pt at large

The Aliens: Annie Baker's Shirley, Vermont plays land at the Boston Center for the Arts

THE ALIENS
Play by Annie Baker
Directed by: Shawn LaCount
Set, Cristina Todesco. Lights, Benjamin Williams. Costumes, Bobby Frederick Tilley II. Sound, Aaron Mack.
Presented by Company One at Calderwood Pavilion, Hall A, Boston Center for the Arts.
Through Nov. 20.
November 18 performance

Close the window, shut the door. Shut off the computer and everything else that’s connected to the power grid. Spend the next five minutes in complete silence.

Now you’ve been prepared for the first scene of “The Aliens,” in which KJ (Alex Pollock) stares blissfully into the sky, his face aglow as he ponders the beatific beauty of clouds coupling and separating in the July afternoon.

This is a weird play. It’s characters are weird, the setting next to a dumpster in back of a coffee shop is weird, the plot, such as it is, is weird. If you’re not weirded out by all this, you’re ready to enjoy a quirky, non-traditional coming-of-age play.

Two raggedy, unkempt, thirty-something losers, sorry there isn’t a more polite way to describe them, occupy the small, fenced-off area as their clubhouse. KJ is a University of Vermont dropout, derailed by a nervous breakdown. Jasper (Nael Nacer) is a high school dropout, sitting on a righteous anger he can hardly control. They see themselves as social outcasts and, to tell the truth, this solitary piece of turf, tucked away from civilization, is where they fit best and are safe from the company of the rest of us.

“The Aliens” is loaded with silences. It is non linear. It is steadfastly non-theatrical. During one of the eternally extended silences Baker has written into the play, I went through my to do list, remembered I had to get my parking ticket validated at intermission, watched the audience watching the silence, wondered whether I could ever maintain such a silence when sitting with a dear friend, and wondered why, if we were really in the back lot of the coffee shop, the silence was so pure.

No crows cawing, no chatter from inside, no trucks rattling down the road outside, no sound of breeze rustling the leaves. I found myself trying to breathe quieter. I became aware of all the chatter in my head. I felt like I could breathe naturally when dialogue restarted. And I wondered why Baker was screwing around with my head like this.

The appearance of Evan (Jacob Brandt) in scene two sets the play in motion. The nerdy, socially awkward, painfully self-conscious 17 year-old is a doppelganger of what KJ and Jasper must have been when they were teenagers. Here he is hauling out the trash and trying to tell the two vagabonds that his boss says they have to leave.

“Ham on Rye” author Charles Bukowski is KJ and Jasper’s patron saint. These guys imagine themselves carrying Bukowski’s flag of intense alienation as they travel bravely down a path the rest of us are too acculturated to find.

With Evan as the lone spectator, they pass the time rehashing their history, perhaps imagined, as punk rockers and general screw-ups. Their spontaneous enactment of their band incarnations, with its in-jokes, shared history, and zany lyrics, unshackles them briefly from their present circumstances and unleashes a childlike glee they may never experience again.

Jasper, in an emotional nose-dive, is writing a first-rate Henry Miller-esque manuscript detailing his relationship with a woman who has rejected him. KJ, is given to long stretches of staring in serenely into space, transported there by infusions of mushroom tea, which, like Linus’s blanket, is never far from his side. The casting for each role is excellent. The three actors breathe life into these  three fragile characters on the fringe of society.

KJ and Jasper invite Evan to Fourth of July party to be held in their grotto behind the coffee shop. Evan, the only guest, brings brownies, sparklers, and peppermint schnapps - a perfect metaphorical offering from this boy on the uncertain road to manhood.

At times the whole thing feels like Seinfeld on acid. Much of the dialogue between KJ and Jasper is self-referential. These two guys have seen their share of losses, failures, and disappointments, which we hear about in the two-act, two hour and ten minute production. The back of the coffee shop in rural Shirley, Vermont is their foxhole - a refuge.

Over the course of two acts, in a series of small moments, one life is extinguished and one life is transformed.
 
Both Annie Baker’s plays I’ve seen this week, Body Awareness and The Aliens, dwell on the nature of how we connect with each other, perhaps how we need each other, and, dare I say it, how we express our love for each other.

Baker’s world of characters in Shirley, Vermont, as misfit or dysfunctional as they may be, have at their core a decency that transcends their own social status, draws them together and sees an inner beauty the rest of us cannot.

Note about the Shirley, VT plays by Annie Baker at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA:

Three Boston theater companies collaborated to produce the The Shirley, Vermont Plays: A  Festival of 3 Plays By Annie Baker. The Huntington Theater Company (“Circle Mirror Transformation” ended November 14); Company One (“Aliens” through November 20); The SpeakEasy Stage Company (“Body Awareness” through November 20)

Body Awareness: Annie Baker at the Boston Center for the Arts

"Body Awareness"
Play by Annie Baker
Directed by: Paul Daigneault
Sets, Cristina Todesco. Lights, Jeff Adelberg. Costumes, Bobby Frederick Tilley II. Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company at Roberts Studio Theatre
Boston Center for the Arts. Through Nov. 20. Tickets $30-$55, 617-933-8600 www.bostontheatrescene.com
November 17, 2010

If you haven’t begun your theater season yet, "Body Awareness" written by Annie Baker is a perfect place to dive in. Everything in this tight production at the Roberts Auditorium -the acting, setting, lighting - fits together seamlessly.
 
