Locally written play wins regional awards
The Teche Theatre for the Performing Arts production of The Quarters, which made its debut at the theater in March of 2022, swept all 10 awards for which it was nominated in the 2022 Broadway World Regional Awards.
It’s an honor that brings pride to playwright and director Ed “Tiger” Verdin, and the rest of the musical’s production staff and cast.
“It was an amazing day for myself, as well as the cast and crew and creative team,” Verdin said of finding out in January that the production had won the awards.
The musical play won the awards in the New Orleans region, which covers all of Louisiana as well as parts of Texas, Arkansas and Mississippi, Verdin said. The Broadway World Regional Awards are given out to productions in more than 100 cities/regions worldwide. BroadwayWorld.com is a theatre news website based in New York City covering Broadway, off-Broadway, regional and international theatre productions. Readers were allowed to vote on the awards for regional productions and touring shows which had their first performance between Oct. 1, 2021 and Sept. 30, 2022, with voting open
through Dec. 31, 2022. Winners were announced in January.
The awards that "The Quarters" won were:
--Best Musical — THE QUARTERS Musical
--Best Ensemble Performance — THE QUARTERS Musical
--Best Performer in a Musical — Adolph Davis
--Best Supporting Performer in a Musical — Jeneé Crowther
--Best Choregraphy of a Play or Musical— LaDaisha Bowles-Webber
--Best Costume Design of a Play or Musical — Tiffany Dupas
--Best Lighting Design of a Play or Musical — Mackenzie Burleigh
--Best Music Direction & Orchestra Performance — Kenneth Perry
--Best Direction of a Musical — Ed “Tiger” Verdin
-Best Scenic Design of a Play or Musical - Ed “Tiger” Verdin
The play was originally nominated for best new play or musical, but The Quarters was the only original production, so that category was eliminated.
Verdin said he wanted to make sure to utilize local talent for the play.
“I’ve been doing this for 30 years from high school to now, and 20 years with the Teche Theatre,” Verdin said. “It’s about local talent, it’s about local stories, it’s about utilizing all of the talent, which is amazing. I would put this talent up against anyone in the world.
“To be able to pull off an original show, an original production, with original music, using all local people, I don’t want to say it’s unheard of, but usually you’re looking for some type of guidance.”
There was some veteran talent involved, but also some green performers and Verdin said the first show, which was attended by people from New York, went off flawlessly.
“Winning best supporting actor, best ensemble performance, best lighting design, best costume design, best choreography, best orchestration, best scenic design, you name it, we couldn’t have asked for a better run,” Verdin said. “In my 30 years of doing theater, I have never done a more perfect show. You always have some type of snafu that’ll happen during a live performance. Our opening performance was perfect. That cast, the music, the lighting, there was not one missed cue on anything, no missed lines, no missed direction. I had never seen that in my life, and I was just blown away by the cast.”
Verdin said he grew up in the Oaklawn Quarters, and the African-Americans who lived there accepted him as family. He wanted to tell the story of slavery in the Deep South, in a way that nobody had told it before.
That includes history many people are not aware of, that the Emancipation Proclamation didn’t free slaves in St. Mary Parish. President Abraham Lincoln’s proclamation, issued on Sept. 22, 1862, freed slaves in Southern slave states, but 13 Louisiana parishes were exempt. An additional 48 counties in West Virginia and seven other Virginia counties were exempt from the proclamation as well.
Verdin said producing the play was a way of “trying to right a wrong, trying to put an emphasis on the correct history. We always hear about Juneteenth in Galveston, Texas, but that was pretty much the reason why. Everybody thinks that the Emancipation Proclamation freed all slaves at that time, and it didn’t.”