Learning history on stage: 'Katrina: the K Word'

Rehearsal for "Katrina: the K Word." (Augustana Photo Bureau/Lauren Becker '16)

Katrina: the K Word

7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6
7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 7
1:30 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 8

Potter Theatre, Bergendoff Hall of Fine Arts

Tickets are $5.

Advance tickets for faculty, staff and students are $3.

Group discounts are available for 10 or more; call the Ticket Office, 309-794-7306.

Reliving, not just retelling

Students in a 300-level play production class will bring to life a milestone of U.S. history they probably can't remember: Hurricane Katrina, which killed nearly 1,500 people and launched a national discussion about government failures to respond.

They will perform "Katrina: the K Word" to remember the Gulf Coast tragedy on its 10th anniversary. The play is ;based on interviews with New Orleans residents before, during and after the storm. Students have assumed all of the production positions and have been responsible for auditions, casting, directing, designing scenic and costume elements, and stage management.

Girish

"I actually do have a few memories of hearing about Katrina, but they're quite disjointed," said senior Rukmini Girish. "Still, I didn't have to do a whole lot of research because the play itself does a very good job explaining what happened and the reasons that Katrina affected New Orleans so much."

Girish said she watched videos of interviews with survivors to work on her character and better understand how the storm changed people. "I was still surprised, though, that there was so much government mismanagement before the storm, which caused the levee breaks," she said.

Currie

The production has challenged the students both on stage and behind the scenes. “This show is interesting because the characters speak in past tense, but we see the action happening in the present.” said senior Luke Currie, a co-director. “This story becomes a reliving of the event, instead of a simple retelling."

The show holds special meaning for the Department of Theatre Arts, as the costume supervisor, Ellen Dixon, survived Hurricane Katrina. She remembers many images of the destruction: a McDonald’s that was only a metal frame and hanging wires, a woman who sat at her dining room table on her front lawn and invited folks to come visit, and the Red Cross providing warm meals.

“Without the kindness of others and the community working together, nothing would have gotten done,” Dixon said.

Balogun

Sophomore cast member Debo Balogun said that acting in a play based on a historical event means helping to make sure people are not forgotten. "The script was compiled using the testimonials of actual Katrina survivors," he said. "You think to yourself, 'These are people's lives. This is what was happening around us at some point.' In that way it feels like handling something so incredibly authentic and also delicate."

Girish said she also felt a responsibility to portray the story faithfully. "There were real people who went through what we're presenting on stage, and it's up to us to show respect to them," she said. "When you're working on something fictional, you still have to be faithful to the characters, but there's a little less pressure."

"Katrina: the K Word" was written by Suzanne M. Trauth, a professor of theatre at Montclair (New Jersey) State University, and Lisa S. Brenner, associate professor of theatre arts at Drew University in Madison, N.J. On their website the two explain:

"If you live in America, you know about 9/11; if you live in America you need to know about Hurricane Katrina. We began this project because we felt that the story of Katrina needed to be told. However, we soon discovered that the story doesn't exist, for every person who was affected by the storm has his or her own version of what happened. What we bring you therefore is by no means 'exactly' what happened," but 12 stories based on interviews we conducted with New Orleans residents.

"We soon discovered that the story doesn’t exist, for every person who was affected by the storm has his or her own version of what happened. What we bring you therefore is by no means ‘exactly 'what happened,’ but 12 stories based on interviews we conducted with New Orleans residents. All of the narratives are true as far as they were told to us. This play is dedicated to them."