The play is set in the fictional town of Shirley, Vermont, from what we can tell, a crunchy granola citadel of political correctness. Phyllis, a  psychology professor at Shirley State College, has organized Body Awareness Week, a five-day symposium to celebrate human connection in the most gender-neutral, non-judgmental manner possible. It doesn’t occur to her that the mere title of the program brings up knee jerk cultural and gender-specific ideas buried deeply in the collective psyche (hers included).
 
Phyllis (Adrianne Krstansky), a lesbian, lives with her partner, high school teacher Joyce (Paula Plum), and Joyce’s 21 year-old son Jared (Gregory Pember), a self-described “auto-didact.” Jared displays all the symptoms of Asberger’s syndrome. “I don’t have it!” is his refrain to his mother who’s trying to steer him into treatment.
 
Joyce and Phyllis have agreed to host one of the week's presenters. The arrival on day two of Body Awareness Week of Frank Bonitatibus (Richard Snee), a photographer whose fame rests on his photographs of nude women - old, young, and very young - has a tectonic effect on the lives of Phyllis, Joyce, and Jared.
 
The dynamics between the four finely drawn characters are exquisitely played out. There’s an earthy quality about the dialogue that feels real and unpolished. The fact that the playwright specifically wrote the duration of the pauses and silences into the margins of the script doesn’t alter the power of the dialogue.  It settles into your head and your heart as you listen raptly.

The direction of conversation can turn on a dime. The reason it feels so damn real is that we’ve all had conversations like it.
 
The whole Asberger’s thing with Jared is brilliantly conceived and is central to the story. Joyce’s frequent remarks to Jared that a person’s inability to feel empathy is a hallmark of the syndrome magnify the moments when a small gesture, a question, a piece of conversation, show that Jared, in spite of his denials, is struggling with self-awareness.

Frank’s arrival exposes the cracks in Joyce and Phyllis’s relationship. It also sets up a life ring for Jared, deeply in need of a dose simple, unrestrained alpha-male groundedness. What makes the play so effective is the way playwright Baker finds humor in the way her characters relate to one another. Many of Joyce and Jared’s conversations are hilarious. Frank’s ribald "birds and the bees" talk with Jared had the audience laughing out loud.

When Joyce decides it would be "freeing" for her to pose for Frank, it rattles Phyllis, who uses the occasion to mount a defense for her stringent feminist beliefs and politically correct ideas. Phyllis’s terrifically acted meltdowns are slow motion train wrecks in which her doctrinaire views are tested in the crucible of her relationship with Joyce. When Joyce blurts out,  “There’s a difference between concepts and people,” during a tense moment between them, it resonates.

So does Frank’s response to Joyce when she asks him about prurient interest in photographs of naked women. “The intent of the artist and the effect of art on an audience might be two different things,” he says. Frank and Phyllis are on two different planets when it comes to art. Joyce feels the pull of gravity from both planets.

The three part, multi-tiered stage set of kitchen, dining room, and bedroom is the unsung fifth member of the cast.  Warmly lit, loaded with a collection of well-worn wooden tables, chairs, bookcases, and a platform bed, it feels pure Vermont. The honey colored wainscoting that surrounds the set on three sides from above embraces it with an aura of home, security, and safety.

The link holding the production together is Jared. In an exceptionally well-calibrated performance, Jared melts our hearts as he comes to grips with his reality. It’s easy to see how his mother loves him unconditionally, as trying as he is. By the play’s final scene, her love for him has rubbed off on us, too.

"Body Awareness" is a great evening of theater. Baker stakes out the battle grounds that the characters have to navigate but doesn’t take sides. The play unfolds naturally - full of zigs and zags of real life. On a small scale, Body Awareness takes on themes of love, acceptance, and sexual politics. Some of the play’s best moments are its quietest and smallest. The play’s final scene is locked into place by one click of the camera shutter, a very satisfying moment in time.

Note:
The Shirley, VT plays by Annie Baker at the Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA

Three Boston theater companies collaborated to produce the plays: The Huntington Theater Company (“Circle Mirror Transformation” ended November 14); Company One (“Aliens” through November 20); The SpeakEasy Stage Company (“Body Awareness” through November 20)

Photo courtesy of SpeakEasy Stage Company web site

Olga Toups: Queen of the Abbeville Giant Egg Celebration

The Giant Omelette Celebration Sunday
Abbeville, Louisiana’s 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration
Magdalen Square
November 7th, 2010
http://www.giantomelette.org/

England has its Queen Elizabeth. Abbeville, Louisiana has Olga Toups. The slight, silver haired woman wearing a tiara and flowing gold cape owned the city today. The annual Giant Omelette Celebration’s Honorary Queen, Olga Toups is the widow of “Bichon” Emery Toups, one of the legendary Three Wise Men who traveled to Bessieres, France 27 years ago to witness their Giant Omelette Festival and returned to inaugurate a similar version of the festival in the city he loved.

