NEW ORLEANS (press release) – Le Petit Theatre (LPT) will present the world premiere of local playwright Harold Ellis Clark’s “Ganking Mr. Guidry,” Aug. 13-16. This special limited engagement runs for only five performances at LPT, 616 St. Peter Street.
John Grimsley will direct the production and design the set. The cast includes Al Aubry, Martin “BATS” Bradford, Kenneth Brown, Jr., Nicole Collins, and Rahim Glaspy.
“Ganking Mr. Guidry” is set during the 1878 Louisiana sugarcane harvesting season, surrounds five workers who band together to stand against injustice. Clark began writing the play after a reluctant visit to the Whitney Plantation (Wallace, LA) in 2018. The museum highlights the history and legacies of slavery in the United States. Part of Whitney’s programming focuses on the 1811 Louisiana Slave Revolt, the largest slave insurrection in U.S. history.
“I thought I’d feel sad during and after my visit, so I didn’t want to go,” said Clark. “I knew about the 1811 slave uprising, but the intricate details about it that I discovered there left me feeling empowered and motivated to write about the experience. I completed a rough draft a month later and wrote numerous drafts through late 2024.”
Clark made additional changes after a staged reading of the play at Dillard University’s Cook Theater last year. In writing the play, he fictionalized elements of both the slave uprising and his longtime fascination with Isaiah Dorman, the only Black man who died with General George A. Custer during the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876. Dorman served the U.S. Army as an interpreter and spoke several Native American languages. He befriended the Sioux, including Chief Sitting Bull, and married a Hunkpapa woman.
A.J. Allegra, LPT’s artistic director, looks forward to presenting this world premiere production.
“I am inspired and excited to bring a work like Ganking Mr. Guidry to the Le Petit stage,” said Allegra. “This is an exciting and thought-provoking new play by a Louisiana playwright with a clear love of history and a masterful skill for storytelling. Works like these allow us to revisit fascinating portions of our region’s past that are too often forgotten.”
Dr. Ashley Rogers, executive director of Whitney Plantation, attended the staged reading of the play at Dillard and subsequently read the script. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the Post-Reconstruction Era, which began roughly in 1877.
“Whitney Plantation is proud to partner with Le Petit Theatre to support this world premiere. The lives of sugar plantation workers in the post-Reconstruction era are central to our work,” said Rogers. “This history is not discussed enough, and we are grateful to these New Orleans artists for bringing these vital stories to our community.”
Tickets for the limited run of “Ganking Mr. Guidry” range from $35 to $55 and are available at www.lepetittheatre.com. Groups of 10 or more receive a discount. Call 504-522-2081 ext. 1 or email boxoffice@lepetittheatre.comfor assistance with ticket purchases or more information. Discounted parking is available for ticketholders.
