that have been beaten up and been able to bounce back or figure out a path forward,” Block said. “It’s about a community of people who come together to figure out a way forward, and I think that’s universal, but I always find New York and New Orleans are kindred spirits in a way. We can’t let people forget about them, and when we face a tragedy, we always figure out a way to come back.”

The cast includes Troi Bechet, Leslie Castay, Robert DoQui, Lara Grice, Keyara Milliner and John Neisler.

Event Details:
What: Petit Reads a free play reading of “A Body of Water”
When: Thursday, July 18, 2024, at 7 p.m.
Where: Le Petit Theatre, 616 St. Peter St., New Orleans, LA 70116
Tickets: Free, but reservations are required. Reserve at lepetittheatre.com or call the Box Office at 504-522-2081.

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