“Bichon” Toups was one of those people who, through good works and a good heart, come to embody the spirit of a city. This was the second festival “Bichon” wasn’t swirling eggs around the giant skillet with a wooden paddle and bantering with dozens of his friends. He passed away November 3rd last year.

Olga Toups became all the more precious in the absence of her beloved husband. From the time she was driven around Magdalen Square in :The Procession of the Egg: to the time the last embers of the Giant Omelette cooking fire were extinguished, just the sight of her golden cape reminded thousands of people of the provenance of the city wide event.

“Olga, Olga!” was the shout you could hear all day long.

If she was uncomfortable in her role, you’d never know it. Her blue eyes sparkled, her composure was royally relaxed, and her smile felt like an embrace.

When Olga's eggshell-white motor carriage passes...

dozens of citizens walk out to greet her, get closer, shake her hand, wish her well. They recognize home-grown royalty when they see it.

She's usually accompanied by one of the senior chevaliers...

but in moments of reverie, must feel the absence of the familiar sight of "Bichon" at the skillet...

or orchestrating events at the top of Concord Street.

Everyone wants to have a photo opp with her...

and to spend a quiet moment to tell her how much her presence is a link to Abbeville's history, culture, and tradition.

Parents up and down the street ask Olga to pose with their kids...

but what they really want is some time to talk with Olga themselves. Olga, engaging, unassuming, thoughtful, embodies the spirit of this city, let alone this event. When she's gone, so will pass a living, breathing link to the past. It will be up to the next generation to honor her, "Bichon," and the other men and women who created this event, by contining to pass the torch to the younger generation...

 

perhaps a girl like this.

A touching moment - this young girl waved to Olga, and looked crestfallen when Olga didn't see her. Since I'd been following Olga down the street, I called to her and she returned for a photo with the girl, who was thrilled to stand next to a woman she idolized. I missed the photo but the memory of the girl's smile as Olga put her arm around her is clear in my memory.

And who wouldn't want to have a photo taken with Olga Toups, an icon who lives up to her reputation.

"Olga, do you remember that old radio show called 'Queen for a Day'? That describes what you were to everyone in Abbeville today. How did that feel? " I ask her as she's preparing to leave.

She grins. "I do remember that show."

"It felt special," she says, then pauses. "...very special. Emery would have loved to have seen this. He would have been so proud..." Tears well up in her eyes. "...but he's in a better place now," and she composes herself and smiles again.

"I'll be back next  year, at least I hope so."

"Well, Olga, I dont think I'll wait another year to visit Abbeville. It looks like there's lots of things going on here all year long," I respond.

"Why don’t you call me if you come back earlier, we can have lunch. I'm still in the book under Emery’s name, I haven’t changed it," Olga says. 

This woman is an original. That's an offer I can't refuse.

 

Abbeville, Louisiana's 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration - Sunday Part 3

The Giant Omelette Celebration Sunday
Abbeville, Louisiana’s 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration
Magdalen Square
November 7th, 2010
http://www.giantomelette.org/

The "Procession of the Egg" winds its way to the top of Concord Street, jammed with spectators of all ages eager to watch the next two hours unfold then get a taste of omelette for their effort.

Thousands of people, many arriving early to get a close-up view from behind the metal railings set up to keep the street clear, await the spectacle.

The Junior Chevalier's skillet is put in place...

and passes inspection by the elders.

Benediction is offered by Father Guillory...

and the Star Spangled Banner is sung.

As he's done since the first celebration, Maitre de feu Elray Schexnaider, checks the heat of the wood fire. He collects wood all year long for the cooking fire - when he determines the heat is just right, the skillet will be moved over the fire...by fork lift!

Olga Toups, widow of "Bichon" Emery Toups, one of the founding members of the Abbeville Confrerie, observes the proceedings. This is the second year the event has taken place since the beloved Mr. Toups's died on November 3rd last year.

The preliminary services complete,all the chevaliers get down to business. Scores of loaves of crusty French bread are cut into pieces to be plated with the servings of omelette.

The Junior Chevaliers pay attention...

as the senior chevaliers crack thousands of eggs...

that are poured into huge pots.

Having your photo taken with the Grand Chevalier is a keepsake.

Small mountains of eggshells tell the tale.

Hey, this is Louisiana! The regally attired chevaliers can't stand still while a Cajun Fais Do Do band plays up a storm on the bandstand a few yards away at the top of Concord Street.

While baskets of sliced French bread rest under two types of wooden implements that will be used to mix the ingredients as they're added to the skillet...

a group of proud young Queens of every regional event in the area wait to introduce themselves to the  crowd and give a plug for their event while a fine Fais Do Do band plays Cajun two-steps and waltzes...

and MC Chris Trahan gets a kick out of their speeches.

Add three boxes of salt...

and two boxes of black pepper to taste...

and mix with a power drill...

an impressive feat...

with this specially designed beater you won't find in any kitchen in your neighborhood.

"The original design of the flat wooden paddles came from Bessieres, France.When we visited sister city Granby, Quebec, for their omelette celebration, we liked their paddles with holes in them so we made some to use here," says Janine Dugas, a member of The Abbeville Confrerie.

The Junior Chevaliers will cook their omelette on the smaller skillet in a few minutes.

In case you want to make an omelette for your town, here's the recipe: 5026 eggs, 50 lbs. Onions, 75 Bell Peppers, 4 Gallons Onion Tops, 2 Gallons Parsley, 1 1/2 Gallons Cooking Oil, 6 1/2 Gallons Milk Cooking Oil, 52 lbs. Butter, 3 Boxes Salt, 2 Boxes Black Pepper, Crawfish Tails, TABASCO Pepper Sauce (to taste).

There goes 52 pounds of butter into the skillet...

which inspires a bunch of Chevaliers to dance. In all honesty, it doesn't take much to make a native of these parts to dance.

This is what it looks like to saute 50 lbs. Onions, 75 Bell Peppers, 4 Gallons Onion Tops, 2 Gallons Parsley, 1 1/2 Gallons Cooking Oil, 6 1/2 Gallons Milk , 52 lbs. Butter, 3 Boxes Salt, and 2 Boxes of Black Pepper...

and a bushel of crawfish tails.

No one in southwest Louisiana is immune from a case of dancing feet.

And here  come the eggs...

all 5026 of them...

poured into the 12-foot diameter skillet...

and The Tabasco Girls ceremoniously empty 6 bottles of TABASCO® sauce...

into the mix as the finishing touch.

"The omelette in Bessieres was sort of tastless," Chevalier Janine Dugas tells me, "but ours  is pretty flavorful." Napolean's army might have  won at Waterloo had  they feasted on an Abbeville flavored omelette.

The Junior Chevaliers get to business melting butter...

while the whole town licks it chops.

The "Granby-style" paddles pull the egg mixture through their ports. The flat paddles are similar to the ones used in the original celebration in Bessieres, France.

"There's a hot spot over there, Ray," Grand Maitre Cecil Hebert (pronounce Aye- bare) calls out. Like several chevaliers, he's been part of this celebration since the beginning in 1984.

The moment to stop mixing has to be carefully noted...

and each chevailer is paying attention to the consistency of this giant omelette.

ChevalierJanine Dugas fills me in on the logistics of feeding thousands of people efficiently. "We got the idea of how to serve more efficiently from Granby, Quebec. They set up a system of tables like spokes, using the skillet as the hub,they pass the servings down each spoke where they're loaded onto trays that we bring to the crowd," she explains.  "Each Confrerie adds a regional accent to the omelette. Granby adds maple syrup.We add TABASCO® sauce!"

"Paddles Up!" Cheers  erupt. The omelette is done!

The chevaliers are the most visible members of the celebration but, as is often the case, many important contributors fly under the radar. William Sanders drives the forklift to remove the heavy stainess steel skillet from the fire. Sanders worked with "Bichon" Toups for 18 years and operated the forklift for the annual event here. He remembers helping manufacture the first skillet with its four legs to keep it steady in Toups'  propeller shop. Sanders left Toups's shop to work in the oil fields and was laid off. "I asked Jerry Terpening, "Bichon" Toups son-in-law, if he needed someone to drive the forklift today and he said 'Yes' and here I am." The smile on his face tells you all you need to know about him and scores of others who help this event run. They're proud of their town and want to show it.

The Abbeville Fire Department dumps then removes the huge mound of sand for the cook fire. Maitre d’ fer Elray Schexnaider makes sure the embers are snuffed out.

The Junior Chevaliers, under the eye of Queen Olga Toups, stir their eggs...

until they are cooked properly. The 100 members of the Abbeville Confrerie take a vow to pass the traditions down to their children.

Distribution tables are set in spokes around the giant skillet in a style learned from the Granby, Quebec Confrerie ..."We think we'll be able to serve the food faster this way than the way we'd done it before," Chavalier Janine Dugas explained.

The feast begins...

much to the joy...

of everyone on the street.

"Thank you!"

And when they run out of paper plates, cups will do just fine.

Thousands of servings later...

the production line continues to dish out eggs.

 A young queen posed in front of the giant skillet...

and pt at large gets to meet Queen Olga Toups, one of Abbeville's truly royal citizens (story to follow.)

Photos by Paul A.Tamburello, Jr. except for the ones he's in, which were taken by friendly bystanders.

 PART 4 Queen Olga Toups http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2010/11/olga-toups-queen-of-the-abbeville-giant-egg-celebration.html

 

Abbeville, Louisiana's 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration - Sunday Part 2

The Giant Omelette Celebration Sunday
Abbeville, Louisiana’s 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration
Magdalen Square
November 7th, 2010
http://www.giantomelette.org/

From after the 9:00 AM mass at Mary Magdalen Catholic Church until the "Procession of the Egg" at 1:00 PM, Magdalen Square and the streets around it are filled with shoppers, spectators, vendors, and plenty of people from neighboring towns and bayous.

There are arts and crafts on sale in the square. food wagons and tents on the street, and Chubby Carrier playing traditional zydeco from 10 AM to 12:30 PM. The sun is shining and all is well with the world.

By 1:00 PM, thousands of people will have jammed onto the sidewalks of Concord Street to get a good look at the spectacle of the 26th Annual Giant Omelette being prepared then dispensed to just about every hand that reaches for a serving.

One of the major supporters of the celebration is BEGNEAUD Manufacturing, Inc. of nearby Lafayette, Louisiana. In 2004, Don Begneaud''s company built a duplicate of the skillet for the 20th Giant Omelette Celebration. According to William Sanders, the operator of the fork lift used to move the skillet today, the original skillet made by his former employer, founder "Bichon" Emery Toups in his propeller shop had shown signs of wear and needed replacement. This new one should last generations.

Magdalen Square, with its canopy of live oak trees, was a perfect setting for the two-day Arts and Crafts Show. Everything here - pottery, wood carvings, ceramics, gemstone and sterling silver jewelry, candles, lotions, soaps -  had to be hand-made and jury approved.

All sorts of tempting food was available all around the square.

The lovely fountain in the center of Magdalen Square was a great place to eat, meet, relax.

A wave and a smile is a good way to attract hungry browsers to Bernice Bernard's Sweet Dough Pies!

Sunday morning featured a celebratory Mass at Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, a Poker Run, a juried art show, an Antique Car/Implement Show and of course, live music - Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band.

"Hey, put down your camera and pad, pt, it's time to dance!" she said.

Two organizers, Janine Dugas and Todd Lemaire, get the feelin' ...

and in case you wonder how everybody learns to love music and dance down here, this photo should show the answer.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

PART 3 http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2010/11/abbeville-louisianas-5000-egg-giant-omelette-celebration-sunday-part-3.html

 

Abbeville, Louisiana's 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration - Sunday

The Giant Omelette Celebration Sunday
Abbeville, Louisiana’s 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration
Magdalen Square
November 7th, 2010
http://www.giantomelette.org/

Louisiana celebrates its history, agriculture, cuisine, music, and dance in all sorts of inventive ways. Pour a dash of each of these ingredients into a giant pan and voila, you have the two-day Giant Omelette Celebration in Abbeville.

The crowning act features a few dozen chevaliers (chefs) in toque hats who prepare and cook an omelette then serve it up to a throng that’s patiently watched the whole process carried out with the precision and grace of a culinary ballet.

Big things are involved. A 12-foot diameter stainless steel pan. 5026 eggs.  8-foot long wooden stirring paddles. And a list of ingredients the proportions of which defy comprehension of any sane chef.

What’s behind all the pageantry? Pride and heritage.

If you have doubts about the hugely French heritage around here, open a phone book in southwest Louisiana. Thousands of the names you find would still be in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island if not for the British expulsion of the French Catholics for not pledging allegiance to the King of England.

They’d been a thorn in Britain’s side since the early 1700s, but when the French Acadians fought against the British in the French and Indian War between 1755 and 1763, Protestant England had enough. They expelled 10,000 Acadians from the Maritime provinces.

Over time, thousands of Acadians found a home in the territory of Louisiana. The territory was owed by Spain but friendly to the French Catholic migrants who settled in the Atchafalaya Basin and the prairies of southwest Louisiana and didn’t bother anybody.

The Acadiens' stubborn streak and grip on their French heritage survived. Travel down into bayou country and you’ll still hear French spoken with a Cajun (Acadian) accent thicker than gumbo roux.

The Giant Omelette Celebration has its roots in Bessieres, France.

The legend in Bessieres was that when Napoleon and his army swept through their town in the late 1700s, the local innkeeper served him an omelette. So enamored was Napoleon with its aromatic taste (remember, we’re talking south of France) that he ordered the villagers to gather every egg in town and prepare an omelette for his army the next day.

Since 1975 Bessieres has celebrated that occasion with an event in which they serve a 10,000-egg omelette to festive crowds.

In 1984, three members of the Abbeville Chamber of Commerce (Emery "Bichon" Toups, Tracy Kays, and Sheri Meaux) attended the Easter Omelette Festival in Bessieres, France. Sensing the bond of friendship and culture, the town of Bessieres responded by knighting the three ambassadors as Abbeville’s first chevaliers and invited Abbeville to join "The Confrerie". Sister cities that celebrate the Giant Omelette Festival: Frejus, France; Dumbea, New Caledonia; Granby, Quebec, Canada; Malmedy, Belgium; and Pigue, Argentina.

The Giant Omelette Festival was hatched. In 1984, Abbeville hosted its first Giant Omelette Festival by cooking and serving an omelette for 5000 people.

In the usual Louisiana fashion, the weekend event is loaded with music, dancing, food, and local arts and crafts vendors. Sunday afternoon, French heritage and culture is every bit as much an ingredient in the omelette as eggs themselves.

At 1:00 PM, after a 9:00 AM mass at St. Mary Magdalen Catholic Church, Abbeville chevaliers are joined in friendship by representatives of the other Confreries in a "Procession of the Egg". Bearing wooden paddles, loaves of crusty French bread, and transporting 5026 snow-white eggs, the group marches around Magdalen Square and up to the stage set up at the top of Concord Street.

The population of Abbeville teeters on 12,000. By 1:00 PM, it appears that at least half of them are lining the street. Their eyes are fixed on a 12-foot diameter stainless steel skillet, a mound of sand on which logs are ablaze, and dozens of chevaliers in tall white toques.

At a stage set at the top of Concord Street, a Catholic priest offers benediction. A local woman sings the National Anthem. All the public speaking is first in French, with varying degrees of agility, then in English. Cecil Hebert, the Premier Grand Maitre who’s been in every one of the previous 25 celebrations, the mayor, and other dignitaries set the tone. The digital, fast paced world will have to take a back seat today to this little town’s tenacious grip on its tradition and heritage.

“The egg is the symbol of life and continuation of life,” Cecil Hebert says. “This year for the first time we’re involving the young in the celebration. We manufactured a smaller skillet and the young of the town, under guidance of the elder maitres, will make an omelette of their own as the elders make the giant omelette. We want our children to honor and understand their heritage and take it on when we are gone.”

“Chefs, begin cracking your eggs!”

A band plays traditional Cajun songs from the bandstand at the top of the street.  Thousands of spectators are treated to the sight of men and women in white hats cracking eggs into enormous industrial sized aluminum pots. Mountains of eggshells are piled ceremoniously on giant tarps. Other chevaliers slice hunks of bread from scores of huge rounds of French bread. When the logs have burned to red-hot embers, the giant skillet is lowered and sits on its "legs" above the heat.

In a hilariously practical style, a chevalier operating an electric drill fitted with a three foot long mixing paddle whips up the hundreds of eggs in each pot. While the eggs are being prepared, another group of chevaliers swirls 52 pounds of butter around the giant skillet that’s been stationed atop the embers of the wood when they’re just the right temperature.

Each addition of an ingredient - listed below - into the giant skillet is announced to the ohhhs and ahhhs of the spectators. Chefs gracefully circle the skillet while stirring the ingredients with 8-foot long paddles. The whole spectacle has the feel of a royal ballet. A French-style line dance occasionally breaks out when red wine gets the better of several chefs as they wait their turn to stir.

Improbably, after an hour of stirring, the 12-foot diameter stainless steel skillet is removed from the fire by a forklift.  A brigade of chevaliers dish a helping of omelette and a slice of crusty French bread onto a paper plate. Another brigade loads the plates onto trays and heads for the cheering spectators behind the barriers at the edge of the street. In a trice, the servings are plucked from the trays by grateful spectators. Thousands of servings later, the skillet is empty.  So is smaller skillet in which the next generation has cooked their omelette.

The ingredient most on display today is one you can’t taste or smell. It is the feel of a small town finding a way to connect with its past. Their ancestors were expelled by the English from their first homes in the new world because they were stubborn, proud, and loyal to France, the country from which they had emigrated.

In spite of years of displacement, these hard working people found a new home here in Louisiana. They want to make sure their children remember and honor their roots. If it takes a giant omelette to make the point, bring on the eggs.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.
Photos of the rest of the celebration in the following posts.

The youngster with the spiffy beret will someday be wielding an omelette paddle.

Chevaliers have some fun as they organize for the "Procession of the Egg" around Magdalen Square and up Concord Street in the middle of Abbeville.

pt at large stirs up some fun.The 8-foot wooden paddle is one of several that will be used to stir the egg mixture in the 12-foot diameter skillet that is being heated up in the middle of Concord Street.

"The Procession of the Egg" begins around Magdalen Square at 1 PM.

Olga Toups, widow of Emery Toups, one of the three founders of Abbeville's Giant Omelette Festival, is the Queen of the celebration. Mr. Toups, a much beloved man, passed away November 3, a few days before the celebration.

Here come the chevaliers from Abbeville and representatives from six other countries in "The Confrerie."

The next generation of Abbeville chevaliers...

will prepare their own omelette under the supervision of their elders.

The TABASCO Kids - the gymmasts will add one of the final ingredients, what else, TABASCO® Sauce (made right here in Louisiana), as the giant omelette is almost done cooking.

More chevaliers...

and the priests who offered the 9:00 AM Mass earlier in the morning and who will offer a benediction before the Giant Omelette is prepared.

The expression "Don't carry all your eggs in one basket" has never made more sense.

Crusty French bread will be cut into hunks and served with a helping of omelette.

5026 eggs -one egg is added to the number since the first 5000 egg omelette celebration 26 years ago = will be loaded into these huge pots and mixed with a power drill!

By the time the festival reaches 5040 eggs, many of these Junior Confrerie members...

will be preparing the giant omelette...

and these little kids will be right in line to succeed them. The Abbeville Confrerie is making every effort to continue this tradition which celebrates the city's roots and French heritage.

"When residents join the organization, they take a pledge to pass the traditions along to their children, " Arlene White, Fourth Grand Maitre and publicity chairperson, tells me as she sees me scribbling notes and talking to another member of The Confrerie."There are about 100 members here in Abbeville."

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

PART 2 http://ptatlarge.typepad.com/ptatlarge/2010/11/abbeville-louisianas-5000-egg-giant-omelette-celebration-sunday-part-2.html

Abbeville, Louisiana’s 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration

Abbeville, Louisiana’s 5000 Egg Giant Omelette Celebration - Saturday
Magdalen Square
November 6th and 7th, 2010
http://www.giantomelette.org/

Louisiana is a piñata full of festivals. On any given weekend, give the piñata a wack and you’re rained upon by more weekend festivals than you can shake a stick at - or in one case, an 8-foot long omelette paddle.
 
In the past month alone there’s the Frog Festival in Rayne, The Swine Festival in Basile, The Audubon Swamp Festival in New Orleans, The Wooden Boat Festival, Madisonville, The Rice Festival in Crowley, and The International Acadian Fest in Plaquemine. There were dozens more.
 
“You’ve got to do down to Abbeville this afternoon and hear Steve Riley and The Mamou Playboys. They’re playing at the Giant Omelette Celebration,” a friend tells me.
 
Say what? I can figure out Louisiana’s connections with rice, wooden boats, pigs, even frogs from my days of reading Mark Twain, but omelettes. Giant ones?

I’ve spent the morning at the Café des Amis in Breaux Bridge dancing to the powerhouse band of Leroy Thomas and The Zydeco Road Runners. It’s 1 PM. In this part of Louisiana, that means there will be a dozen more places I can go to dance within a 45-minute drive. Abbeville is about half hour away.

Finding the location of a festival around here is easy. Drive to the center of town and roll down the window. Chances are you’ll hear the thump thump thump of a bass guitar or the cheerful peals of an amplified accordion. Park the car. Use your ears as a GPS and within minutes, you’re in the thick of the action. Worked perfectly in Abbeville.
 
Magdalen Square in the center of Abbeville is alive with arts and crafts booths, food tents with fried or sugary treats. High school moms are holding bake sales for upcoming trips or sports teams, and up there on a flatbed trailer are Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys.
 
This is so Louisiana. Riley’s squeezing his button box accordion for all its worth on a makeshift stage at one of the four corners of Magdalen Square. The Mamou Playboys are the most highly decorated Cajun band down here, maybe down anywhere.  Most of the songs they sing are in Cajun French, many date back to the late 1700s. Men, you haven't lived till you've held a woman close, her eyes closed, and felt her breath graze your cheek as she softly sings the lyrics to a sweet waltz.
 
The smell of fried sausage floats down from a nearby concession. The beach chair brigade has set up in the usual perimeter. Merry makers dance in the street in front of the stage. The mid-afternoon sun does everything but keep time - we’re in shirtsleeves.

Like most of the festivals down here, this one spans the weekend. Posters proclaim that an omelette of Guinness Book proportions - using 5026 eggs, big enough to feed the town - will be prepared and cooked right on the adjacent street tomorrow.
 
This I’ve got to see. I'll be back tomorrow.

Photos by Paul A. Tamburello, Jr.

 

 

You will find LSU fans in every public event in Louisiana.

Citizens are proud of their history - it's the main reason this festival is held every year.

There will be outdoor dancing in Magdalen Square every month. This is Louisina, remember?

pt with Patsy Hebert. For years, she was the author of "The Patsy Report," the indispensible weekly guide to music and dancing in Louisiana.

My pal Gus (spelled with one "s", he tells me to tell you) having fun with Patsy Hebert.

This I've got to see. I'll be back tomorrow.

Opelousas, Louisiana: French Friday in Zydeco Land

2010 Vendredi Francais (“French Friday”)
105 North Main Street Parking Lot
Opelousas, Louisiana
Friday, November 5, 2010 6PM - 11 PM
www.LouisianaMaintoMain.org.
 
A parking lot, a city street, or a field. That’s all you need down here in southwest Louisiana to put on a dance. Set the band up on a flatbed or a makeshift stage. Run wires for the amplifiers to a local store, a generator, or tap into a grid somewhere. Morning, noon, night, just say the words music, food, dance and, like bees to nectar, people will come.
 
The fact that this is one of the hugest tailgate states in the USA doesn’t hurt. Tens of thousands of fans tailgate every fall Saturday when their beloved LSU Tigers play football. And now that the New Orleans Saints are SuperBowl winners…Good Lordy.
 
People in this part of Louisiana have partying down to a science. I’d bet that most households down here have their lawn chairs, blankets, coolers, umbrellas (to ward off the rays of the sun or the drops of the rain), stowed in the hallway or the trunk of a car, a snatch and grab job at the mere suggestion of something fun to do that involves food or music.
 
The annual party up in Opelousas last Friday was a perfect example. Before noon, the corner at 105 North Main Street was a plain old patched up macadam municipal parking lot. By 6 PM, some kind of civic fairy dust transformed the lot into the site of "Vendredi Francais", "French Friday" in the middle of Opelousas, Louisiana.
Little kids in cowboy hats started hopping away in a Charlie Chaplin version of zydeco as they got close to the band stand. The lawn chair brigade settled down a respectable distance away, giving dancers room to maneuver.

Listening to the band was only half the fun. The dancers come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and outfits and all have their particular style. You can count on seeing a few hotshots putting on their own floorshow. And you can count on seeing parents two stepping with an infant in their arms. Your folding chair on the sidelines is a great place to see it all.
 
If you think the music and the food were the only reasons people from miles around show up, you’re missing the point. They’re proud of their French and Creole cultures. Opelousas celebrates those heritages the first November weekend of every year.
 
Geno Delafose provided the Creole music tonight. Geno was born into a zydeco family. At the tender age of eight, he began playing the rubboard with his late father’s band, the Eunice Playboys. He switched to the accordion in the early 1990s and released his first CD “French Rockin’ Boogie” in 1994.  Delafose was nominated for for a Grammy Award in the "Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album" category in 2007. When he’s not making music, he operates his Double D Ranch, raising cattle and horses in Duralde, LA.
 
French Friday’s other music headliner Horace Trahan learned to play the accordion when he was 15 and was singing Cajun songs in French by the time he was 16. Trahan began touring with D.L. Menard (b. 1932) one of the most influential players and singers of Cajun music, and cut an album with him in 1996. Quite the business man, Trahan, born in Ossun, LA, recorded his fourth CD "Keep Walking," with his own publishing company.

Horace Trahan and The New Ossun Express and Geno Delafose and the French Rockin’ Boogie draw big, appreciative crowds wherever they play down here.
 
The mayor of Opelousas, Donald Cravins, Sr., who was reelected last week, was an unabashed booster when he addresses the crowd. “Opelousas is becoming the mecca of southwest Louisiana. I want to thank all the people here from Lafayette, but pretty soon the flow of traffic is going to be heading from Lafayette to Opelousas, not the other way around.” he says with a sly grin.

“I want you to enjoy the exhibits here, have a beer but be careful on the way home. Enjoy the fine music and enjoy the food, but most of all, enjoy each other’s company.”
 
There you have southwest Louisiana in a nutshell.
 
This weekend event was part of  “Louisiana Main to Main”,  a state-wide initiative to foster economic development and cultural pride in participating communities.
 
Tim Marks, one of the organizers, explained. “We have two main cultures in Opelousas, Creole and Cajun. We wanted to set up an annual event where both cultures can come together and enjoy themselves. This city is full of good people. We want to have a tradition that will give people a reason to keep living here and give our young people something to do and stay rooted here when they grow up. “

There was plenty to do tonight. A face painting booth (no charge) was a big hit with the kids. Local artist Jerome Ford donated a painted oversized fiberglass fiddle as a raffle prize. An arts and crafts walk features tents filled with work of local artisans (no fee to set up). A photography contest themed “Louisiana Past” was organized by a Youth Board member.
 
Leave it to Louisiana to make food a competitive sport.  Cook-Offs are a regular fixture in civic life here. Tonight’s was a small one.

A “Perfectly Seasoned Cook-Off” pitted Scott and Sue Rahner of Rahner Chiropractic and the local office of the Central Louisiana Electric Company in a friendly duel to see who could come up with the tastiest Cajun or Creole dish.

For two bucks, you got a bowl of each  contestant’s creation (simmered in huge twenty five gallon pots) and a ballot to cast for your favorite. Rahner Chiropractic won with a gumbo of spicy shrimp atop grits.
 
I’ve commented before about what I describe as ‘salt and pepper’ crowds I’ve encountered here. There are all sorts of racial configurations tonight. Everyone seems to have made it a point to leave their differences at the gate and have a good time. All it takes is one “How you doing tonight?” to start a friendly conversation.
 
“I organize Cook-Offs to raise money for charitable causes,” Tim Marks said. “I watch people who have real differences of opinion roll up their sleeves and work together when it comes to getting behind a good cause.”
 
The whole shebang was sponsored by City of Opelousas, Louisiana Travel, St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission, Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino, CLECO, CenterPoint Energy, Shop Rite, KSLO-KOGM, and Quik Quarter.

I took Mayor Cravins' advice. By the time I left I’d met the Zydeco Queen and King of the event, organizer Tim Marks, a chiropractor, a friendly fellow from the local office of the Central Louisiana Electric Company, a few more Louisiana dance partners, and lots of people who wanted to know the identity of the fellow taking notes, photographing everything and everyone in sight.
 
“Come back soon,” they said. Trust me. I will.

 

 

This mural appears on a building at the perimeter of the parking lot in which French Friday is held.

A group of young adults with Down Syndrome were welcome guests...

and this stylishly dressed dancer made sure they were included in the fun.                                             

Who knew Mardi Gras beads could be used to create so many artistic products?

I have a friend who would die to purchase these shoes.
I
Two bucks to purchase a Taster's Bracelet and vote for the best offering in the "cook-off"...

or spend a few bucks on sweet potato pie -or frito pie (on my list for the next trip).

Photo contests...

and an "Art Walk" featuring local artisanal works, including those Mardi Gras bead creations, were part of the event. 

People watching from the perimeter is a favorite pastime...

but dancing is more fun...

as you can see...

and so is meeting royalty - like this year's Queen and King, Mona and Clifton, whose grandchildren were having a grand time dancing to the music of Geno Delafose.

Then there was Carolyn Fakouri, local Century 21 realtor, who won the "Louisiana Past" photo contest...

and Sue and Scott Rahner of Rahner Chiropractic, who won the cook-off with their Creole Shrimp served over grits.